> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.x.build/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Project finances

> Every payment, every cost, and the balance due — computed, not guessed

## Working with project finances

The **Finance** tab is the money ledger for a [project](/platform/projects-overview): what's been paid, what the work is costing, and what's still owed. Record a payment or cost as it happens — a check photographed in the driveway shows in the balance due within a minute.

*This feature is available on select XBuild plans. If you don't see it in your account, contact [support@x.build](mailto:support@x.build).*

**Balance due** is never typed in. It's computed: the signed contract total, plus every *authorized* [change order](/platform/change-orders), minus every non-voided payment. Draft and voided change orders and voided payments never count.

Cost and profit details live only on the Finance tab, which is visible only to team members with access to Finance — a crew member looking at work orders never sees what the job costs or earns.

### 1. Record payments

On the **Finance** tab, click **Record payment**, fill in the fields, and click **Record payment**:

| Field                   | Options / rules                                                                                                                                           |
| ----------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Amount** and **date** |                                                                                                                                                           |
| **Method**              | ACH, Card, Check, Cash, or Other. **A check requires a photo of the check** — the dialog won't save without it, and there's no override                   |
| **Source**              | Homeowner, Carrier, or Financier — keeps the three-check insurance reality legible (deposit from the homeowner, ACV from the carrier, depreciation later) |
| **Type**                | Deposit, Progress, Final, Supplement, or Depreciation                                                                                                     |
| **Reference**           | Check number or transaction id                                                                                                                            |
| **Cleared the bank**    | Flip on once the money has landed                                                                                                                         |

Deposits paid through XBuild are recorded automatically — see [Deposits and getting paid](/features/deposits-and-getting-paid). Edit a payment recorded wrong; void one that never happened — it stays on the ledger for the record but drops out of the balance due immediately.

### 2. Track costs — expected next to actual

| Kind         | What it is                                                                                                                 |
| ------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Expected** | What you planned to spend. Seeds per trade when the proposal is signed, and follows the trade's work order once one exists |
| **Actual**   | What you spent, recorded as receipts and invoices arrive                                                                   |

To record a cost, click **Add cost** and enter the amount, date, and **category** — Labor, Material, Misc, or Commission — plus any attribution: vendor or payee, [crew](/platform/work-orders-and-crews), trade, or team member (for commissions and profit splits). Attach a **photo of the receipt**.

Don't edit an expected cost into an actual — record the actual beside it. The gap between the two is the story of the job.

### 3. Read the profit rollup

The Finance tab rolls the ledger up **by trade**: what each trade was quoted at against what it's costing. While actuals are still arriving, expected costs stand in as the provisional figure. Because costs point at crews, the same records compare one sub's roofs against another's across every job.

### 4. Note the funding mix

Under the balance summary, set how the job is paid for — **Out of pocket**, **Financed**, **Insurance**, or **Mix** — with a free-form note for terms ("12-month same-as-cash through Acme Lending"). No math reads it; it's context for whoever opens the project.

### 5. Troubleshooting common issues

* **The balance due looks wrong.** One of its inputs is off: a payment recorded twice or not at all, a [change order](/platform/change-orders) agreed but never marked authorized, or one that should have been voided. Fix the record and the balance follows.
* **I don't see the Finance tab.** Finance is limited to team members with access to it, and the tab is part of the gradual rollout. Ask your admin, or contact XBuild Support.
* **A deposit paid through XBuild shows up twice.** XBuild records those automatically — if someone also entered it by hand, void the manual duplicate.
* **The profit numbers look too rosy.** The trade's costs are probably still mostly expected rather than actual. Record actuals as receipts come in.
* **I need to change an expected cost attached to a work order.** Edit its amount if the plan changed. If the work order was cancelled, its expected cost returns to the trade automatically.

For further assistance, contact XBuild Support at [support@x.build](mailto:support@x.build).