Cost monitoring under DIN 276: budget, orders, forecast

Cost monitoring (Kostenverfolgung) means keeping, for each cost group or procurement package, the budget, the orders, the variations, the payments and a forecast side by side. DIN 276 supplies the structure and the framework of cost planning. The calculation is done in a spreadsheet. The AI helps with matching documents and with drafting the explanatory text. The forecast is answered for by the project lead.

1. Set the budget Cost target per cost group or package
2. Record the orders Contract sums and variations ordered
3. Match documents The AI proposes, a person confirms AI prepares
4. Calculate Cost status and forecast in the fixed program
5. Draft the explanation The AI writes from the table values, you approve AI prepares

Text version of the graphic

• 1. Set the budget: Cost target per cost group or package
• 2. Record the orders: Contract sums and variations ordered
• 3. Match documents: The AI proposes, a person confirms (the AI prepares)
• 4. Calculate: Cost status and forecast in the fixed program
• 5. Draft the explanation: The AI writes from the table values, you approve (the AI prepares)

What DIN 276 offers for this

DIN 276:2018-12 “Kosten im Bauwesen” (costs in building construction) regulates the system of cost planning. According to its table of contents, section 4 deals with the principles: cost determination, stages of cost determination, cost control, cost steering and cost target. Section 5 contains the cost structure, including an execution-oriented structure of costs. Section 6 deals with quantities and reference units.

According to DIN Media, the standard is the current edition in November 2026. The Deutsches Architektenblatt describes it as replacing DIN 276-1, DIN 276-4 and DIN 277-3. As stages of cost determination, the article names the cost estimate (Kostenschätzung), the cost calculation (Kostenberechnung) and the cost estimate based on tender prices (Kostenanschlag). The 2018 edition added a further stage between the last two, the Kostenvoranschlag, which includes the priced bills of quantities. In the buildings part, Annex 10 of the HOAI (the German fee scale for architects and engineers) assigns the cost estimate to phase 2 and the cost calculation to phase 3. Phase 6 contains cost control by comparing the priced bills of quantities with the cost calculation, and phase 8 cost control by checking the contractors’ invoicing against the contract prices, as well as the cost statement (Kostenfeststellung), for example under DIN 276.

One restriction up front: the text of the standard is chargeable and was not available for this article. The statements rest on the table of contents, the publisher’s information and a trade article. What the individual stages require exactly is stated in the standard. The HOAI statements refer to the version in force in November 2026.

One line per cost group or procurement package

The cost overview has one line per cost group, and for larger projects one per procurement package, that is per trade or order. You take the structure by cost groups from DIN 276. Which level makes sense depends on the project and the contract. The terms “cost status” and “forecast” in the table are the author’s working terms, not definitions from the standard.

Column	Content	Source
Budget	Cost target or last approved cost determination	Client decision, cost calculation
Contract sum	Total of the orders	Contracts
Variations ordered	Approved variations	Variation list
Cost status	Contract sum plus variations ordered	Spreadsheet
Open risks	Announced and disputed variations, with an assumption	Project lead
Forecast	Cost status plus risks plus work not yet awarded	Spreadsheet
Deviation	Forecast minus budget	Spreadsheet
Paid	Amounts paid so far	Payment status

Every figure carries a status date, so that two versions are not mixed up. Assumptions have a column of their own and do not sit inside the figure.

What the fixed program calculates

The spreadsheet adds up per cost group and level, forms cost status, forecast and deviation, and warns about contradictions. It reports, for example, when the payments in a line exceed the contract sum plus variations, or when the sum of the sub-lines does not match the sum of the cost group. The language model does not calculate. A figure that was read from a document and has not yet been reconciled carries the note “unchecked”.

How the columns fit together is shown by an example with invented data for a single cost group. The contract sum is 820,000 euros and the variations ordered come to 45,000 euros. That gives a cost status of 865,000 euros. As an assumption, the project lead sets 30,000 euros for announced and disputed variations, and the latest cost determination holds 120,000 euros for work not yet awarded. The forecast is therefore 1,015,000 euros. With a budget of 1,000,000 euros it lies 15,000 euros or 1.5 per cent above it, and the project lead has to decide what to do about this deviation.

1. Contract sum€820,000 from the contracts (example with invented data)
2. plus variations ordered€45,000 approved, giving the cost status of €865,000
3. plus open risks€30,000 announced and disputed variations, set as an assumption
4. plus work not yet awarded€120,000, giving the forecast of €1,015,000
5. Deviation from budgetForecast €1,015,000 minus budget €1,000,000 = €15,000 (1.5 %) over

Text version of the graphic

• Layer 1 from the bottom: Contract sum, €820,000 from the contracts (example with invented data)
• Layer 2 from the bottom: plus variations ordered, €45,000 approved, giving the cost status of €865,000
• Layer 3 from the bottom: plus open risks, €30,000 announced and disputed variations, set as an assumption
• Layer 4 from the bottom: plus work not yet awarded, €120,000, giving the forecast of €1,015,000
• Layer 5 from the bottom: Deviation from budget, Forecast €1,015,000 minus budget €1,000,000 = €15,000 (1.5 %) over

In this calculation the values that contracts support are at the bottom, and the assumed and estimated values are at the top. If you report only the cost status, the project looks better than it is once risks and open awards are included.

How to read the overview

The standard treats cost control and cost steering in separate sections. I read cost control as the comparison of actual against target, and cost steering as the decision about measures. The exact definitions are in the standard. The overview carries both: the deviation column shows where actual and target differ. For every line with a deviation the same question follows: where does it come from, and which decision is due? If the cause lies in variations ordered, it is documented. If it lies in open risks, it rests on an assumption, and that belongs in the discussion with the client before it flows into a figure for the report.

Where the AI helps

The first task is matching. Invoices, orders and variations arrive in different forms. The AI reads them and proposes a cost group or procurement package for each document, with the source reference in the document and a note on how certain the match is. Uncertain cases go to the project lead as a query. A match counts only once someone has confirmed it. How to trace answers back to their source is described in AI answers with a source reference. The documents themselves should sit in a searchable filing system (see Searchable project files).

The second task is the explanatory text. From the values in the spreadsheet the AI drafts sentences such as: “In cost group 300 the forecast lies above the budget by the stated amount, mainly because of the variations ordered in the shell construction package.” The figures come from the table, and the AI copies them and puts them in context. It does not set assumptions for the forecast. The text goes to the client only once the project lead has read and approved it. It can be carried over into the monthly report (see Preparing the monthly client report). How the figures of a single invoice are checked before they enter the overview is described in Checking interim payment applications.

Distinction from the cost estimate

The cost estimate is the early stage of cost determination, usually made from benchmark values. This article is about the time afterwards, when orders, variations and payments exist. It uses no values from licensed benchmark collections, and the examples contain no benchmark values.

What the overview does not do

The overview is a working tool for the project lead. It replaces neither a cost determination under the standard nor a planner’s service under the HOAI. Whether a forecast is reliable depends on the assumptions that you set. Legal consequences for fees or remuneration are for your legal adviser to clarify, for example which version of DIN 276 applies under the contract.

Documents contain prices and details about the parties involved. They are processed only on a platform that can be operated in line with the GDPR, not in a consumer chat service. Whether a data processing agreement is needed is for your data protection officer to clarify.

What you can do now

1. For a current project, set up a table with the eight columns above, at first at the level of cost groups.
2. Enter the budget and the contract sums, and check whether the totals match your last approved cost determination.
3. Match the documents of the last two months, once by hand and once with an AI proposal, and compare where the proposals differ.
4. Decide who sets the assumptions for the forecast and who approves the explanatory text.