The Funding and Phasing Planner is a practical worksheet designed to help you organise the money available for your building project and divide construction into manageable phases. It is Tool 5 in the From Land to Home companion toolkit and supports Chapters 4 and 15 of From Land to Home. The central principle is simple: plan each phase against money that is already available or firmly promised rather than money you only hope to receive.
Building a house often takes place over months or years. Income can change, support from relatives may come at different times, loans may carry conditions and exchange rates can affect money sent from abroad. This planner gives you a structured way to record your funding sources, reserves, construction phases and financial commitments before work progresses.
Map Every Source of Money
The worksheet helps you list each source of funding and record how reliable it is.
You can record:
- Personal savings
- Family support
- Money from abroad
- Loans or other financial arrangements
- Other sources of funding
- Amount expected
- Date expected
- Whether the money is already in hand, promised or only hoped for
- Conditions attached to each contribution, including repayment or decision-making rights
This makes it easier to distinguish money that is genuinely available from money that may never arrive.
Separate Available Money From Expected Money
The planner provides space to calculate:
Total in hand: money already available for the project.
Total in hand and promised: money already available plus funds that have been firmly committed.
This distinction helps you avoid committing to construction work based on uncertain funding.
Protect Your Financial Reserves
Your building project should not consume every amount you have available.
The Funding and Phasing Planner includes a section for recording reserves such as:
- Living-cost reserves kept separate from construction funds
- Reserves for exchange-rate movements
- Project contingency carried forward from the Preliminary Building Budget
This helps you think about your household finances alongside the building project.
Plan Construction in Manageable Phases
One of the main sections of the worksheet allows you to divide your project into up to six phases.
For each phase, you can record:
- What will be built
- A safe and protected stopping point
- Estimated cost
- The year of the estimate
- When the money will be needed
- The funding source
This is useful when you cannot fund the entire house at once.
Instead of beginning several parts of the building without enough money to complete them, you can plan each phase around available funds and identify sensible stopping points.
Test Your Financial Resilience
The planner also asks an important question:
What would happen to the house and your daily life if your income stopped for six months?
This section encourages you to think about financial pressure before it occurs.
It can help you consider:
- How long the project could safely pause
- How household expenses would be paid
- How unfinished work would be protected
- Which building commitments could be postponed
- How much reserve you may need before beginning a new phase
Record Contributions From Other People
Family members, friends or other contributors may help finance your home. Their contributions can create misunderstandings if the terms are unclear.
The worksheet provides space to record:
- Contributor’s name
- Whether the money is a gift or loan
- Amount contributed
- Repayment date
- Whether the contributor has a say in decisions
- Whether there is a written agreement
This helps you keep financial arrangements clearer from the beginning.
What This Toolkit Helps You Do
The Funding and Phasing Planner helps you:
- Identify every source of project funding
- Separate available, promised and uncertain money
- Record conditions attached to financial support
- Maintain household and project reserves
- Prepare for exchange-rate movements
- Divide construction into manageable phases
- Connect each phase to a specific funding source
- Identify safe stopping points
- Consider what happens if your income changes
- Record loans, gifts and contribution agreements
Who Is This For?
This planner is suitable for:
- First-time home builders
- Families building gradually
- Ghanaians living abroad and funding construction at home
- Homeowners relying on several income sources
- Individuals receiving family support
- People using loans alongside personal savings
- Owners building in phases
- Anyone who wants a clearer funding plan before committing to construction work
How to Use It
Complete the planner before committing to a new construction phase.
List all your sources of money and classify each one accurately. Do not treat hoped-for funds as available money. The worksheet specifically advises that each phase should be planned only against funds already in hand or genuinely promised.
Then divide your construction programme into realistic phases. Record the estimated cost of each phase, the money needed date, the source of funding and a safe stopping point.
Review the document whenever your income, funding arrangement, exchange rate or construction programme changes.
Product Details
Product: Funding and Phasing Planner
Series: From Land to Home Companion Toolkit
Tool Number: Tool 5
Related Chapters: Chapters 4 and 15
Format: Digital PDF worksheet
Length: 3 pages
Author: Adams Bediako Asare
Website: asarebediakoadams.com
The toolkit is provided for personal use and should not be sold or redistributed without permission.
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