Home Improvement Project Planner

Who this is for

One page to run one project on. The top half is the stages in order, with who is doing each and when; the bottom half is the money, estimated against spent, with the difference and the amount left of your budget worked out.

Anyone doing a single job on the house — a bathroom, a loft, a kitchen, a garden room — themselves or with trades, who wants the plan and the money on the same sheet.

What this helps you track

• The stages of the job in order, with start and finish dates and how long each took
• Who is responsible for each stage, so nothing waits on a person nobody has asked
• Estimated cost against money actually spent, line by line
• How much of the budget is left, worked out as you go

How to use it

1. Name the project and the room, put in the date you are aiming to finish and the budget you have set.
2. Break the job into stages in the order they must happen and write who does each one.
3. Put a start and finish date against each stage; the browser and workbook count the days.
4. List the costs you expect, one line each, with an estimate. Fill in the spent column as invoices and receipts arrive.
5. Watch the difference column and the budget-remaining figure; on paper, add up the money columns into the summary at the end.
6. Tick each stage when it is finished and keep the sheet with the receipts when the job is done.

Formats

• Printable PDF (A4 and US Letter)
• Fillable PDF with form fields
• Fill in online, saved in your browser
• Excel / Google Sheets workbook

The printable is laid out inside a box that fits both A4 and US Letter, so the two files are identical and neither one is scaled. The fillable PDF has real form fields. The workbook uses plain formulas only — SUM, IF, COUNTIF and the like — so it opens in Excel, LibreOffice and Google Sheets without anything breaking, and every calculated cell is grey so you can see which figures it worked out.

How to print

Download the A4 or US Letter file to match the paper in your printer, open it in a PDF reader and print at 100% — not "fit to page", which shrinks the writing space. Both files leave a 14 mm margin, which clears the unprintable edge on home printers. To print the online version with your entries in it, use the Print this sheet button, which prints only the sheet and none of the page around it. More on printing.

Questions

How detailed should the stages be?

Detailed enough that each one has a single person responsible and a date it can be finished by. 'Plumbing first fix, Dan, Tuesday to Thursday' is a stage. 'Bathroom' is not.

What if the project needs more than one page of costs?

Use the renovation budget spreadsheet for the money and keep this planner for the stages. It is built for larger jobs with many suppliers.

Should I add a contingency line?

If you want one, add it as a cost line with your own figure. The sheet does not suggest an amount or a percentage — that depends on the job and how much of it is unknown.

Can I use it for a job a contractor is running?

Yes. Put the contractor's stages and dates in, record their invoices against your estimate, and you have your own version of the schedule to compare with theirs.