Assessing Project Cost Planning in the Construction Industry

Abstract

Some of the factors that contribute to project failure include poor cost planning and inaccurate initial cost estimation. The purpose of this research was to identify factors in the construction industry that affect construction projects' ability to meet budgeted costs and to make recommendations for meeting budget cost criteria. In this study, the survey research strategy was used. According to the research findings, the main challenges that caused construction projects to fail to meet their budgeted costs were project scope changes, project design changes, unexpected site conditions, pre-tender cost underestimation, insufficient resources due to a lack of capital, and poor site management and supervision. To overcome these obstacles, some strategies for ensuring compliance with budgeted costs were identified. Cost control strategies included, among others, acting when deviations occurred during the implementation stage, ensuring accurate project cost estimation, regular cost checking against the planned budget, and regular cost reporting to stakeholders as the project progressed. The study recommended, among other things, that all changes to the project scope go through the approved change request process, and that if there is a change, all other project elements such as cost, time, and quality must be amended to reflect the change to ensure that the change is within the allocated project budget.