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Project Budget: Part 1 - Setting up Cost Centres and Cost Codes

Learn how to setup cost centres and cost codes in FieldInsight

Jeffry Juni avatar
Written by Jeffry Juni
Updated over 2 weeks ago

Overview

In FieldInsight, cost centres and cost codes work together to give you clear visibility of project costs — without overcomplicating setup.

They are defined once, then reused consistently across projects.

What Is a Cost Centre in FieldInsight?

A cost centre represents a high-level category of cost in your business.

Think of it as the area of spend.

It answers the question:
​“Which part of the business is this cost related to?”

In FieldInsight, cost centres are typically set up as broad, logical groupings such as:

  • Administration

  • Direct Labour

  • Design & Engineering

  • Equipment

  • Materials

  • Miscellaneous

These cost centres stay consistent across all projects.

What Is a Cost Code in FieldInsight?

A cost code represents a specific type of cost that belongs to a cost centre.

Think of it as what the money is actually being spent on.

Each cost centre has its own set of related cost codes.

For example:

Direct Labour

  • Electrician

  • Plumber

  • Apprentice

  • Supervisor

Materials

  • Electrical Materials

  • Mechanical Parts

  • Consumables

Equipment & Plant

  • Excavator

  • Crane

  • Truck

  • Tool Hire

Cost codes are where the real detail lives.

How Cost Centres and Cost Codes Work Together

In FieldInsight, costs are tracked at the project level using cost codes.

Here’s how it works:

  1. You create a project

  2. You set up project stages

  3. On each stage, you add the relevant cost codes

  4. Those cost codes form the project budget

  5. Actual costs are then tracked against those cost codes

So instead of tracking costs directly against cost centres on a job,
you track costs against cost codes, which already belong to a cost centre.

This gives you clean, consistent reporting.

What This Allows You to See

Because every cost code belongs to a cost centre, FieldInsight can report on:

  • Total project cost

  • Cost per stage

  • Cost per cost centre (e.g. Labour vs Materials)

  • Cost per cost code (e.g. Electrician vs Apprentice)

For example:

  • How much of this project was Direct Labour?

  • Are Materials blowing out on this job?

  • Across all projects, how much are we spending on Electrical Labour?

  • Which stages are going over budget?

All of this comes from the cost codes applied to the project budget.

How to Think About Structuring Them in FieldInsight

Keep Cost Centres Broad and Stable

Good practice:

  • Use cost centres as permanent, high-level buckets

  • Keep the list short and meaningful

  • Avoid changing them often

Avoid:

  • Creating cost centres per project

  • Using cost centres for detailed tracking

  • Duplicating information that cost codes already capture

If it’s a category of spend → cost centre
If it’s a specific cost type → cost code

Design Cost Codes for Project Budgeting

Cost codes in FieldInsight should:

  • Mean the same thing on every project

  • Match how you estimate and quote work

  • Be reusable across stages and jobs

  • Provide insight you’ll actually act on

🚩 Red flag
“This project needs different cost codes because it’s special.”

That breaks cross-project reporting.

Match Cost Codes to How You Quote Work

If your quotes are broken down into:

  • Labour

  • Materials

  • Plant

  • Subcontractors

Your cost codes should follow that same structure.

This allows:

  • Budget vs actual comparisons

  • Margin tracking per cost type

  • Faster identification of overruns

Don’t Over-Engineer Early

Especially for growing businesses:

  • 10–30 cost codes per cost centre is usually plenty

  • You can always add more later

  • Removing or merging codes later is painful

Golden rule:
If no one will ever make a decision based on it, don’t create a code for it.

Real-World Example (FieldInsight Project)

Cost Centres (Predefined)

  • Direct Labour

  • Materials

  • Equipment

Cost Codes (Added to Project Stages)

Stage: Installation

  • Labour – Electrician

  • Labour – Apprentice

  • Materials – Electrical Parts

Stage: Commissioning

  • Labour – Technician

  • Equipment – Testing Tools

This setup allows you to:

  • Track profitability per project

  • Compare labour efficiency across stages

  • See whether overruns are labour, materials, or plant-related

  • Roll up reporting cleanly at a business level

Common Mistakes to Avoid

❌ Treating cost centres as job-specific
❌ Creating cost codes that mean different things on different projects
❌ Adding cost codes “just in case”
❌ Tracking detail at the wrong level
❌ Changing cost code meaning mid-project

Steps to set up Cost Centres and Cost Codes:

Step 1: Go to Inventory → Cost Centres.

How Cost Centres Work:

  • Cost centres are automatically calculated from cost codes (e.g., code 213 → centre 200)

  • The centre code is always n00, where n is the first digit(s) of the cost code

  • Click on Name or Description to customize them for your project

  • Custom names are saved and persist across sessions

  • Budget totals are automatically calculated from associated cost codes

Step 2: Go to Inventory → Cost Codes

Click on + Add Cost Code

Populate the following:

  • Code - this must be the number between

  • Labour Type - choose Other, Productive Labour, Unproductive Labour

  • Description - short description for the cost code

NOTE: You can also make use of the Import function to bulk add cost codes to your FieldInsight Account. Just click on the "Import" button in the above screenshot.

NEXT UP:

Project Budget: Part 2 - Setting up a Project

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