Estimation, Planning and Cost Control

Competition in getting a construction Project, nowadays, is Ruthless!

Construction industry becomes more and more commoditized and profit margins are lowering to the degree of marginal ‘errors’.

Planners, Estimators, Surveyors, Managers, Engineers and Economists are struggling to estimate and place the lowest possible quotation on an environment full of entropy and uncertainty.

The blame for losing the Project or underperforming on the execution side … is almost always the case. Ordinary professionals are forecasting and executing, similarly to gambling on a game where rules always change in favor of the Casino.

That reminds me …

“Insider” movie (1999):

Mike Wallace: Who are these people?

Lowell Bergman: Ordinary people under extraordinary pressure, Mike. What the hell do you expect? Grace and consistency?

Trying to win or to manage a construction project starting from specs, contacts, schedules, resources, costs, quality, safety, times etc. is like trying to tame a lion! It requires a lot of experience in the market and expertise in orchestrating all stakeholder’s interests in a way to achieve your goal: Lower costs, Increase Productivity and Get another Project, fast!

Years ago, when we were taught Construction Management in university, learning GANTT and the PERT, estimation, scheduling … things were much different. Performance vs Quality vs Safety vs Efficiency was somehow less highlighted or rather integrated.

Today starting from the contractual to project economics, quality and construction management, aspects of the Project seem way more complicated, integrated and interconnected. A three sided-cube as I describe, where BoQs + Cost Codes + WBS Activities are well associated to Quality, Time and Resources in a way that only a software system can help.

And guess what, Primavera is not enough! ERP does not have the right fit! Autocad and BIM S/W are not collaborative enough. Stakeholders are not getting the right information, catered and rendered to their needs, their role, as they should in order to put in place their experience and expertise and size the RISK!

Construction is an 8 trillion USD industry. Technology has ways to go and meet the challenges.