How do you budget a touring show across several venues?

You've got a show that works, a few venues interested and a calendar that looks possible. One venue offers a fee, another wants a box office split, and a third will rent you the room. Now you're trying to work out whether those bookings add up to a tour you can afford.

Start with the complete itinerary and calculate what each venue will actually pay your company under its proposed deal. Then subtract the cost of preparing the production and keeping it on the road for every day you're committed. A theatre touring budget needs to explain the whole route, including the days when you aren't performing, and show when you'll have enough cash to pay people.

The interesting part is that a good booking can become a poor tour once you connect it to the next venue. An extra night, a second vehicle or an awkward technical call can absorb the money you thought that date would contribute. Equally, a modest guaranteed fee can help when the performance fits a day you're already paying for.

We'll work through one fictional production, compare different venue deals and test an additional stop. You'll also have a practical budget structure to use before you confirm the route. All example figures are invented USD amounts. They explain the decisions, rather than suggesting normal theatre costs, pay rates or likely sales.

Decide what the tour has to pay for

The first thing you want to do is define the production you're taking out. Name the version of the show, travelling company, equipment and performances included. If a venue thinks it's buying your full stage production while you've priced a stripped-back version, the budget is already describing the wrong job.

Separate the money needed to prepare this tour from the cost of delivering it. Rehearsal, replacement costumes and adapting the set might happen before departure. Company pay, accommodation and vehicle hire continue while you travel. The office still has bills after you've packed the van, and somebody will spend time closing the accounts when you return.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe's guidance on preparing to tour includes cast and crew salaries, production running costs, royalties, freight, travel, accommodation and a share of original production costs and ongoing overheads. Its useful starting point is to understand your own costs before negotiating the fee. Use your actual production requirements to develop those headings.

An existing show creates a choice about recovering earlier spending. You might want this tour to repay some original development costs, or you might approve it because it contributes enough towards the company's continuing work. Write down that choice. A tour can cover its new bills while leaving the original production investment unrecovered, and both facts belong in the decision.

Keep a separate record of money already spent that you cannot recover. It matters to the business's overall result, but it won't disappear if you reject a proposed venue. When comparing a route change, use the income and costs that actually change. When judging whether the production has paid for itself, include the earlier investment too.

Our multi-city workshop tour guide covers the wider connection between a route, local delivery and demand. A theatre production adds its own complications: scenery, technical access, performance rights and venue settlements that may calculate your income differently at every stop.

Build the working calendar before pricing the performances

Put every committed day into the itinerary. Start with rehearsal and preparation, then include loading, travel, technical work, performances, rest, maintenance and the return journey. Finish with unloading and the work needed to return hired equipment. A list of show dates alone won't tell you how long you need to employ the company or keep the vehicle.

A dark day means a day without a public performance. It doesn't necessarily mean a day without work or costs. The team might be travelling, repairing scenery or waiting for the next venue to become available. Accommodation can continue even when the show earns nothing that evening. Record what each person is actually expected to do.

For our fictional tour, five people travel: three performers, a technician and a tour manager. The route has three venues, two performances at each and fourteen days away, including outward and return travel. There are thirteen hotel nights. Preparation happens before those fourteen days, and the separate preparation budget also covers administration after the return. This is the agreed scope for the calculation, not a recommended staffing model.

Check each technical schedule against the production's real requirements. When can the vehicle arrive? Who unloads? How long do rigging, focus, sound checks and rehearsal take? Can the venue supply the agreed local crew at those times? A late access slot can create another paid day even if the performance date stays the same.

Ask the people doing the work to review the difficult transitions. An itinerary may allow enough time to drive between towns while leaving no practical time to pack, eat, rest and prepare. Great Britain's Health and Safety Executive advises employers to plan safe work journeys, considering schedules, fatigue, breaks and loading time. The budget must fund the workable schedule you agree after that review.

Don't price a professional driver out of the plan simply because someone in the cast has a licence. Check the vehicle, load, insurance, working arrangements and applicable rules before deciding who drives. If the safe plan needs a further night or a different driver, use that cost. The spreadsheet shouldn't depend on people doing work the itinerary cannot reasonably accommodate.

Calculate company costs across the days you're committed

Begin with the actual agreements for performers, crew and management. Establish what rehearsal, travel, technical work, performances and rest days require you to pay. Check applicable employment rules and collective agreements with the people responsible for them. There isn't one daily figure that applies to every touring company or every jurisdiction.

