Time and cost predictability of construction projects is a report prepared by BCIS for the RICS Construction Faculty.

• Clients are looking for certainty of cost and time from the earliest stages of a project.
• In this changing world there is an increasing need to understand the clients business case and give appropriate advice.
• There is a tendency to concentrate on cost and time overruns but the important objective of any estimate is to get it right.

The central message of ‘Rethinking Construction’ was that through the application of best practices, the industry and its clients can collectively act to improve their performance. The report identified a range of targets for improvement. One of the targets was to improve time and cost predictability. In response to this, BCIS was asked to analyse project time and cost data collected over a five-year period to identify any correlation between what is known about projects and their performance.

Contents
The report is based on the analysis of approximately 4000 projects completed in the UK between 1998 and 2002. The study attempts to establish what, if any, best practice guidance on controlling time and cost overruns can be derived from observed relationships between time and cost predictability.

Tables in the report include information on both the frequency and magnitude of predictability. The frequency analysis identifies how often the projects are under, on or over budget whilst the magnitude analysis looks at how much projects under or overrun.

Non-RICS members can purchase a hard copy of the report for £95.

RICS members can download the report free of charge from within the member's area on the RICS website.