Instructions

Although optional, it is highly recommended that you include a contingency reserve into your startup cost estimate. There is too much uncertainty involved and invariably your single point cost estimate will not cover unknowns and unplanned expenses with your startup business. 

This web page provides a simple, rational approach for adding a contingency reserve to your startup cost estimate. It scores your startup across nine (9) criteria and you enter a score from 1 (highest risk) to 5 (lowest risk). Add up your score and then refer to the smaller guidelines table on this web page to determine the percent that should be applied to your total estimated cost as a contingency reserve. The lower the score, the higher the contingency reserve percent applied to the cost estimate. A minimum 5% contingency reserve is recommended for all cost estimates.