Include the full employer or engagement cost. A quoted wage or freelance fee may leave out employer contributions, holiday obligations, overtime, allowances or other agreed payments. Record what is included and what requires another line. For someone who also works on other projects, allocate their time consistently so this tour doesn't appear profitable because another job carries the payroll.

Our fictional model uses an all-in company cost of $140 per person per road day. Five people over fourteen days therefore cost $9,800. That allowance represents the assumed full engagement cost for these particular people and duties. It isn't a lawful minimum, market rate or recommendation. A real budget must replace it with checked agreements and local obligations.

Next, count rooms rather than multiplying the number of people by an assumed hotel price. Our agreed arrangement uses three rooms for thirteen nights at $100 per room, giving $3,900. Whether that arrangement suits your actual company depends on their requirements, accessibility, privacy and contracts. Confirm those before using a room count to negotiate hotel bookings.

The example also allows $30 per person per road day for subsistence, meaning the agreed allowance for meals and ordinary living costs while away. Five people over fourteen days cost $2,100. Decide which meals the venue supplies and how the agreement treats them. Don't remove an allowance merely because a venue mentions catering without confirming what will be available and when.

Describe what changes the total. An additional day may add payroll, meals, accommodation and vehicle costs together. Replacing one performer may require rehearsal and travel as well as a fee. Keep those consequences visible so a booking decision doesn't use the wage line alone to estimate the cost of extending the tour.

Price the production that has to fit through every loading door

Send the same current technical requirements to every venue. Confirm the dimensions, power, equipment, crew and access the production needs, together with any acceptable alternatives. Get the answers from the person who will deliver the technical arrangement. A general assurance that the room regularly hosts theatre isn't enough to establish what your show will cost there.

Separate travelling equipment from local provision. If the venue supplies a suitable item within its agreed fee, you may not need to hire and transport it. If it doesn't, obtain the full delivered cost of supplying it yourself. Check adapters, handling, insurance and collection. Hiring something near the venue can reduce freight while adding coordination and minimum hire charges.

Budget for repeated handling and maintenance. Scenery needs packing materials, costumes need cleaning and consumables need replenishment. Decide who does that work and when. A repair allowance won't help if the technician has no paid time, suitable workspace or access to a replacement part before the next performance.

Our example carries $1,400 for the agreed vehicle, its insurance, fuel, tolls and parking across the fourteen-day route. Another $900 covers production running items, the allocated production insurance and local technical costs that the producer pays outside the venue deals. Those are separate from the company and accommodation figures. The individual quotes would determine the real allowances, including any mileage limits or late-return charges.

If you're comparing equipment options, our guide to hiring or buying event production equipment develops the cost of ownership and repeated use. For a tour, add the effect on the vehicle and working day. Equipment that is economical to own can still be expensive to move through several venues.

Cross-border routes need their own checks before the freight quote is final. GOV.UK's guidance on taking goods temporarily out of Great Britain explains that declaration requirements and possible duty relief depend on the movement, with destination-country rules to check. It doesn't establish the company's permission to work abroad. Get the relevant customs, work-permission and tax advice for the actual route, and budget the resulting requirements.

Turn each venue offer into money the company receives

Keep the local box office forecast separate from your company's entitlement. A full room can produce a different payment under a fee, a split or a hire arrangement. Write each deal as a calculation using the definitions in the proposed agreement. Then confirm what the venue supplies within that payment and what your company pays separately.

For a fixed fee, record the amount, delivery conditions, deductions and payment dates. For a percentage, define the receipts being shared, every permitted deduction and the period covered. For room hire, identify the hire charge and additional services, then calculate what remains from admission income after those charges. Read the actual agreement before treating a headline offer as confirmed revenue.

Our fictional venues are A, B and C. Each hosts two performances. Their agreed paid-ticket inventories are 400, 300 and 500 across their respective runs, within separately checked venue occupancy arrangements. We forecast 300 paid admissions at A, 210 at B and 360 at C. These are retained valid paid admissions, after the refunds assumed in the forecast.

Each admission leaves $30 in defined ticket receipts after the example's admission taxes, ticketing charges and payment costs. That is a simplified common amount for comparison. It isn't the advertised price or a Loopyah fee calculation. Real budgets need their actual mix of prices, discounts, refunds, charges and taxes, with the treatment checked for the relevant businesses.

