Spotting labour overruns early
On a Tuesday walk through the second floor of a clinic renovation, you count nine of your electricians where the plan called for six. Three rooms are half roughed in, none are finished, and two electricians are waiting for another trade to remove the old ceiling. The cost report will not show this for weeks.
Labour overruns start on site — crews waiting, working out of sequence, redoing work or crowded into too few areas — and reach the cost report weeks later, when less work is left to absorb them. Disruption shows up mainly as lost labour productivity; when the other party to the contract causes it, the cost may be recoverable if it was recorded.
The weekly overrun check
- Compare crew size with the plan in each area, and ask why wherever it is higher.
- Count areas started and areas finished; many open and few closed means the crew is moving around or waiting.
- Ask the foreman what stopped the crew this week — material, access, answers, inspections, rework — and record the hours lost and the cause.
- Compare the share of hours used with the share of work in place for each main activity, taking progress from counted work, never from hours spent.
- Watch overtime and general-code hours; both rise quietly when progress is slow.
- Remove the cause within the week: clear the constraint, cut the crew to what the open areas can use, or change the sequence.
- Give written notice if another party caused the loss, and update the forecast for the activity.
Common mistakes
- Waiting for the cost report to confirm what the site walk already shows.
- Taking percent complete from hours spent.
- Adding workers to an area that is already blocked.
- Writing "waiting" in the diary without cause, hours or who was told.
Checklist
Your weekly overrun check
- Crew size against the plan, area by area
- Areas started against areas finished
- Hours lost, with causes
- Share of hours used against share of work in place
- Overtime and general-code hours against last week
- One action per cause, with an owner and a date
Check your understanding
Why is a labour overrun cheaper to fix at 40% complete than at 80%?
Show the answer
At 40%, most of the work is still ahead, so a better crew size or sequence can recover hours across most of the job. At 80%, little work is left to absorb the loss, and the choices narrow to accepting it or claiming it.
