Project Cost Control and Earned Value
Controlling cost on construction projects from estimate to final account: why jobs overrun and how contract type shapes control, the estimate turnover and control budget with buyout, contingency and transfers, MasterFormat cost codes, control accounts and the cost-loaded schedule, objective progress measurement and earned hours, field cost reporting with productivity factors and accruals, commitments, cost to complete and the monthly cost report, earned value under EIA-748 and earned schedule, EAC methods and TCPI, change logs, pending change exposure, the measured mile and acceleration cost, pay applications, retainage and cash flow under the Prompt Payment Act and state law, and corrective action and owner reporting, ending in a capstone monthly cost report.
CON-310 Year 3 3 credits 12 lessons · 5 h 17 min
Offered by HSM University · Construction Management
This is the American version of this course. See the Canadian version.
What you'll learn
- Explain why construction projects overrun, how cost control differs from accounting, how contract type decides who bears overruns, and why small slips can erase a thin lump sum margin
- Convert a winning estimate into a control budget through a turnover meeting, map estimate items to cost codes and cost types, record buyout gains and losses, and control contingency, allowances and budget transfers
- Design a cost code structure based on MasterFormat with a sensible level of detail, link it to the WBS through control accounts, and build and check a cost-loaded schedule and planned value curve
- Measure physical progress with units complete, weighted steps, start and finish and level of effort methods under agreed rules of credit, roll progress up by budget weights and calculate earned hours
- Record field costs for labor, equipment, materials and subcontracts, split labor variances into rate and productivity, track productivity factors and unit rates, and add month-end accruals
- Track commitments and open commitments, forecast cost to complete by commitment, performance, bottom-up and time-based methods, and assemble and review a monthly cost report
- Calculate planned value, earned value, actual cost, cost and schedule variances and performance indices for a project and its control accounts, and explain where formal EVMS standards apply
- Analyze earned value trends, convert schedule variance into time with earned schedule, set variance thresholds and write variance analyses that state cause, impact and corrective action
- Forecast the estimate at completion with budget-rate, CPI, CPI × SPI and bottom-up methods, test forecasts with TCPI and ranges, and present a defensible forecast with a consistent completion date
- Track changes from notice to approval in a change log, forecast pending changes with expected recovery, price direct and indirect change costs, and measure productivity loss and acceleration cost
- Prepare and check pay applications with retainage, forecast project cash flow and financing cost, and apply federal Prompt Payment Act and state retainage and prompt pay rules
- Choose and price corrective actions, report cost to management and to owners under different contracts, close out a job into the estimating database, and assemble a complete monthly cost report
Course content
12 lessons · 5 h 17 min total · final exam
- 1 Why cost control matters 27 min · quiz
- 2 From estimate to control budget 26 min · quiz
- 3 Cost codes, WBS and the cost-loaded schedule 28 min · quiz
- 4 Measuring progress and percent complete 27 min · quiz
- 5 Field cost reporting: labor, equipment, materials and subcontracts 26 min · quiz
- 6 Committed costs, cost to complete and the cost report 28 min · quiz
- 7 Earned value management fundamentals 25 min · quiz
- 8 Earned value analysis and earned schedule 24 min · quiz
- 9 Forecasting cost at completion 25 min · quiz
- 10 Changes, claims and their cost impact 27 min · quiz
- 11 Cash flow, progress billing and payment law 25 min · quiz
- 12 Cost control actions, reporting to owners and capstone: a monthly cost report 29 min · quiz
- E Final exam 20 questions
Requirements
Recommended background. You can start any course at any time.
Description
Controlling cost on construction projects from estimate to final account: why jobs overrun and how contract type shapes control, the estimate turnover and control budget with buyout, contingency and transfers, MasterFormat cost codes, control accounts and the cost-loaded schedule, objective progress measurement and earned hours, field cost reporting with productivity factors and accruals, commitments, cost to complete and the monthly cost report, earned value under EIA-748 and earned schedule, EAC methods and TCPI, change logs, pending change exposure, the measured mile and acceleration cost, pay applications, retainage and cash flow under the Prompt Payment Act and state law, and corrective action and owner reporting, ending in a capstone monthly cost report.
Part of the Construction Management stream, typically taken in year 3.