A pays the producer 70% of its defined receipts, with agreed house services included. Its 300 admissions create $9,000, of which the producer receives $6,300. The remaining $2,700 belongs to the venue under this fictional arrangement. We don't count that venue share as producer income and then subtract it again elsewhere.

B pays the producer the higher of a $6,500 guarantee or 70% of its defined receipts across the whole booking. Its 210 admissions create $6,300; the percentage would be $4,410, so the producer's entitlement is $6,500. This assumes the booking is delivered and the guarantee applies under the agreed terms. It doesn't promise payment after cancellation or remove the need to assess whether the venue can pay.

C charges $2,000 hire with its agreed house services included, and the producer retains the remaining defined receipts. Its 360 admissions create $10,800, leaving $8,800 after hire. The company's expected income across the three venues is therefore $21,600: $6,300 from A, $6,500 from B and $8,800 from C.

Use a separate calculation for each booking when the terms differ. If a minimum resets per performance, a strong second night may not offset a weak first night as your run-level calculation assumes. Our examples use the stated whole-booking terms. Ask both parties to calculate one sample settlement before you rely on the forecast.

Add the route up without losing or repeating costs

Now combine the producer's venue income with its preparation and road costs. Our preparation allowance is $4,000: $2,400 for rehearsal, preparation and closing administration fees, $800 for set and costume work, $400 for the assumed rights costs and allocated office overhead, and $400 for shared publicity materials. These assumed amounts cover this tour's scope only, with no further original development recovery included.

The road budget is $18,100. It comprises $9,800 company cost, $3,900 accommodation, $2,100 subsistence, $1,400 transport and $900 production running and local technical costs. Add preparation and the producer has $22,100 of costs to meet from the $21,600 venue income. The route is $500 short before any further risk allowance.

C's $2,000 hire has already reduced its contribution to the $8,800 used above. Don't subtract it again. If you prefer to show C's full $10,800 receipts as producer income and put hire in expenses, the route shows $23,600 income and $24,100 costs. It still loses $500. Use either presentation consistently and keep the original settlement calculation available.

The example assumes purchase costs include taxes the company cannot reclaim and exclude taxes it can reclaim. It has no additional withholding or tax on venue payments, no financing cost and no business income tax. Replace those simplifying assumptions for your own entities and route. An accountant needs to check which taxes reduce revenue, which become costs and which are money temporarily held for later payment.

The New Zealand Music Commission's touring budget guidance recommends examining individual shows and the overall tour while plans are still flexible. Its examples concern music touring, but that distinction is useful here too. A venue may cover its immediate visit while the complete production still fails to recover preparation and the days between bookings.

You can allocate shared costs to venues to compare their full results. State the basis, perhaps performance count, days occupied or a justified combination. Keep the allocation separate from the original expense total. Dividing $4,000 of preparation among three venues doesn't create another $4,000 bill, and an equal share doesn't mean removing a venue will save that share.

Set the return you need before increasing the sales forecast

Breaking even might be an acceptable outcome for a deliberately funded development tour. For a commercial run, decide what return the company needs after paying for the work. That can include recovery of earlier investment and a return for accepting sales risk. Put the requirement beside the expected result so a technically balanced budget doesn't become an automatic approval.

Suppose our fictional company wants $2,000 left after the original $22,100 costs. With expected income of $21,600, it needs another $2,500 of producer income or the same amount in genuine cost reductions. That's before a separate allowance for uncertainty. Writing the amount down gives the next venue conversation a purpose beyond asking whether the programmer can improve the offer.

If the company tries to find all $2,500 through extra sales at A, each additional admission contributes $21 under its 70% deal and the assumed $30 defined receipt. A has only 100 tickets left to sell beyond the 300 already forecast, out of its agreed 400-ticket inventory. Selling every remaining ticket adds $2,100. A alone cannot meet that return requirement under these assumptions, even at a sellout.

At C, each further admission contributes the full assumed $30 after the unchanged fixed hire. Another 84 admissions would add $2,520, taking C's paid total to 444 of its 500 tickets. That is mathematically possible. Whether the local audience will buy them is a different question. Use evidence to decide, rather than replacing the original 360 forecast with 444 because the spreadsheet needs it.

