Most project overruns are discovered at invoice time. The hours were logged, the tasks were done, and only when you add it all up do you see that the project ran 30% past what the client agreed to pay. By then the only options are an awkward conversation or a quiet write-off.
COLO's project budgets put the number in front of you while the work is happening. Billable time and invoices burn against the contract total, COLO warns you at 80%, and at 100% it stops billable timers and asks you what to do next — ask the client for more budget, carry on as non-billable work, or pause.
TL;DR
COLO tracks each project's spend against its contract total: billable tracked time multiplied by each task's rate, plus invoices already raised. At 80% you get an in-app budget warning; at 100% billable timers stop and a Budget Limit Reached prompt offers three choices — request a contract update from the client, continue internally as non-billable work, or pause. Clients approve or decline update requests from the client portal, and proposals, contracts and invoices that would exceed the budget are refused.
What you can do
- Give every project a budget — a fixed project cost, or an hourly estimate multiplied by the rate.
- Set a rate on each task so billable tracked time turns into spend automatically; non-billable internal tasks are kept out of the total.
- See the burn against the contract — billable time and invoices already raised count against the contract total.
- Get warned at 80% with an in-app budget alert to the project's creator and the contract assignee.
- Stop at 100% — running billable timers stop, and starting a new billable timer or task opens the Budget Limit Reached prompt.
- Ask the client for more budget with a Contract Update Request: an amount and a message, which the client approves or declines in the client portal.
- Keep working internally when you choose to absorb the extra work — only non-billable tasks run until the budget changes.
- Stay inside what was agreed — proposals and contracts above the project budget, and invoices above the contract budget, are refused with a clear message.
For consultants
A six-week engagement is sold at a fixed fee built from an hours estimate. Four weeks in, the 80% alert arrives while two workshops are still to run. That is early enough to decide: trim the remaining scope, or send the client a Contract Update Request with the reason and the amount, and let them approve it from their portal before the extra hours are worked.
For web designers
The site build had a budget, then the client asked for "one more page" five times. With task rates set, every hour on those pages counts against the contract as it is tracked. When the budget is reached, the billable timer stops and the prompt makes the decision explicit — charge for it, or do it as goodwill and track it as non-billable so you know what the goodwill cost.
For marketing agencies
Several people log time on the same retainer project. Nobody sees the whole picture from their own timesheet, but the project does: their billable hours, at each task's rate, burn against one contract total. The account manager gets the 80% warning, not the finance team three weeks after month-end.
How it connects with the rest of COLO
Budgets connect to the rest of the workspace. The budget a proposal or contract can carry is checked against the project's budget. Time tracked on tasks turns into spend at each task's rate. Invoices raised for the project count toward the total, and when an invoice from an accepted proposal already exists at contract signature, you choose whether it is linked to the contract budget or kept separate.
Currency is kept consistent too: a task, invoice line or contract in a different currency from the project's contract is refused, so the budget is always measured in one currency.
Projects also move through their statuses automatically — Draft when created, Active once a contract exists, In Progress when time starts being tracked, and Closed when the invoices are paid and nothing is left open.
A week with project budgets
At the start of the week, a budget alert is waiting: the brand refresh project has used 80% of its contract. You open the project, see that the logo exploration took longer than planned, and move one remaining nice-to-have task to non-billable so the client's money goes to what they asked for.
On Wednesday the website project reaches 100%. Your designer's billable timer stops and the next timer they start opens the Budget Limit Reached prompt. You choose Request Contract Update, enter the extra amount and a two-line explanation, and send it. While the request is pending, new tasks on the project are non-billable.
On Thursday the client opens the request in their portal and approves it. The contract total goes up, tasks become billable again, and the project carries on — with the change agreed in writing rather than in a call nobody minuted.
What to know before you start
- The budget is measured against the project's contract — a project with no contract is not budget-tracked. If the budget is reached on a contract the client has not yet signed, COLO asks for the signature first.
- Clients approve or decline Contract Update Requests in the client portal, so that step needs a plan that includes the portal.
- Alerts appear inside COLO (not by email), and they are checked while the workspace is open in your browser.
- A timer accidentally left running for more than 12 hours is stopped automatically and capped at 12 hours.
What it replaces in your stack
| If you currently use… | You can replace it with |
|---|---|
| A spreadsheet adding up hours × rate | COLO budget burn per project |
| A separate time tracker plus mental arithmetic | Task rates and tracked time in the same project |
| Email threads to agree extra budget | Contract Update Requests approved in the portal |
Pricing
Project budgets are part of COLO's projects, contracts and time tracking — see our pricing for plan details.
FAQ
Q: What counts against a project's budget?
Billable time tracked on the project's tasks, multiplied by each task's rate, plus invoices already raised against the project. Non-billable (internal) tasks are not counted.
Q: When do I get warned?
At 80% of the budget you get an in-app warning. At 100%, running billable timers stop and the Budget Limit Reached prompt appears when you next start billable work.
Q: What happens when a project hits 100%?
You choose: send the client a Contract Update Request for more budget, continue internally with non-billable work only, or pause the work. Nothing is billed beyond the agreed budget without one of those decisions.
Q: How does the client approve more budget?
The request appears in the client portal with your message and amount. If the client approves, the contract total increases and the work becomes billable again; if they decline, the project continues in internal mode.
Q: Can a proposal or invoice go over the budget?
No. A proposal or contract above the project budget is refused, and so is an invoice that would exceed the approved contract budget.
Q: Do budget alerts arrive by email?
No. Budget alerts are in-app notifications, shown while you are working in COLO.
Q: Can I mix currencies on one project?
No. A task, invoice line or contract must use the same currency as the project's contract, so the budget is always measured in a single currency.
Related
Pair budgets with contracts, task management and invoicing. Read more: project budget tracking for freelancers and how to ask a client for more budget.