Lead budgets

Building a budget during the lead phase lets you forecast profitability before a contract is signed. Monograph offers two ways to build one.

Top-down vs. bottom-up

• Top-down (fee-driven) — you know the total fee (say, a $100k fixed fee) and carve it into phases and roles by percentage. Monograph calculates how many hours that buys.
• Bottom-up (hours-driven) — you estimate the hours each role needs; Monograph multiplies by billable rates and rolls them up into the project total.

You can switch modes any time from the Budget Mode menu (top-left of the builder).

Build the budget

1. Open the lead, scroll to Proposal, and click Add next to Budget.

2. Choose a starting method: use a template, use an existing project, or start from scratch, then click Next.

3. Add phases, then roles (via Add role), setting percentages (top-down) or hours (bottom-up).

Templates & projects default to top-down

Starting from a template or past project pulls in role and budget recommendations (as-is, even if slightly unbalanced — editing re-balances them). Use a project suggests the six most recent projects in the lead’s category.

Two rules to remember

In top-down, phase percentages — and role percentages within a phase — must total exactly 100% to save. In bottom-up, only role-level hours are editable; phase and project totals always roll up from those hours.

Consultants, expenses & construction cost

Scrolling down the builder, you can also add:

• Consultants — phase and/or project consultants with estimated budgets and markup.
• Expense budget — either one total budget or separate budgets per expense category.
• Construction cost — estimated construction costs, if known.

Link phases

Hover a phase, click the link icon, and drag to a dependent phase so schedules shift together. Links survive budget changes; deleting a linked fixed-fee phase breaks that link and recalculates remaining percentages.

Finalize & edit

The finished budget appears in the lead’s Proposal section — phase and consultant budgets, roles and rates, fee-type totals, and the overall proposed total. Click Edit to reopen the builder (it remembers your mode).

Locked after winning

Once a lead is Closed–Won and converted to a project, the proposed budget can’t be edited — make further changes on the active project’s Budget page.

Next steps

ProposalsGenerate a proposal document from this budget.

Budgets & feesHow budgets work once a lead becomes a project.