Start here: earned value in plain English
If the terms EVM, SPI, and CPI make your eyes glaze over, start with the anchor guide. It explains earned value with no jargon and no formulas you'll never use: Earned value for contractors (EVM/SPI/CPI) in plain English. Everything below builds on it.
The four skills that make progress real
- [Percent complete methods](/percent-complete-methods). How you decide a job is "40% done." Get this wrong and every progress number downstream is wrong too. Learn the main methods and when to use each.
- [The WIP report for small GCs](/wip-report-for-small-gcs). Work-in-progress reporting sounds like something only big builders do. It's actually a simple table that tells you if you're over- or under-billed on every open job.
- [Cost-to-complete forecasting](/cost-to-complete-forecasting). The most important number on a live job isn't what you've spent. It's what's left to spend. Here's how to forecast it.
- Are you making money on this job? A 5-minute check any contractor can run on any open job to see if the margin is holding.
Why cost data underpins all of it
Earned value compares money earned against money spent, so your cost baseline has to be real. When you're forecasting remaining costs or checking whether your budget was sound to begin with, cross-reference current market rates in the Construction Price Index.
How this fits the bigger picture
Earned value is the "are we on track" half of running a job. The other half is the budget you started from. See budgeting and job costing. Together they're the core of real construction project management: price it right, then steer it home.
Put it to work
You don't need a PhD in project controls to track earned value. You need an accurate estimate and a habit of checking progress against it. Build the estimate with the free estimating tool, then let TradesMetrics turn it into live earned-value tracking so you always know whether a job is winning or slipping. Explore the app.