Budgeting

[Ech725]

So it's not my favorite part of the job but unfortunately an essential part of it-budgeting. I was hoping to talk about your approach towards budgeting a show. I remember in graduate school learning three different methods. The first one was simply ball-parking it. Taking a look at the designers front elevations/model and taking an educated guess. The second was the square footage method. Essentially the design was broken down into square footage of scenic elements-flats, platforms, etc and denoting a value for a scenic element through square footage and applying it to the whole design. The third way was meticulously figuring out the linear footage of each element and adding it all up. While I remember the design we were given at the time was extremely basic, those methods have served me well in the professional and educational world. Most of the designs that have been fun to work on were things that I have never done/built which became tricky when budgeting. I've also learned that Excel is a very beneficial program in creating elaborate spreadsheets to keep track of multiple budgets. I've also learned that it helps to have a good working relationship with the PM and designer when altering designs to fit budgets. I'd love to hear some different ways or tips you've picked up along the way in terms of budgeting. While I primarily mentioned scenery, I believe the topic may be expanded to other areas.

 

[TheaterEd]

budgeting for the high school set, I basically just calculate how much lumber, PVC, and specialty hardware (wheels, wagon brakes, etc) I'm going to need to buy for the set pieces, and then double that number to account for paint supplies, hardware (Screws, hinges), my bad math and the students messing up. I generally would end up under budget, but there is always something that gets added to my load in the final weeks that gets me right up to my number or slightly over. This year is is deck chairs. Apparently we can't find any to borrow so I get to figure out how to make them. Preferably before next week.

 

[bobgaggle]

Interesting, I've never heard of using the square foot method, and it seems that it would give you a good rough estimate for stock pieces (flats, plats, stairs) but not so much for show specific pieces. I approach budgeting as a multi step process, that follows closely with the design process:

1. Designer submits rough concept sketches - I have a look and get the "ballpark" number based on broad ideas... (Is there a rake? 2 story set? Organic contoured deck? etc.)
2. Designer submits preliminary design - I start to narrow down what specific units will be, and estimate costs per unit... (this stair unit will cost around $___, et al)
3. Designer submits Final design - I start building the units in my head and list what it will take to build, then I put an itemized list in my epic spreadsheet and calculate costs for materials.

While my company has a separate budget line that shop supplies (hardware) goes in, I still add 5% of the cost of each unit to the unit's estimated cost for hardware replacement. I also add 10% of the overall cost of the production to the cost estimate as a buffer for the unexpected costs. One of my professors in school told me that about 25% of the overall cost of a production is wasted because of prototyping, errors, cuts, and additions to a show, so I try to build in a big buffer.

Another thing I do is try to operate on a zero based budget, meaning that every dollar is spent on paper before anyone pulls out the credit card. So if there's a surplus at the end of my production estimate, I divide it between all the units evenly, or sometimes put it towards the GOK (God Only Knows) budget line.

If anyone feels so inclined it'd be great to see someone's spreadsheets (with sensitive info deleted). I'd be interested to see how y'all do it. I love budgeting.

 

[rochem]

Another thing I do is try to operate on a zero based budget, meaning that every dollar is spent on paper before anyone pulls out the credit card. So if there's a surplus at the end of my production estimate, I divide it between all the units evenly, or sometimes put it towards the GOK (God Only Knows) budget line.

Can you elaborate on this? I use a similar contingency formula, where I divide the show into scenic "pieces" or "ideas" (each one a separate excel tab in my own epic spreadsheet of doom). Each piece gets a 5% contingency, then I add 10-15% of the total budget as an additional contingency, depending on how the process has gone and the likelihood for more changes/adds. However, if I come in under budget, I leave it. I may rework ideas to use more preferable materials to take advantage of the extra money, but if I'm still $1000 under, I'm not gonna hide that in the show - I'm probably gonna tell the designer that we're under and see if that leads to more developments. I don't see why you would arbitrarily zero out your budget if your show came in under budget, but maybe I'm not understanding you correctly.

As for me, I also enjoy budgeting - it's always a challenge, and it requires a lot of skill and knowledge and foresight about a project. Materials budgeting is pretty easy for me, as I can break down a rough number of pieces of material fairly quickly, then plug that into my excel tab of local materials prices to come up with a rough number. What's always been challenging for me, however, is budgeting labor. I've tried a lot of different methods, including going down to the roots (this piece requires X table saw cuts averaging 45 seconds per cut, 37 glue and staple joints at 30 seconds per, and so on), but it's just unpredictable when you're not working with the same full-time professionals day in and day out.

 

[Derickls]

I used to work at a scene shops, near NY, budgeting all the scenery. Prior to my joining and as part of on ongoing task was tracking the cost of building scenic elements. That information then got broken down into a square foot price for use in an excel document. Most scenic elements got broken down into their component parts and priced on that square footage estimate. This was only used for the framing and structure of the units. If there were casters on a platform those were added separately, but unit number had the cost to install it built in as well. The scenic treatment was also a separate line in the sheet by square footage. It was a pretty complex document and one was made for each scenic unit, so that the methods could be tracked back as to how it was quoted. man days were also calculated by this form. After each scenic unit was determined in this form the totals were moved to another overall budgeting sheet where all the elements were combined, and adjustments could be made.

So for example one 4x8 scenic flat could have the following lines:
- hollywood flat, 1x3 wood frame, 1/4" luan skin - 32 sqft
- floor jack, wood, 8' tall - 2 qty
- FR back paint - 32 sqft

As pieces become more complex there was a lot of manual information entering, so it was kind of a hybrid system.

 

[bobgaggle]

I'm not gonna hide that in the show - I'm probably gonna tell the designer that we're under and see if that leads to more developments

I don't consider it "hiding", just adding more contingency. IMO the designer is going to design his/her ideal set. Philosophically, I think the only time the designer should think about a budget is when the TD says a particular design is going to exceed the budget, which should happen in the concept/prelim phase. It inhibits the design process when they've got restrictions in the form of money in their minds from the beginning.

Another reason I zero out is because there will always be that conversation that goes like this:
"hey, we should get this doohickie to try out and see if that works better than this"
"yeah we've got some extra money to play around with, go pick it up"

which runs the risk of the unallocated money seeming to vanish