Actual Cost ICOs for Project Closeout
Closing out a Quoted or Unit Price project used to mean manually adjusting dozens of forecast lines to match actual costs before you could close with confidence.
BuildOps now includes a new Actual Cost mode in the Internal Change Order (ICO) workflow that reconciles your budget to actuals, including the current month, in a single step. No more manually adjusting each forecast line by hand, and no more waiting until next month and delaying revenue recognition.
This feature will be enabled for all customers on July 22, 2026.
No new permissions are required — if you can already create Internal Change Orders and close projects, you can use Actual Cost reconciliation.
Who this is for
Use this feature if you:
Manage project budgets and forecasting for Quoted or Unit Price projects
Close out projects and need actuals to match budget for accurate revenue recognition
What's new:
Actual Cost mode on the Create Internal Change Order screen. Each line calculates as Actual Cost (including the current month) minus Current Budget, with a tooltip explaining the math. Your existing Estimate at Completion mode is unchanged and still available for ongoing, in-progress forecasting.
Automatic variance check when a project's status changes to Closed — if actual costs don't match your current budget, you're prompted to reconcile or close anyway. You won't see this prompt if budget already equals actuals.
Pre-filled closeout change order (subject, description, and Actual Cost line items) when reconciling from the close prompt.
Forecast locking once a closeout change order is saved, with the ability to reopen it later if more costs come in.
What's not included
Scoped to Quoted and Unit Price projects only.
Change orders created through the Change Order (COR) module are out of scope.
Estimate at Completion mode is unchanged; it won't appear on the ICO screen when entered through the closeout prompt, since Actual Cost is the only relevant mode at that point.
Reconciling at Project Closeout
Open the project — Navigate to Projects and select the project you want to close.
Change the project's status to Closed — Update the project status field to Closed.
Review the variance prompt — If your actual costs don't match your current budget, BuildOps prompts you to reconcile the difference, or close the project anyway without reconciling.
Variance prompt shown when closing a project with a budget/actuals mismatch
Choose to reconcile — Selecting reconcile opens an Internal Change Order pre-filled in Actual Cost mode, with the subject "Project Closeout" and a description noting the closeout month.
Review the line items — Each line reflects actual cost (including the current month) minus current budget. Edit any line if needed.
Save — The forecast locks, and the project moves to 100% complete.
Save is disabled if every line is already at $0, since there's nothing to reconcile.
Starting an Actual Cost Change Order Manually
Use this method to true up costs on an active project without going through the close-project flow. Saving this way reconciles costs but does not close the project on its own.
Open the project and go to Forecasting
Click Create Internal Change Order
Under "Match Updated Budget to," select Actual Cost
Review the calculated amounts — each line shows actual cost (including the current month) minus current budget
Click Save
Creating an Actual Cost ICO manually from the Forecasting page
Forecast locking & reopening
Once a closeout change order is saved, the forecasting table locks to match actuals at closeout.
If more costs come in after the project is closed, update the change order's status to reopen it — this unlocks the forecast so you can keep working.
Forecasting locked after closeout ICO is saved
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: How is Actual Cost different from Estimate at Completion?
A: Actual Cost matches your budget to your real, current costs (including this month) in one step — it's designed for closing out a project. Estimate at Completion is unchanged and still the right choice for forecasting on active projects.
Q: Do I have to reconcile before I close a project?
A: No. You can close a project even if a variance exists.
Q: Does this apply to every project?
A: It applies to Quoted and Unit Price projects. Change orders created through the Change Order (COR) module aren't included.
Q: What happens if more costs come in after I close the project?
A: Update the change order's status to reopen the forecast, so you can continue adjusting it.