Primary suite renovation: bedroom, bathroom and closet with separate trades

A primary suite is three rooms that call on different trades. Splitting the lines by room shows where the money lands: in this example both approved change orders are in the bath, a marble tile upgrade and extra tub drains.

General information only, not financial, construction or legal advice. Contingency, holdback and payment-split percentages are your own inputs, and payment and deposit rules vary by contract and by state or province; check yours. Names and numbers in the example are invented.

What changes for this kind of project

In this example the bath has plumbing, tile and electrical from three separate firms plus an owner-bought vanity, the bedroom has flooring and paint, and the closet has shelving and lighting. A Room label on every line is what lets Rooms & Summary separate them.

Every overrun in this example sits in the bath: the marble upgrade on the tile line and the tub drains on the plumbing line are both approved. The proposed hardwood extension is logged on the bedroom flooring line, so if approved it adds to the Bedroom row even though the boards go into the closet.

A worked example: Primary suite renovation, 450 sq ft

Invented numbers, to show the shape. Settings on Start Here: contingency 16% (an example value you set), total project budget $22,700.

The contingency pool is $3,632 ($22,700 x 16%). That leaves $19,068 to share out as line budgets. The lines below add up to $19,000, so $68 is unallocated.

Change orders on the Change Orders tab. Only Approved rows move into Committed:

What the summary shows

• Committed: $17,450. Paid: $8,975. Unpaid commitment: $8,475.
• Contingency used: $1,500, what each line's committed total goes above its line budget, added up. Contingency left now: $2,132.
• Pending exposure (Proposed change orders): $600. Contingency left if every proposed change order were approved: $1,732.

Where each piece goes in the workbook

1. Start Here: Type the total budget, which includes the contingency pool, the contingency percentage and four contractors: Crown Contracting, Alpine Plumbing, Stellar Electric and Artisan Tile Works. Add Primary bath, Bedroom and Closet to the room list.
2. Budget: Give every line one of the three rooms. The vanity and the paint have no contractor. Stellar Electric appears twice, bath electrical and closet lighting, and Crown Contracting twice, bedroom flooring and closet shelving, which has no quote yet.
3. Change Orders: Log the marble upgrade against the tile line and the tub drains against the plumbing line, both Approved. Log the hardwood extension on the bedroom flooring line as Proposed; it stays out of Committed until you change the status.
4. Rooms & Summary: Compare budget, committed, paid and remaining for Primary bath, Bedroom and Closet, then read the project summary and contingency summary for the whole suite. The bath row is where the two approved change orders land.

Two formulas worth a cell of their own

• Committed for one room: =SUMIFS(Budget!$K$6:$K$65,Budget!$B$6:$B$65,"Primary bath") returns $12,300 on this example.
• Contingency used, the sum of the Overrun now column: =SUM(Budget!$S$6:$S$65) returns $1,500.

Four tracking tips

1. The hardwood extension is Proposed. Approving it would take the bedroom flooring line over its line budget, so it would start drawing on the contingency. Read Overrun if pending approved on that line before you change its status.
2. Crown Contracting and Stellar Electric each work in two rooms. Rooms & Summary splits their lines by room, while the Contractors tab adds each firm into one contract, so type each firm's % complete once for its whole scope.
3. Keep closet lighting on its own line with Room set to Closet instead of folding it into the bath electrical. The closet then shows its own committed amount, and Stellar Electric's two quotes stay separate rows.
4. Artisan Tile Works holds only the shower line, so its Contractors row covers just that one line. Type your estimate of the tile done and compare it with Paid ahead of work: a positive figure means paid for more work than is done.

Questions

Where does closet flooring go if the hardwood runs into the closet?

The proposed hardwood change here sits on the bedroom flooring line, so approving it raises Bedroom committed, not Closet. To see closet flooring on its own row, add a flooring line with Room set to Closet and log the change against that line instead.

Which line should the freestanding tub drain change go on?

The plumbing line. A change order follows the Line ID you type, so the drains raise Alpine Plumbing's current contract, not Artisan Tile Works. The Contractor shown on the Change Orders tab is looked up from that line.

Related renovation guides

• Renovation budget by room spreadsheet: SUMIFS per room, with an overrun flag
• Renovation change order tracker: a spreadsheet for homeowners
• Renovation contingency tracker: how much contingency is left

More renovation budget guides

• Renovation budget spreadsheets by room and project type
• Budget for adding a new bathroom: rough-in, fixtures and permits
• Attic conversion budget: handling structural surprises
• Basement finishing budget spreadsheet: quotes, change orders and contingency
• Deck budget spreadsheet: material upgrades and impact on contingency
• Exterior renovation budget: comparing roofing, siding and window bids
• Fixer upper budget: everything at once, commit as quotes arrive
• Garage conversion budget: multiple trades and owner-bought materials
• Home addition budget: design, permits, general contractor and utilities
• Laundry and mudroom remodel budget: owner-bought appliances and small change orders
• Owner as general contractor: budget, payments and milestones per trade
• Whole house renovation budget: kitchen, bathroom and living spaces