PK Publishing
How to use it

RenovaTrack

Built around forecasting where you're heading rather than recording where you've been — so the overrun shows up while you can still change it.

What it's for Reach for it when Your first fifteen minutes Getting more out of it The limits
What it's for

Forty small surprises, not one big one.

Renovations don't blow the budget on one big surprise. They blow it on forty small ones that each looked fine in isolation and only added up on the invoices. By the time you notice, the money is spent.

RenovaTrack is built around forecasting where you're heading rather than recording where you've been. It tracks estimated against actual spend, compares contractor quotes on the same terms, and tells you your projected final cost while you can still change it.

Reach for it when

Three quotes, three formats, one budget.

You're renovating your own place and managing it yourself. You have quotes from three contractors in three formats sitting in your inbox. You have a budget you're anxious about and no clear read on whether you're still inside it.

Your first fifteen minutes

Estimates first. Actuals after.

  1. Open it and look at the sample kitchen remodel.
    It's there so you can see every feature working before entering anything real. Click through it, then delete it with one click when you're ready.
  2. Create your project and set the real budget.
    The number you'd be upset to exceed, not the aspirational one.
  3. Enter line items as estimates first.
    Cabinets, labor, permits, flooring — estimated cost, before anything is spent. This is what makes the forecast work; an empty plan can't warn you about anything.
  4. Add your contractor quotes.
    Enter each bid against the same line items. Quotes that looked comparable in PDF form usually aren't, and this is where that becomes visible.
  5. Set your milestone dates, including inspections.
    The permit step stalling the trades behind it is the classic schedule killer.
  6. Then log actuals as invoices arrive.
    Watch the forecast-at-completion number, not the spent-so-far number. That's the one that tells you something you don't already know.
Getting more out of it

Three habits worth keeping.

Photograph as you go
Before, during, after each phase. It costs nothing at the time and is the only record of what's behind the drywall.
Use Print / Save as PDF
Share a clean status report with a contractor, spouse or lender. There's no shared login, and this is cleaner anyway.
Check the forecast weekly, not daily
It's a steering instrument, not a scoreboard.
Honest about the limits

What it doesn't do.

Fourteen days free with no card, then $29 once. When the trial ends the app goes read-only rather than locking — you keep seeing your data and export keeps working, because holding someone's renovation records hostage is a terrible way to run a business.

Built for one person's device. It doesn't sync between your phone and your laptop, and there's no contractor login. Export a JSON copy before switching devices or clearing your browser.

Start free — 14 days, no card ↑ Back to what's inside