A price is just a number, but a price with a definition of the work it represents (“scope”) means something and is a critical step in successful project development.
The initial focus for many projects is “what is this going to cost?”. That is certainly an important question as big decisions are made on that information, but we are frequently asked how much a project will cost prior to much scope definition by the client. Any price without a good understanding of its scope is just a number – marginally useful or perhaps even misleading. But a price with scope definition is a big step towards a successful project.
When defining the scope of a project, it is important to understand not only the work directly required for the project, but also how it intersects with the existing operations, the existing facility, the work of “others”, regulatory requirements and much more. Duplication of scope drives costs up and may kill the project because it costs too much. Missing scope means additional costs will be incurred later – typically while the project is executed – leading to delays, costs, and disruptions when it hurts the most.
We focus on delivering successful projects and believe good scope definition is an important step in doing that. If you ask us for a price, you’ll also get a scope, probably a schedule and a listing of underlying assumptions to provide definition to the price.