02 / Services — Programme & Cost Assurance

Slippage is visible months before it is admitted

Independent interrogation of the programme and the numbers — as a standalone overlay on your existing team, or inside a full delivery engagement. Based in Melbourne, working Australia-wide.

Programmes
Every revision read
Reporting
Board-ready
Engagement
Standalone or bundled
The Problem

The programme you were given is a commercial document

It shows what the contractor wants shown

Float is placed where it protects their position. Durations reflect a resourcing assumption that may or may not hold.

By the time the date moves, it is expensive

A changed completion date in a monthly report is the last signal, not the first. The earlier ones were in the programme.

You usually have no other view

Which is why an independent reading of the same document changes the conversation more than another report does.
That is not necessarily dishonest. It is what happens when the party being measured produces the measurement.

Logic and float

Where the float actually sits, who benefits from it sitting there, and whether it is being consumed while the reported date holds steady.

  • Links checked for type, direction and missing activities
  • Lags interrogated for hidden scope
  • Total float mapped against activities that can genuinely absorb delay
  • Float consumption tracked between revisions

Durations and critical path

Optimistic durations are the most common single cause of programme failure, and the easiest thing to catch early.

  • Durations tested against quantities and resourcing assumptions
  • Critical path credibility assessed each revision
  • Movement between revisions flagged with the line that moved
  • Commissioning and shutdown windows checked against the services scope

Constraints and contract dates

A programme that does not contain the constraints is not a programme, it is a wish list.

  • Access dates, separable portions and practical completion checked against the contract
  • After-hours restrictions, hoisting windows and base-build shutdowns
  • Authority approvals and long-lead procurement durations
  • Progress claimed reconciled against progress achieved

Cost assurance

Committed versus forecast versus actual, tracked so the difference between not spent and not committed stays visible.

  • Variance explained rather than displayed
  • Variation exposure including what has not been claimed yet
  • Contingency drawdown against the risk register, as a trend
  • Cashflow forecast against the programme, updated when it moves
What Soft Float Looks Like

The signals are specific, and they repeat

Float on activities that cannot absorb delay

Total float shown against work that is sequence-locked or access-constrained.

Simultaneous trades in a single area

Sequences that assume access the site will not permit.

Long-lead items priced on instant approval

Procurement durations that leave no time for the approval they depend on.

No float to practical completion

Which means the first delay is a claim rather than an absorption.
Reporting

Written for the people who make the decision

Construction reporting is written for construction people

Boards, finance directors and property committees need something else, and usually get a longer version of the same thing.

What changed, what it costs, what the options are

Plus what happens if nothing is decided this month, and what we recommend.

Detail sits behind it

For anyone who wants it. One page that says something beats twelve that say nothing.

Every revision read on receipt

Not monthly. Changes between revisions are flagged with the specific line that moved and a plain-English risk note.
Engagement

You do not have to hand us the project

Works as an overlay

Your project manager keeps running the project. We interrogate the programme and the numbers independently and report to you.

Suits internal delivery teams

For clients with their own capability who want an external check rather than a replacement.

A low-friction way to start

It is also the easiest way to work with us before deciding on anything larger.

Quoted per scope

Against project value, duration and reporting frequency. Bundled into delivery engagements at no separate charge.
Melbourne

Melbourne conditions, tested in the logic

Constraints that are real here

Out-of-hours approvals, CBD access windows, heritage conditions and authority hold points belong in the programme logic. Their absence is usually the first red flag.

Market-rate scrutiny

Cost plans and trade lettings tested against current Melbourne pricing, not benchmarks from a calmer market. Working in Melbourne →