What the Industry's Telling Us About Cost Planning — And How We’re Responding
We’ve been speaking with clients, contractors, and consultants across the construction industry — and the message is clear:
Cost plans are often missing the mark.
Budgets that looked watertight at tender stage are being blown apart on site. So, what’s going wrong? Here's the feedback we’ve been hearing — and how QTY Surveyors is helping our clients stay on track.
What We’re Hearing from the Industry
1. "The budget looked great on paper — but the real costs came in miles over."
Many cost plans are still based on outdated benchmarks or overly generic m² rates. They don’t reflect real-time labour, material or subcontractor pricing — especially in today’s volatile market.
2. "The design wasn’t developed enough to price properly."
Cost plans are often issued off the back of sketch-level designs, with no real breakdown of construction methodology, sequencing or site constraints. That leads to underestimation and costly surprises later.
3. "No one factored in market inflation or procurement risk."
We've heard time and again that cost plans aren’t accounting for ongoing construction inflation, supply chain pressures or procurement delays — all of which are driving prices up.
4. "It felt like the cost plan had been squeezed just to get the project over the line."
There’s a trend of optimism bias — reducing contingencies or softening risk allowances just to meet the budget ceiling. It's a short-term win that causes long-term pain.
5. "The scope kept changing, and the cost plan never caught up."
Many projects suffer from shifting requirements and evolving client briefs. Without a clear process to manage scope changes and update cost forecasts, the original plan becomes irrelevant.
6. "There was no link between the people who costed the job and those delivering it."
We’ve seen a lack of communication between the cost planning team and delivery team — meaning key assumptions are lost, and value engineering opportunities missed.
7. "The cost plan was a one-time document — not a live tool."
Initial cost plans are often issued once and then left untouched. But when the design evolves, procurement packages are let, and changes arise, a static cost plan quickly loses its value.
How QTY Surveyors Delivers Better Cost Planning
At QTY, we’ve built our cost planning service around solving these very challenges. Here’s how we do it differently:
We use live, project-specific data
Our cost plans are built using up-to-date supply chain intelligence, regional cost trends, and real-world procurement feedback — not just old rates and guesswork.
We align design and cost from day one
We work closely with design teams to ensure that every iteration of the design is tested against the budget — identifying cost risks and value opportunities before they hit site.
We factor in inflation, risk and market pressures
From the outset, we forecast inflation and build robust allowances for market movement, procurement risk and site conditions — giving our clients a realistic view of what to expect.
We keep things honest
We don’t “value engineer” the truth. If something’s under pressure or over budget, we raise it early and work collaboratively to find the right solution — before it’s too late.
We make cost plans live and responsive
Our cost plans aren’t static PDFs — they’re dynamic, evolving tools. We update and reconcile them continuously as the project progresses, so our clients are never working off stale data.
We stay connected to delivery
We’re commercial partners, not just pre-construction advisors. Our team stays involved throughout the lifecycle of the project — ensuring continuity between planning, procurement, and on-site delivery.
In Summary
The industry has been clear: cost planning needs to do better.
At QTY Surveyors, we’ve listened — and built a service that delivers realistic, risk-aware, and responsive cost planning that stands up not just in meetings, but in the real world of construction.
We don’t just plan for cost —
We plan for delivery.