You could also negotiate a better guarantee, move a date, replace an expensive journey or agree a smaller production version. Price each proposal separately. Some changes affect the advertised experience or the company's obligations, so they need delivery and contractual review as well as arithmetic. The useful choice is the one you can actually confirm, fund and deliver.

If a funder or sponsor supports the tour, state whether that money is confirmed, restricted and available for the particular costs. Record the related delivery and reporting costs too. A pending application shouldn't make the committed route appear funded. If the business deliberately accepts a loss to reach a new audience, name the approved amount and its funding source instead of describing the tour as profitable.

Test what happens when ticket sales disappoint

Give each venue its own audience assumptions. Use relevant sales history, the particular programme, local reach, competing dates and the venue's agreed promotional work. Our community theatre ticket sales guide develops the audience and selling plan behind those assumptions. Evidence from your home theatre may help, but it doesn't establish demand in a town where the production and company are unfamiliar. Record where the estimate comes from and what remains uncertain.

Keep paid admissions separate from occupancy. A complimentary ticket can fill a seat while producing no admission income. A discounted seat contributes the amount actually retained after relevant deductions. If your forecast requires a full-price sellout after promising a large guest allocation, change the forecast or the allocation before calling the tour viable.

Start the downside test by changing the assumptions you are least sure about. In our example, suppose paid admissions at A and C are 20% lower, while prices and costs stay unchanged. A falls from 300 to 240 admissions, and C from 360 to 288. These are invented scenario choices, rather than a prediction about typical sales volatility.

A loses 60 admissions at $30 each, but the producer bears 70% of that reduction: $1,260. C loses 72 admissions at $30 each, reducing producer income by $2,160 because hire remains fixed. B's payment remains $6,500 under the assumed guarantee. Total producer income falls by $3,420, and the original $500 shortfall becomes a $3,920 loss before any additional changes.

That difference tells you where sales uncertainty affects your company. It doesn't mean B is risk-free. Delivery conditions, disputes, cancellation and the venue's ability to pay still matter. Test those separately instead of applying a ticket-sales reduction to a payment that the contract calculates another way.

Then test something going well. Would an extra performance use the same hire, company days and accommodation, or require another day and new local calls? More inventory helps only when buyers are likely to purchase it and the extra receipts exceed the associated costs. Our event break-even guide explains the underlying calculation, but mixed venue deals require their individual payment rules too.

Decide whether another stop improves the route

A new booking can spread preparation across more performances, but it can also lengthen the journey. Compare the complete route with and without the stop. Hold unchanged costs steady, identify the costs that genuinely move and use the extra producer payment. The average cost per performance won't answer that decision on its own.

Suppose Venue D offers our company a $3,000 guaranteed fee for a performance on an existing dark day. In the first option, it fits within the same fourteen road days and thirteen hotel nights. The technical team confirms that access, workload and rest remain workable. The company agreements already cover the added duties without extra company pay under this fictional option.

D adds $600 of local technical and performance costs and $200 of transport costs. Those are the only additional costs in the scenario. Its $3,000 fee less $800 additional spending improves the route by $2,200. The original $500 shortfall becomes $1,700 left before the further risk allowance. Confirming D would require the actual written deal and revised itinerary, not merely this arithmetic.

Now suppose D can only take the show on dates that extend the tour by two road days and two hotel nights. The local and transport additions remain $800. Company cost increases by $1,400, accommodation by $600 and subsistence by $300. The extra cost is $3,100 altogether, so the same $3,000 fee worsens the route by $100. The tour would now lose $600.

This is why you want date flexibility while negotiating. The same venue fee can be attractive on one itinerary and unworkable on another. It may be worth offering a different date or seeking more local technical support. Explain the actual difference to the programmer rather than saying that all added bookings need the same minimum fee.

The reverse decision needs equal care. Removing C doesn't save one-third of every road cost. You may still need the people, vehicle and hotel to reach the next confirmed booking. Calculate cancellation charges, refunds and replacement travel as well. Ask what spending remains avoidable at the moment of the decision, then check the revised whole-tour result and schedule.

Compare a lighter touring version on the same terms

Before abandoning a route, ask whether a different touring version could deliver the promised production at a lower complete cost. A set that packs into fewer cases might change the vehicle, loading time and local crew requirement. A version adapted for the venue's equipment might remove an external hire. Those possibilities need the creative and technical team's agreement before they become savings.

