Construction projects rarely die from bad building — they die from cash arriving later than costs. This Excel template forecasts and tracks project cash month by month: draws in, costs out, retainage held, and your true net position at every point in the job.

Why a monthly cash flow beats a budget

A budget tells you the total. Cash flow tells you the timing — and timing is what determines whether you can make payroll in month four while the owner’s payment sits in approval. Banks and GCs both read monthly cash flow formats; showing up with one changes the conversation.

What’s inside the template

• Month-by-month columns for draws, direct costs, overhead, and retainage
• Automatic running net-position calculation so the pinch months are visible early
• A summary view formatted the way lenders expect to see it

How to use it

1. Enter the contract value, draw schedule, and retainage terms.
2. Spread expected costs across the project months.
3. Update monthly with actuals — the variance against forecast shows immediately.

All our templates run in Microsoft Excel 2010 or later on Windows. They use macros for their built-in automation — when you first open one, click Enable Content in the yellow bar and everything works.

Get the template

Download the Construction Monthly Cash Flow Template — $12.99, one-time payment, lifetime use, backed by our refund guarantee. It arrives as an instant download with a quick-start guide.

Need more than one template? The Plus Plan includes 150 professional project management templates for $60 — this one and everything around it.