Project Budgeting & Cost Control – Essential Skills for PMs

Explore the four PMBoK cost management processes: plan cost management, estimate costs, determine budget, and control costs, plus earned value management to track project expenditure.

Plan cost management establishes how to estimate, budget, monitor, and control project costs through the cost management plan, tying scope, schedule, earned value management, and risk together with software tooling.

Learn to convert project scope and drawings into an estimated cost using inputs, tools, and techniques like analogous, parametric, bottom-up, and three-point estimates, with a basis of estimate.

Turn your estimate into an authorized cost baseline through the determined budget process, using inputs like the cost management plan and WBS, with expert judgment and cost aggregation.

control costs by monitoring expenditures against the cost baseline, analyzing variances, and issuing change requests to keep the project under budget using earned value management and the cost management plan.

Understand earned value management to track scope, schedule, and cost using PV, EV, and AC, and forecast completion with CPI, SPI, and TCPI.

discover how earned schedule extends earned value management to reveal schedule performance by comparing earned value to the original plan, indicating ahead or behind schedule and the schedule variance.

See money across direct and indirect construction costs; track spending with a cost-tracking system; apply the 80/20 rule to drive improvements in drivers like rates and productivity.

Tailor project cost management concepts from the PMBoK to real-world construction projects, exploring life-cycle applications across different infrastructure types and finishing with a case study.

Tailor project cost management to fit your project's specifics, financing, design, and life cycle needs. Assess indirect versus direct costs, contract model, and resource structure to optimize budgeting and procurement.

Master construction cost management from estimating costs to monitoring and controlling them. Turn estimates into budgets and deliver projects for less than budget through design, procurement, and change control.

Apply PMBoK cost management processes to infrastructure projects by turning estimates into budgets, planning cost management, establishing control accounts and cost codes, and enforcing cash-flow driven cost control.

Explore cost management across a solar farm project by turning an initial $45 million EPC estimate into a real-time budget tracked with control accounts and integrated procurement and design improvements.

Practice PMBoK exam questions on project cost management and reinforce how to effectively manage costs during projects.

Understand PMBoK theory, apply it to real construction projects, and iteratively learn from mistakes to improve procurement planning, scheduling, and selection of subcontractors and suppliers.

Bridge theory to real-world practice by applying core principles and processes to implement this theory, enabling projects to be delivered under budget.