Controlling general conditions: the cost of running the site
At the week-30 cost review on a two-storey city hall, general conditions are spending faster than the weeks are passing. The rental statement shows part of the reason: a second site trailer, a light tower and a temporary heater are still on rent, and nobody has used them for three weeks.
Treat general conditions as a weekly running cost: give every item the event that ends its need, check the list each week against the look-ahead, and stop each cost when that event arrives. These are the costs of running the site — supervision, trailers, fencing, and the temporary utilities and facilities the specification's Division 01 calls for — that keep the job managed, safe and secure without becoming part of the building. Time-related items keep costing money while retained, even when work stops; price the extra weeks from the resources you will actually need.
The weekly running-cost check
- Split the budget into one-time items, such as setting up and removing trailers, and time-related items, such as supervision and rentals. Divided by the scheduled weeks, the time-related part is the weekly rate the job can afford.
- Keep one register of running costs: item, supplier, weekly cost, who can stop it, and the event that ends its need — a milestone such as "permanent heat running", or a date the specification sets.
- Review it weekly against the look-ahead: what ends in the next three weeks, what can shrink as the crew does, and which suppliers need notice.
- Stop each cost when its need ends, record the supplier's reference, and check that the next invoice stops. Machines have their own routine: rented equipment.
- Plan staff moves with the schedule. Site staff are paid for every week the job lasts, so decide early when each person moves to the next job.
- Price each week of delay at the current weekly rate in the forecast. If another party caused it, keep records and give the notice your contract requires; see asking for more time.
Common mistakes
- Leaving general conditions to accounting as a lump sum, when the site controls most of it.
- Keeping toilets, trailers and fencing sized for the peak crew after the crew has shrunk.
- Forecasting the remaining weeks at the budgeted rate when the actual rate is higher.
Checklist
Your weekly running-cost check
- Every running cost listed with its weekly cost
- An end event and an owner for each
- Items ending within three weeks called off or booked
- Facilities matched to this month's crew
- The week's total against the budgeted rate
- Finish-date slips priced into the forecast
Check your understanding
Your job will finish three weeks late, but every item on the register is still in use. Is there still a cost problem?
