Contingency Burn Rate Calculator

Contingency burn rate vs project completion is the leading indicator of construction project health. If burn matches completion, the project is on track. If burn outpaces completion, you have an early warning of overrun. This calculator computes remaining contingency, projected total burn, and projected overrun based on current pace.

Original contingency budget

Contingency burned to date

Project % complete

Total contract cost

Contingency remaining

$275,000

Projected overrun (or surplus)

-$50,000

Negative = surplus

Burned vs expected

-$27,500

Expected burn at this %

$302,500

Projected total burn

$500,000

How the math works

Contingency burn rate vs project completion is the leading indicator of project budget health. If you've burned 50% of contingency at 55% complete, you're roughly on track. Burn 75% of contingency at 50% complete = serious problem.

Industry contingency norms: 5-10% of hard cost on standard projects; 10-15% on renovation; 15-25% on historic or design-build.

How to Use

Enter original contingency and amount burned to date.
Enter project % complete and total contract cost.
Read remaining, projected overrun, and burn benchmark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Healthy burn rate?

Burn within 10% of completion percentage = on track. Above 20% over completion = serious overrun risk; freeze owner-driven scope changes.

Contingency norms?

Standard new-build 5-10% of hard cost; renovation 10-15%; historic preservation 15-25%; design-build often 10-15% reserved.

Recovering from burn?

Re-baseline scope, value-engineer remaining work, accelerate punch-list to close out smaller change orders before they grow. Bring lender into conversation early — they have skin in keeping project from blowing up.