Your contract says "$8,000 allowance for kitchen appliances." You walk into the showroom, fall in love with a dishwasher, and suddenly that allowance is $12,500. Multiply that across tiles, tapware, lighting, flooring, and landscaping, and a $500,000 build quietly becomes $560,000.
What Are PC and PS Allowances?
Prime Cost (PC) items are things you'll select later — the builder includes an estimated price in the contract. You pay the difference if your selection costs more (or get a credit if it costs less).
Provisional Sum (PS) items are work where the final cost isn't known yet — like excavation, which depends on soil conditions. The builder estimates, and you pay the actual cost.
Both are perfectly legal. But both can blow out your budget if you're not tracking them.
The Allowance Tracker
For each PC or PS item in your contract:
- Enter the contract allowance amount
- Enter your actual selection price when you choose
- See the difference instantly: green (under) or red (over)
The dashboard shows three numbers that matter:
- Total Contract Allowances — what your contract budgeted
- Total Actual Selections — what you've actually chosen
- Budget Drift — the gap, in dollars and colour-coded
No Surprises at Settlement
The worst time to discover your allowances blew out by $40,000 is at practical completion when the builder hands you the final invoice. Track it as you go, and you'll know exactly where you stand at every stage.
Open your project and start tracking your allowances.