Compare both versions against the same bookings, audience assumptions and payment terms first. Otherwise you won't know whether the improvement comes from a cheaper production or a more optimistic forecast. Identify the actual revised quotes and agreements. If a smaller vehicle quote excludes fuel or requires another collection journey, include those differences before comparing the totals.

Check what happens to working time. Reducing the travelling crew can transfer tasks to the people who remain. If the technician now handles more unloading, repairs and administration, the company may need longer calls or another preparation day. Ask them to walk through the new schedule. A lower headcount is useful only when the complete delivery plan supports it.

Venue equipment also varies. A lighter version that depends on local sound or lighting provision needs confirmation at every stop. One missing item can require a separate hire and transport arrangement. Keep the exception against that venue rather than applying an assumed saving to all three. The technical requirements should show what is essential and which substitutions the production team has approved.

Keep accessibility and the audience offer in the comparison. If the production promises a particular experience, don't remove a necessary element after tickets are sold and assume the description still holds. Confirm accessible working arrangements for the company too. A lower transport quote doesn't compensate for accommodation or access that someone cannot use.

Once you have a workable alternative, rebuild the complete route result and cash timeline. Compare what remains uncertain as well as the expected saving. You may prefer the original version at fewer venues if the alternative introduces costly exceptions or weakens the show. The budget helps you make that choice with the team rather than treating every production detail as an interchangeable expense.

Forecast when the venue money reaches your account

A tour can have an acceptable expected result and still need more working cash than you have. Rehearsal and travel deposits fall due before some venues settle. A ticketing report can show strong sales while the proceeds remain with the venue or payment provider. Use the agreed receipt dates when deciding how you'll pay this week's bills.

The Australian government's guide to managing cash flow recommends tracking money coming in and going out, keeping records and reviewing payment terms. Apply that timing discipline to each tour booking. Keep the tour's income calculation and its bank timeline connected, while preserving the difference between an entitlement and money already received.

For the original three-venue example, suppose the company starts with $10,000 available and receives a $2,000 advance from B. The advance is credited against B's $6,500 total entitlement, leaving $4,500 due later. It isn't another $2,000 of tour income. The company now has $12,000 cash before paying the first preparation and road bills.

Assume the $4,000 preparation cost and $2,000 of road deposits fall due before departure. That leaves $6,000. Another $8,000 of road costs falls due before any further venue payment arrives, creating a $2,000 cash gap. The company needs to resolve that timing before it commits, even if it negotiates other changes that improve the final tour result.

The remaining venue payments in this original example total $19,600: $6,300 from A, $4,500 from B and $8,800 from C. The remaining road costs after the deposits and early bills are $8,100. Once all money has moved, the $500 overall loss still applies. An advance changes when cash arrives; it doesn't repair the underlying budget.

For a real route, also identify cash reserved for refunds, taxes and obligations outside the tour. Don't treat the entire bank balance as available production funding. Our event cash-flow forecast guide develops that schedule. Any borrowing or other funding has its own cost and repayment dates, which need to enter the revised budget and cash forecast.

Budget the exceptions before the itinerary is fixed

Build a specific allowance for uncertainty. List the plausible problems, what responding would cost and which party is responsible under the agreements. An extra hotel night, an urgent equipment replacement and a rescheduled freight movement have different consequences. You need an allowance that fits the route rather than a percentage chosen because it makes the total look tidy.

Known costs belong in the main budget. If a venue has already confirmed that your technical call requires overtime, price it there. Don't hide it in the emergency allowance and call the original cost figure complete. Keep the unused allowance visible when reporting the eventual result so nobody mistakes unspent protection for an invoice already incurred.

Confirm how illness, venue failure and transport disruption affect the next performances. Ask which company costs continue, what can be moved, what must be refunded and which commitments can be cancelled. Insurance needs a policy-specific check for the event and cause. A venue guarantee for a delivered show doesn't automatically cover a show you cannot deliver.

Rights also need to match the route. Check the permitted venues, dates, territory, performances and any publicity restrictions in the actual licences. If royalties vary with sales, put that calculation into the relevant scenarios instead of using our flat fictional allowance. Get approval for changes before treating another date as available inventory.

