Budgeting: Top Sheet First or Iterative Line Items?

Hey everyone,

I'm Rachel, a documentary editor, and I've been really trying to get better at the pre-production side, especially with budgeting. I've grasped the idea of 'thinking in buckets' for a top sheet, breaking things down into major categories like 'Crew,' 'Equipment,' 'Travel,' 'Post-Production,' etc. It makes a lot of sense for high-level planning.

My current approach, particularly on smaller doc projects, has been to start with a rough top sheet, then dive straight into detailed line items, and then adjust the buckets based on what those specifics reveal. But sometimes it feels a bit chaotic, like I'm building from the ground up and then trying to fit it into the larger structure.

So, my genuine question is: how have you personally adapted this 'thinking in buckets' framework into your own pre-production workflow? Do you meticulously build out your top sheet first, setting those budget caps before you even think about individual line items, or is it more of an iterative process for you, going back and forth between the high-level buckets and the granular details?