How can you stay on top of construction costs?

1 Plan ahead

The first step to staying on top of your construction costs is to plan ahead. You need to have a clear scope, schedule, and estimate for your project before you start. This will help you avoid scope creep, change orders, and rework that can inflate your costs. You also need to account for contingencies, risks, and market fluctuations that can affect your project. Use reliable data, tools, and methods to create your plan and update it regularly.

3 Monitor progress

The third step to staying on top of your construction costs is to monitor progress. You need to measure and compare your actual costs with your planned costs throughout the project. This will help you identify and address any deviations, issues, or opportunities that can affect your cost performance. You also need to track and evaluate your productivity, quality, and safety metrics that can impact your costs. Use key performance indicators (KPIs), dashboards, and alerts to monitor your progress.

4 Review changes

The fourth step to staying on top of your construction costs is to review changes. Changes are inevitable in construction projects, but they can also cause cost overruns, delays, and disputes. You need to have a clear and consistent change management process that defines how changes are requested, approved, documented, and implemented. You also need to review the impact of changes on your scope, schedule, quality, and budget. Use change orders, logs, and registers to review changes.

6 Learn from feedback

The sixth step to staying on top of your construction costs is to learn from feedback. Feedback is the information and opinions that you receive from your team, clients, suppliers, and other stakeholders about your project. You need to solicit, listen, and act on feedback that can help you improve your cost management practices. You also need to share and apply the lessons learned from your project to future projects. Use surveys, reviews, and debriefs to learn from feedback.