Agree how the company will approve extra spending on the road. The tour manager may need authority to buy a small replacement immediately, while a more expensive route change requires someone else's decision. Keep urgent safety action possible and record the reason, cost and subsequent approval. A spending limit isn't a reason to continue an unsafe journey or performance.

Australia's business.gov.au contract negotiation guidance, written for contractors and hirers, recommends resolving unclear terms before signing and recording what you agree. Use appropriate local advice for your venue and company contracts. The budget should reflect the reviewed obligations, including cancellation and payment terms, rather than assuming all proposed savings are legally available.

Keep the forecast useful while sales and costs change

Give one person responsibility for the current tour forecast. Preserve the version approved before commitments, then record agreed changes and actual amounts against it. A bigger final loss is easier to understand when you can see that a venue changed its access, hotel rates rose or the company authorised another performance. Overwriting the starting figures removes that explanation.

Keep each amount's status clear. A supplier estimate, a binding order, an invoice and a payment describe different stages of the same cost. Use the latest supported total once, with the evidence attached. Adding the deposit and full invoice as separate expenses overstates the cost; deleting the commitment because the balance isn't paid yet understates it.

If you sell the tour's tickets through Loopyah, use its existing sales reporting as the source for those bookings. Our ticketing tools show sales by source and let you choose whether the ticketing fee is included in your price or added at checkout. Check that choice against the venue's definition of shared receipts before putting the figures into its settlement.

Your remaining responsibility is to reconcile those sales with the actual venue deal, company costs and bank timing. Keep venue-controlled sales evidence with the relevant booking too. The producer's contractual payment may be a guarantee, a percentage or receipts after hire, so a ticket-sales total alone cannot tell you what that stop contributes to the tour.

Review before spending becomes harder to change. Ask which venue balances, hotel bookings and company commitments are approaching their deadlines, then compare current evidence with the approved assumptions. If a stop is behind, establish what promotion remains planned and what a realistic revision does to the route. Don't keep the old forecast simply because the company has already announced the dates.

After each venue, check the settlement promptly and update the following weeks. Confirm approved deductions, money paid, advances credited and outstanding balances. Record repairs and additional hours while people remember them. Waiting until the tour ends can leave you making the next booking decision with income you will never receive and costs you have already agreed to pay.

Take a complete route budget into the booking decision

Your working file needs enough detail for another person to follow the assumptions without asking you to reconstruct every phone call. You can keep it in a format your company already uses. What matters is that the itinerary, venue calculations, costs and cash dates agree with one another and refer to the same version of the production.

Use the following sections as a practical starting point, adapting the detail to the scale and complexity of the show:

• A production brief naming the touring version, people, equipment, rights assumptions and responsibilities.

• A daily itinerary covering preparation, travel, access, performances, maintenance, rest, return and equipment handback.

• A venue schedule recording capacity, paid-ticket forecast, price mix, deal formula, included services and payment dates.

• Preparation and shared administration costs, with any original production recovery shown explicitly.

• Company, accommodation, subsistence, transport and production running costs, using checked quantities and agreements.

• Separate expected, weaker-sales and proposed-route-change calculations with every changed assumption identified.

• A cash timeline showing deposits, advances, payroll, settlements, reserves and the lowest available balance.

• A record of uncertain costs, commitments, cancellation terms and who can approve further spending.

For every venue payment, keep the written offer and the calculation together. For every substantial cost, keep the quote, agreement or other basis. Record the date and who checked it. That lets somebody test a different route without accidentally using last month's hotel estimate or a percentage that the venue has since replaced with a fee.

Then ask someone outside the day-to-day booking conversations to explain the budget back to you. They should be able to identify what the producer receives, what is already deducted, which days still cost money without a show and where the cash comes from before settlement. Fix any part that requires an unwritten assumption to make sense.

In our example, the original route needs a change before approval because it loses $500 even before a further risk allowance. The first D option improves that result to $1,700, but still needs its own downside test, cash schedule and delivery checks. The second D option leaves a larger loss. Those are different decisions despite the identical fee on the offer.

Before you confirm the next venue, put its actual dates and terms into the complete route. Check that the company can deliver the revised schedule, the expected return justifies the downside you are accepting and the bills can be paid when due. If one of those conditions fails, use the budget to negotiate the specific change you need while the dates and commitments are still flexible.