Design moves faster than the cost plan
The architect has issued a revised floor plan. The structural engineer has changed the frame after ground investigation. The client asked for a larger reception area in a workshop two weeks ago. None of this went through a formal change process, because it is all pre-contract and the design is still developing.
At the next cost check, the total has moved and the client is surprised. They agreed to every change in principle but never saw the cost of each one as it happened.
Why cost trails design
- Design changes are issued as drawing revisions, with little or no description of what changed.
- Client requests are made in meetings and recorded in minutes, if at all.
- The QS is not always on the drawing issue list, or sees revisions in a batch.
- Pricing a change is squeezed between formal cost checks.
- There is no step where the client approves the cost of a change before the design team develops it.
What drift in the cost plan costs
Clients lose confidence when the cost plan jumps. Value engineering exercises become fire-fighting late in the design, undoing work that has already been done. Your surveyors are blamed for news they had no chance to give earlier. And the design team does work on changes the client might have rejected had they known the cost.
| Source of change | How it arrives | How the log catches it |
|---|---|---|
| Drawing revision | Issued through the project platform | Revision detected, change note requested |
| Client request | Meeting or email | Logged from minutes or inbox for review |
| Design team proposal | Email or report | Logged and routed for pricing |
| Site information | Survey or investigation report | Logged as a cost risk |
The change control log we build
- We watch the drawing issue and correspondence channels your project already uses, such as a project platform with an API or a project mailbox.
- New revisions and requests are logged as potential changes. For drawings, the designer's revision note is captured and, where it is thin, the designer is asked for a sentence on what changed.
- The QS gets each change with a request for a cost effect, and records an estimate, a range or a note that it is neutral.
- Changes with a cost effect are sent to the client contact for a decision, with a simple approve, reject or discuss choice.
- The cost plan carries the approved changes as a separate list until the next formal update, so the running total is always current.
- At each cost check, the log shows every change since the last one, with its decision.
Estimating the cost of a change is the surveyor's work. The log makes sure they see every change early enough to do it, and that the client decides with the cost in front of them.
When changes are visible as they happen
The client sees the cost of each change when it is made, not months later in aggregate. The cost check is a confirmation of known movement. The design team spends less effort on changes the client would not have approved. Your surveyors are the people who warned early, not the ones who delivered the bad news late.
The log is also a useful record at contract award. It shows how the design reached its tender state, which decisions the client made and on what cost information, and which changes were rejected. When questions come up later about why the scheme looks the way it does, the answer is written down.
Does your cost plan trail the design?
- The cost plan moves at each check and the client asks why.
- Drawing revisions reach you in batches with little explanation.
- Client requests in meetings are not priced before they are designed.
- Value engineering happens late and under pressure.
- You cannot list every change since the last cost check.