The Construction S-Curve Template That Actually Forecasts Outturn
A free Excel template for planned value, actual cost and earned value. Enter your baseline and actuals, and it calculates CV, SV, CPI, SPI and a full EAC/ETC/VAC forecast automatically. Built by quantity surveyors, not a generic project template.
Three tabs. Nothing you don't need.
Most S-curve templates online are either too basic to forecast anything, or so bloated with macros they break the first time someone opens them in a different version of Excel. This one has three tabs and no macros.
- ✓How to use. A five-step guide: set the job basics, enter your baseline, add actuals, read the curves, use the forecast.
- ✓S-Curve Calculator. The blank template. Enter Budget at Completion, number of periods and your planned % complete by period, then log actual cost and actual % complete as the job runs.
- ✓Worked Example. A fully filled 12-month, £2.4m job with realistic construction milestones, so you can see exactly how the formulas behave before you touch your own numbers.
- ✓Automatic forecast block. CPI, EAC, ETC, VAC and TCPI calculate themselves from your data date. No separate spreadsheet, no manual maths.
Enter three things. Get the full EVM picture.
You enter cumulative planned % complete, cumulative actual cost and cumulative actual % complete for each period. The template does the rest.
PV, from your baseline
Planned % complete converted straight into a cumulative £ curve against Budget at Completion. There's an ideal-curve helper built in if you need a sensible starting shape before you refine it to your actual programme.
AC, from your cost records
What you've actually spent to date, cumulative. Pulled straight from your CVR or cost ledger, not estimated.
EV, from site progress
Actual % complete converted to a £ value of work actually done. Compare this against PV and AC and you've got the three curves that tell the whole story.
Negative cost or schedule variance, and a CPI or SPI under 1, are flagged automatically so you're not hunting through a wall of numbers to find the problem period.
See it running on a real £2.4m job first
The Worked Example tab is a 12-month, £2.4 million job, mobilisation through practical completion, with the sort of milestones you'd actually see on site: mobilisation, groundworks, a peak month, fit-out, practical completion.
At month 9, the data date in the example, actual cost has run ahead of earned value. CPI sits at 0.96 and SPI at 0.99. Run that through the forecast block and the job is heading for roughly £2.5m against a £2.4m budget, about £102,000 over. That's the point of an S-curve. It tells you there's a problem in month 9, not in the final account meeting in month 14.
Copy the structure straight across into your own tab once you're comfortable with how the formulas move.
Enter your email, get the file straight away
Free download. No card, no obligation. Just a working S-curve template you can put your own numbers into today.
Every period, someone has to update this by hand.
Actual cost and actual % complete don't fill themselves in. Somebody pulls them from the cost ledger and the site diary, types them into the yellow cells, and does it again next period. Gather's AI QS agent reads every site diary entry and links it to cost and progress data automatically, so the numbers behind your S-curve update themselves instead of waiting for the next manual review.
Book a demoFrequently asked questions
Does this work for JCT as well as NEC contracts?
Yes. Earned value forecasting isn't contract-specific. The template tracks planned value, actual cost and earned value regardless of the form of contract you're running.
Do I need to know EVM to use it?
No. The How to use tab walks through the five steps, and the Worked Example tab shows exactly how a finished, live version behaves before you build your own.
Does it work in Google Sheets?
It's built and tested in Excel. Most of the formulas will import into Google Sheets, but check the forecast block calculates correctly after import.
Can I use it for more than one project?
Yes. Duplicate the S-Curve Calculator tab for each project, or duplicate the whole file. There's no licence restriction on internal use.
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