Creating an Allowance

Step-by-step guide to linking an allowance to a budget line item, setting scope, and naming.

Where allowances are created

In **Budget**, not on Selections.

1. Open **Budget**.
2. Edit (or add) the line you will shop for later — for example *Plumbing Fixtures*.
3. Turn on **Allowance Item**.
4. Save.

That is the whole setup. The line now appears on **Selections** by itself, and its **Allowance Budget** is that line's revised budget — the same figure Budget shows, including sales tax, approved change orders and budget transfers.

There is no create-allowance form on Selections, and nothing to link by hand. You never set the same allowance up twice.

Getting to it quickly

From the Budget line's three-dot menu, **Manage Selections** opens that exact allowance.

One line, one allowance

Each Budget line marked as an allowance is one allowance, counted once. Change the Budget line's amount and the allowance amount follows.

Turning it off again

Unmarking **Allowance Item** deletes nothing. The allowance stays on Selections with every item, product option, note and status, under a notice saying the Budget line is no longer marked, with **Open Budget** so you can mark it again.

> TIP: Keep allowances on their own Budget lines rather than buried inside a hard-cost line. Lenders and your own tracking both read better that way.

What happens next

Open **Selections** and use **Add Item** for each decision inside the allowance.