Estimated Cost
Material + Labour + Equipment + Subcontract + Other Costs
PROJECT CONTROLS GUIDE
Take Control of Your Construction Projects
A practical guide for contractors, fit-out companies and MEP businesses to manage budget, cost, progress, changes and profitability throughout the project lifecycle.
Plan better. Track continuously. Act before problems become expensive.
The practical foundation
What Are Project Controls?
Project controls are the processes used to understand whether a construction project is progressing according to plan.
It connects what you planned to spend and deliver with what is actually happening on the project.
For a growing construction business, project controls don't need to be complicated. At the most practical level, you need to know:
01
What did we estimate?
02
What did we budget?
03
What have we committed?
04
What have we spent?
05
What has changed?
06
What have we completed?
07
What have we invoiced?
08
Are we still making the expected profit?
When this information is available throughout the project—not just after completion—you can make better decisions while there is still time to act.
Six connected disciplines
The 6 Areas of Project Control
Each area answers a different question. Together, they reveal where the project stands and what needs attention next.
01
Budget Control
Start with a clear baseline.
Your estimate and BOQ establish what you expect the project to cost and what you expect to earn.
Once the project begins, this becomes an important reference point for every purchasing and spending decision.
A good project control process protects this baseline while allowing you to understand the impact of changes.
Selling Price
What you have agreed to charge the customer.
Expected Margin
The profit you expect before project execution begins.
02
Cost & Commitment Control
Don't wait for the final accounts to discover an overrun.
A project can look profitable on paper while purchase orders, subcontractor commitments and site expenses are gradually reducing its margin.
Actual spending isn't the only thing that matters. If you have already issued a purchase order, that money may not have been paid yet—but the project has already committed to the cost.
Understanding both committed cost and actual cost gives you a much clearer picture of where the project is heading.
01Purchase Orders
02Material Costs
03Labour
04Equipment
05Subcontractors
06Bills & Expenses
03
Progress Control
Know what is happening on site.
Financial information alone cannot tell you whether a project is healthy. You also need visibility into actual site progress.
Work completed
Tasks and activities
Labour used
Materials consumed
Equipment used
Site photos
Issues and delays
Daily site information
When site information is connected with commercial information, management gets a much more accurate view of the project.
04
Variation Control
Changes shouldn't become invisible costs.
Variations are part of construction. The problem starts when additional work is completed but the commercial impact isn't properly recorded.
Separating internal changes from customer variations can also help you understand which changes affect your own cost and which can generate additional revenue.
01
What changed?
02
Why did it change?
03
Who requested it?
04
What will it cost us?
05
What will we charge?
06
Has it been approved?
07
Has it been invoiced?
05
Profitability Control
Revenue doesn't tell you whether a project is profitable.
An AED 1 million project isn't necessarily better than an AED 300,000 project. What matters is how much you retain after delivering it.
Compare the current margin continuously against the margin expected when the project was estimated.
Contract Value+
Approved Variations−
Actual & Committed Costs=
Current Project Margin
“Are we still going to make the profit we expected?”
06
Billing & Cash Flow Control
Completed work needs to become revenue.
A profitable project can still create cash-flow problems if invoicing is delayed.
Connecting project progress with invoicing helps businesses invoice at the right time and avoid completed work being forgotten or delayed.
01Work Completed
02Variations Approved
03Amount Invoiced
04Amount Outstanding
Continuous control
The Project Control Cycle
Control shouldn't happen only at the end of the month. It is a continuous monitoring cycle throughout the life of the project.
01
Estimate & BOQ
02
Project Budget
03
Procurement & Commitments
04
Site Progress
05
Actual Cost
06
Variations
07
Invoice
08
Profitability Review
Review, respond and repeat throughout delivery
Built for the region
Why Project Controls Matter for GCC Contractors
Construction businesses across the GCC often manage several projects simultaneously while coordinating customers, suppliers, subcontractors, site teams and office staff.
As the number of projects grows, relying on separate spreadsheets, WhatsApp conversations, emails and individual employees' knowledge becomes increasingly difficult.
Good project controls create a common source of information. Management can understand what's happening without constantly calling the site team, procurement team or accountant for updates.
Earlier Visibility of Cost Overruns
Spot problems before the project finishes.
Better Purchasing Decisions
Understand the budget before committing additional cost.
Clearer Accountability
Know who requested, approved, purchased and recorded project activities.
Better Variation Management
Reduce the risk of additional work going unrecorded or unbilled.
More Accurate Profitability
Understand whether each project is actually making money.
Better Customer Communication
Keep clearer records of progress, changes and commercial decisions.
Connect what already works
From Excel & WhatsApp to Connected Project Controls
Excel and WhatsApp can be useful tools. The problem isn't using them. The problem begins when critical project information becomes scattered across multiple spreadsheets, chats, emails, documents and people.
Scattered Project Information
Excel
WhatsApp
Emails
Paper documents
Separate files
Individual employees
Connected Project Information
One clear project view
Budget, commitments, progress, changes, cost and invoices connected to the same project.
Instead of replacing everything that already works in your business, construction software can become the operational layer connecting your project information.
Practical construction management
Project Controls with Masarek
One Project. One Connected Commercial Story. Masarek helps growing contractors manage the journey from the first estimate to the final invoice.
01Lead
02Estimate & BOQ
03RFQ
04Purchase Order
05Project
06Site Diary
07Actual Cost
08Variations
09Bills & Expenses
10Invoice
Your estimate doesn't disappear once you win the project. It becomes the baseline against which project activity can be tracked.
“Where does this project stand today?”