wanted to say this. "fall behind" is the deadline some quantity surveyor and job-quote expert expressed. The actual on-the-job work rate is a function of weather, concrete mix, unforseen post-design issues, pour quality..
Yes, this is hugely informative in a $million cost space, but it is also basically "work harder: we said you could"
All the work done on my previous timber home, the delay came from uncovering the unexpected. I had mentally allowed 10% overrun on cost and time. We blew both.
Estimation is hard. I only do peripheral work in s/w estimation but my life-long experience is that its just hard, and even on million dollar projects, cost blowouts are common. I'm amazed how the london tube expansion, or the new sewerage went, all things considered.
Brisbane's cross-river rail project is 2x price and late btw.
Usually in my experience it's like any other jobbed out project -- all about the contractor and subs being overcommitted and unable to react.
I've had the good fortune to participate in projects where stuff really had to get done and cash was flowing. So a mixture of well-defined scopes, significant performance bonuses and non-performance penalties were implemented, and somehow the downstream contractors were magically able to respond to the unexpected.
Yes, this is hugely informative in a $million cost space, but it is also basically "work harder: we said you could"