Project Cost Control and Estimating

Cost overruns are almost never discovered suddenly; they are visible in the data long before anybody reports them. This course covers making them visible early. Delegates work through estimate classes and the accuracy each carries, building an estimate from first principles and from benchmarks, and setting a budget and contingency that reflect real uncertainty rather than a percentage habit. Cost control follows: commitment and accrual, earned value and what its indices actually tell you, and forecasting a final cost that a steering committee can rely on. The course closes on change control, since uncontrolled scope is the most common route to an overrun.

5 day course

Course objectives

Apply estimate classes and state the accuracy an estimate carries
Build an estimate from first principles and from benchmarks
Set contingency against real uncertainty rather than habit
Track commitment, accrual and actual cost correctly
Apply earned value and interpret its indices honestly
Forecast a final cost a steering committee can rely on
Control change before it becomes an overrun

Who should attend

Cost engineers and project controls staff
Project and programme managers
Quantity surveyors and estimators
Finance staff supporting capital projects
Sponsors reviewing project reporting

Course outline

01Estimate classes and their accuracy
02Estimating from first principles and from benchmarks
03Budget, contingency and management reserve
04Commitment, accrual and actual cost
05Earned value and what its indices really say
06Forecasting cost at completion
07Change control and scope creep
08Reporting that surfaces a problem early

Scheduled sessions

Scheduled sessions for Project Cost Control and Estimating
Dates	Venue	Format	Price
9 to 13 November 2026	Gaborone, Botswana	Classroom	R19,950 per delegate
25 to 29 January 2027	Casablanca, Morocco	Classroom	USD 1,325 per delegate
8 to 12 March 2027	Online	Online	R8,500 per delegate

Project Cost Control and Estimating

From R8,500

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