Planning and Cost Control of a Contract

The planning or programming of the work is the first essential step in the execution of a contract, and in many cases the contractor is required under the contract conditions to produce a programme. The basic principles of such a programme must be to the satisfaction of the architect, or civil engineer, and should also be approved by the consultants dealing with specialised work, such as heating, electrical and lift installation. It is fundamentally in the contractor’s own interest to plan his contract, besides the fact that a detailed programme of work over the contract period does indicate to all concerned the anticipated position of the contract at any given time. Should the contract be running behind schedule, for example, this situation will soon become apparent by referring to the programme.