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PIPER ™ Modern Event Budgeting
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Getting started

get your first budget in cleanly.

The things new users most often get stuck on, and how to avoid them.

02 Importing Smart Start · New Project

bring an existing budget across.

  • 1Trim the file first. Old scenarios, scratch maths, notes tabs. Piper reads everything you give it.
  • 2Untick sheets that aren't budget lines.
  • 3Under 10MB a file. PDF, Excel or plain text. If it stalls, try fewer sheets.
  • 4Add one line of context. It noticeably improves the result. No file? A description on its own is enough.
  • 5Pricing it yourself? Tick "no prices" for a brief or kit list and Piper builds the estimate. Leave it unticked to keep your prices.
  • 6Detailed or Block. Detailed builds line by line. Block gives a rough big-block estimate from the headings.
  • 7Review before Import Budget. Flags mark lines Piper wasn't sure about.
03 IN, OUT & markup Every line item

your cost in, their price out.

  • Clients only ever see OUT. IN and markup are hidden on every screen and export.
  • Markup never touches your unit cost. IN stays exactly what you paid.
  • Three ways to type markup. A percentage, a fixed amount per unit, or the client rate itself. Discounts work too: -10% or -200.
Billing your own staff? Set unit cost to 0 and markup to their rate, like =650. The client sees the day rate, and none of it shows as an external cost. Don't use a percentage: 15% of nothing is nothing.
IN
In Rate · what it costs you
Client never sees
OUT
Out Rate · what you charge
Client sees
Markup field · on a £1,000 unit cost
£1,000 £1,000left blank, OUT = IN
£1,000 15% £1,150adds a percentage
£1,000 +200 £1,200adds a fixed amount per unit
£1,000 =1200 £1,200sets the client rate, whatever the cost
Your own staff · £650 day rate
£0 =650 £650✓
£0 15% £0✗client is charged nothing
04 Drop Zone Budget editor

say exactly what you mean.

  • Be specific. Quantities, rates and days beat a vague ask.
  • Name the line you want changed. Piper finds it.
  • Instructions with a file apply to that file only. Your other lines are left alone.
  • "Mark up by 15%" sets markup. Your cost stays put, same as above.
✗add some camera crew
✓2 camera operators at 500/day for 3 days
✗change that rate
✓update the gaffer's rate
05 Versions & sharing Version badge · top of the editor

save, publish, present.

  • Save a version before big changes. Version badge, then Save As New Version. You can always compare back.
  • Publish before anything goes to a client. An unpublished client PDF is stamped for internal use only.
  • Export from the ⋯ menu in the editor. Pick the Client view, then PDF or Excel. Clients see your Out Rate labelled Unit Cost.
  • Present is how a client approves. Publishing freezes a copy. Presenting asks for sign-off.
Initial approval

Once a client approves, their number is set. Your job shifts to protecting your own margin. Stop guessing where your margin is going to land.

  1. 1

    Create & publish

    Publish as often as you need. Published budgets are frozen and visible in the client portal. On Locked budgets, costs don't lock until you present.

  2. 2

    Present v0.04

    Present asks the client for approval and freezes v0.04. Only one version can await approval at a time. On Locked budgets, costs lock here.

  3. 3

    Client approves v0.04

    It becomes the baseline. The target price is set to the approved total.

  4. 4

    Keep working in v1.00

    On Locked budgets, your new draft holds v0.04's costs on every line. New lines start at zero out cost, so the approved total holds. Future changes can become a change order.

stuck?

Any question, any time. Nothing is too small to ask.