Allowance Tracker
Contract allowance vs. what you actually chose, by category, with the running total.
An allowance is a placeholder in the contract for an item not yet chosen. Enter your contract allowance and your actual selection cost per category and this tracks the running over or under, applies the builder’s markup where it applies to overruns, and shows the total impact on your contract price.
Allowance Tracker
| Category | Basis | Contract allowance | Your actual | Variance |
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No markup applied. Check your contract — many apply the builder’s markup to amounts over allowance.
Everything you type here stays in your browser. Nothing is sent to us, nothing is stored on a server, and refreshing the page clears it. Use the copy or print buttons if you want to keep the output.
- It reflects what your contract says only as accurately as you enter it. Read the allowance schedule and the markup clause before using this.
- Supplier quotes move. A tracker built in February against March pricing is a February document.
- It does not capture change orders that are not allowance-related, which are a separate and often larger source of variance.
- It cannot tell you whether an allowance was set realistically in the first place — only what it costs you now that it was not.
- Nothing is transmitted or stored on a server. Refreshing clears it.
The problem it solves
Allowances are the most common reason a custom home finishes above its contract price, and the mechanism is entirely legitimate. A builder pricing competitively has an incentive to set allowances low, because a lower total wins the job and the overrun arrives later. That is what the competitive dynamic produces unless a buyer specifically resists it.
The resistance is arithmetic. Price your actual preferences at the supplier during preconstruction, compare them against the schedule, and you learn the real number while you can still do something about it.
This tool is that comparison, kept as a running total. It also applies markup to overruns where your contract says it does — a detail buyers routinely miss until the first change order arrives.
How the arithmetic works
Per category
Each row holds the contract allowance and your expected actual cost. The variance is the difference. Categories default to the ones that most commonly overrun — tile and stone, plumbing fixtures, lighting, millwork, flooring, appliances, hardware, countertops, landscaping — and you can add your own.
Supply-only versus installed
Each row records which basis the allowance is on. This single distinction moves allowances substantially, and comparing a supply-only allowance against an installed quote is the most common error in this exercise. The tool keeps the flag beside the row rather than assuming.
Markup on overruns
Many contracts apply the builder’s markup to amounts over allowance. If yours does, enter the percentage and it is applied to positive variances only — never to credits, which is how contracts almost always read.
Credits
Coming in under an allowance produces a credit only if your contract says so. Some do not. The tool asks, and if credits are not returned it shows the under-spend as forgone rather than as money back — because that is what it is.
Questions
How do I know if my allowances are realistic?
Take the schedule to the suppliers during preconstruction and price your actual preferences, in the quantities your house needs, including installation labour. Ten minutes at a tile supplier tells you more than any amount of discussion. Tile, plumbing and lighting are the three that overrun most often — check those first.
Does the builder mark up allowance overruns?
Many contracts do, and it is not unreasonable — an overrun is extra work to procure and coordinate. What matters is that the percentage is stated in the original contract rather than negotiated later, when you have no leverage. Check before you sign.
What if I come in under an allowance?
Most contracts credit the difference, but not all. Confirm before you assume it, because an uncredited under-spend means choosing a cheaper tile saves the builder money rather than you. That should be a conscious decision rather than a discovery.
- Canadian Construction Documents Committee — change order practice — consulted August 6, 2026
- Canadian Home Builders’ Association — building contracts — consulted August 6, 2026
External sources are cited so you can check them. Regulations change; confirm anything you intend to rely on with the issuing authority directly.
A tool narrows the question. It does not answer it.
Every figure here depends on inputs only your specific parcel and your specific builder can supply. Tell us what you are building and we will point you at the research that applies.