Protecting budgets, relationships, and project alignment in collaborative delivery
Scope creep is the silent budget killer: small changes that quietly pile up until the project is off track.
Scope creep happens when a project’s scope expands. Sometimes gradually, sometimes all at once. It can occur with any delivery method, including design-bid-build (DBB), construction management at-risk (CMAR), design-build (DB), and progressive design-build (PDB), and it can derail the project.
It may feel like “just one more thing,” but those additions add up fast. New chemical feed lines, replace this hatch, update the HVAC for the admin area, add a sidewalk… Before you know it, the budget and schedule are at risk and the collaborative dynamic can start to shift out of balance.
For Owners: Keep an Eye on the Snowball
You’re trying to do right by the end user and take advantage of the opportunity to make much-needed improvements. We get it. But be mindful of how changes accumulate. If the preconstruction team and pricing professionals haven’t priced the work yet and the scope continues to evolve, you’re setting the team up for budget shocks. When bid day arrives or the GMP is locked in, those surprises can be painful. The pricing can only reflect what the preconstruction team knows, understands, and anticipates. Contingency in cost models is meant for unforeseen conditions and risk. It should not be treated as a placeholder for late additions or upgrades.
What starts as a few additional valves or an upgraded control panel can snowball into a significant budget discussion later. That’s an unwelcome surprise for everyone, especially if you thought it was already covered.
For Engineers: Set the Stage for What’s Changing
Whether it’s a must-have (very warranted) or a wish-list item, engineers play a critical role in communicating when scope has changed. Before incorporating new elements into the plans and specifications, it’s essential to pause and clarify: Is this within the original scope? Or is this truly an add? Does everyone understand the ripple effects?
Owners need to hear that clearly. During preconstruction, the team responsible for pricing needs to add it to its list for future incorporation. If time allows, get a rough order of magnitude (ROM) and add it to the latest cost iteration. Then the owner can make an informed decision before the design moves too far ahead.
When the added scope is included in the plans without that discussion, it can lead to rework down the line. That means drawing, modeling, and eventually deleting when additions push the project into budget territory that no one anticipated. That design time, and potentially any preconstruction costs, still get billed. It’s money spent with nothing to show for it.
For Contractors: Speak Up Early
Staying quiet as the scope shifts sets the whole team up for a hard conversation later. Saying nothing now might keep the room silent, but it guarantees tension when the budget can’t stretch to meet the new scope.
And when that tension hits, it often lands on contingency. The contractor-held contingency, intended for unforeseen events or construction risks, starts to resemble a safety net for late additions. That’s not what it’s for. Using contingency to absorb untracked scope shifts undermines cost certainty and puts delivery at risk.
Even in collaborative delivery, it’s not always clear to owners or engineers that a seemingly minor change can trigger a cascade of other impacts on labor, schedule, or downstream subcontractors. As the pricing professional, capture and report the impacts. Don’t let silence turn into an expensive scope change surprise.
How an Owner Advisor Can Help
A good owner advisor (OA) acts like the glue between the owner, engineer, and contractor. They’re there to ask the tough questions, flag growing scope, and keep the project aligned with budget and intent. They help:
- Track and document changes during design.
- Facilitate clear decision-making with long-term impacts in mind.
- Push for early conversations about cost and constructability.
They serve as an early warning system for scope creep and a neutral voice that keeps the team in balance.
The Give and Take
Collaborative delivery isn’t about unlimited wish lists; it’s about balancing priorities. Being accountable to a budget means that every addition should prompt a conversation: What can we give up to afford this?
Sometimes that trade-off is obvious. Other times, it requires tough decisions. But if we can approach adds and deletions as a team, with transparency and trust, we protect the project. We keep it deliverable. And we reinforce the collaborative spirit we all signed up for.
Keeping Projects on Track
It takes awareness from everyone:
- Owners: Be clear on scope boundaries and recognize when you’re adding value—and when you’re just adding.
- Engineers: Flag cascading impacts from “minor” changes. That insight helps protect the budget and schedule.
- Contractors: Don’t wait. If it’s changing the game, say something. Speak up in preconstruction and offer alternatives.
- Owner advisors: Guide the team, ask the right questions, and help draw the line between “need to have” and “nice to have.”
Managing scope creep isn’t about saying no to every change. It’s about making each change a conscious choice, with clear awareness of its cost, schedule, and impact on the team and project success. That’s what collaborative delivery is all about.