Project Management

Project Management in RealBooks helps you track every renovation, repair, and capital improvement across your portfolio. From the initial estimate to the final invoice, you’ll know exactly what you’ve spent, where the project stands, and how it affects your property’s basis and depreciation.

When to Use Projects

Create a project anytime you’re doing work on a property that involves multiple expenses, a defined budget, or a timeline. Common examples:

• Full rehab — Gut renovation on a new acquisition
• Kitchen or bathroom remodel — Targeted capital improvement
• Roof replacement — Major single-category expense
• Turnover repairs — Getting a unit rent-ready between tenants
• Landscaping or exterior work — Curb appeal and land improvements
• HVAC or electrical upgrade — System-level improvements

You don’t need to create a project for every repair. A one-off plumber call can go straight to Expense Management. Projects are for work that has a scope, a budget, and multiple moving parts.

Creating a Project

1. Go to Projects > Create Project
2. Fill in the project details:

Field	Description
Project Name	A descriptive name (e.g., “123 Main St — Kitchen Rehab”)
Property	The property this project is for
Entity	Auto-filled based on the property’s entity
Budget	Your estimated total cost
Start Date	When work begins (or the planned start)
Target Completion	When you expect work to finish
Description	Scope notes, contractor details, or any context

3. Click Save

The project is now live and ready for expense tracking and status updates.

Status Workflows

Every project moves through a series of stages. RealBooks provides a default workflow that works for most rehab scenarios:

Stage	What It Means
Planning	Gathering quotes, defining scope, finalizing budget
In Progress	Work is underway — contractors on site
Review	Work complete, inspecting results, processing final invoices
Complete	Project finished, all costs finalized and allocated

Moving Between Stages

Update the status from the project detail page or the project list view:

1. Open the project
2. Click the current status
3. Select the new stage
4. Add an optional note (e.g., “Waiting on final electrical inspection”)

Status changes are logged with timestamps, so you have a record of how long each phase took.

Tip

Update statuses as work progresses — even a quick change from your phone while on-site. This keeps your team and your records current without relying on memory.

Budget Tracking

The budget view shows you exactly where your spending stands:

• Original Budget — What you estimated at the start
• Total Spent — Sum of all expenses tied to this project
• Remaining — Budget minus spent
• Percentage Used — Visual progress bar
• Over/Under — Whether you’re tracking above or below budget

Adding Expenses to a Project

There are two ways expenses get tied to a project:

1. Assign during transaction review When reviewing imported bank transactions, assign them to both a property and a project. This is the easiest method for expenses that come through your linked accounts.

2. Add directly from the project From the project detail page, click Add Expense to manually log a project cost. This is useful for cash payments, contractor checks, or materials purchased in person.

Every expense assigned to a project also appears in your main expense ledger and flows through to tax reporting.

Rehab Estimator

Before you commit to a project, use the Rehab Estimator to plan your scope and budget.

The Rehab Estimator helps you:

• Break down costs by room or category (kitchen, bathrooms, flooring, exterior, etc.)
• Estimate material and labor costs
• Compare your estimates against actual results from past projects
• Create a budget baseline that you can import into a new project

Using the Estimator

1. Go to Projects > Rehab Estimator
2. Select the property (or enter details for a property you’re evaluating)
3. Add line items for each scope area
4. Enter estimated costs per line item
5. Review the total estimate
6. Click Create Project from Estimate to turn it into a live project with the budget pre-filled

PennyAI Estimator

PennyAI can assist with estimates based on your property type, location, and scope description. Provide details about the work you’re planning, and PennyAI suggests cost ranges based on comparable projects.

This isn’t a substitute for getting real contractor quotes, but it gives you a ballpark before you start soliciting bids.

Repair vs. Capital Improvement

This distinction matters for taxes:

• Repairs are deducted in full in the year they’re incurred (Schedule E)
• Capital improvements are depreciated over time (Form 4562)

RealBooks helps you classify expenses correctly:

Repair (Deduct Now)	Capital Improvement (Depreciate)
Fixing a leaky faucet	Replacing all plumbing
Patching drywall	Adding a room or garage
Replacing a broken window	Installing new windows throughout
Repainting a room	Full exterior renovation
Replacing a garbage disposal	New kitchen with appliances

When you assign an expense to a project, you can flag it as a repair or capital improvement. Capital improvements automatically flow to your depreciation schedules and Form 4562.

Note

The IRS uses a “betterment, adaptation, or restoration” test to determine whether work is a capital improvement. If the work makes the property better than it was, adapts it to a new use, or restores it after damage, it’s likely a capital improvement. When in doubt, discuss with your CPA.

Project Completion

When a project is finished:

1. Change the status to Complete
2. Review all expenses to make sure everything is accounted for
3. Verify the repair vs. capital improvement classifications
4. The project total is locked and flows into your reports

Completed projects remain in your history. You can always go back to review what was spent, which contractors were used, and how actual costs compared to estimates. This is valuable for future project planning and for proving your basis to the IRS if needed.

Multi-Project Management

If you’re running multiple projects at once — common for investors who acquire, rehab, and stabilize in volume — the project list view gives you a bird’s-eye view:

• All active projects with status, budget, and progress
• Filter by property, entity, or status
• Sort by completion date, budget remaining, or percentage spent
• Quick-update statuses without opening each project

Common Questions

Can I have multiple projects on the same property? Yes. A property can have as many projects as needed — a kitchen rehab and a roof replacement can run simultaneously as separate projects with separate budgets.

What happens to project expenses when the project is completed? Nothing changes in your expense records. The expenses stay assigned to the property and flow through to tax reports as usual. The project just provides an additional layer of organization and budget tracking.

Can I reopen a completed project? Yes. Change the status back to any earlier stage if additional work or expenses come in after completion.

How do project expenses affect my property’s basis? Capital improvement expenses increase your property’s cost basis, which affects depreciation and future capital gains calculations. RealBooks tracks this automatically when expenses are classified as capital improvements.

Is project management available on all plans? Project Management is available on all paid plans (Bird Dog and above). The Free plan does not include project management.