The weekly cost meeting: five items on one page, thirty minutes, one action each
Tuesday's cost meeting starts with someone opening a large report. Twenty minutes later, the team is still looking for an invoice. The drywall hours have moved ahead of installed work, but nobody leaves with an action to investigate it.
Prepare one page covering labour, new commitments, changes, cash and the decision the job needs now. Use a thirty-minute slot as a working limit, and assign an owner and date to each action you agree. The meeting's purpose is to decide what happens next, not to read every cost-code line aloud. Move unresolved data checking to a named follow-up so uncertainty stays visible without consuming the whole discussion.
Prepare the page before people arrive
- Choose the cutoff. Put the reporting date and missing inputs at the top. Have the coordinator obtain the timesheets, new orders and change updates beforehand; an incomplete number should be labelled rather than quietly treated as final.
- Show the labour exception. Select codes whose hours and completed quantities need attention. Include the foreman's explanation or mark it pending. Spend the meeting agreeing the next check instead of debating whether a percentage looks bad.
- List this week's commitments. Show each new award or purchase against its budget line, with scope assumptions and remaining exposure. Ask who must resolve an exclusion or obtain an outstanding price before the next issue.
- Separate change stages. Identify work awaiting notice review, pricing, approval or billing. State the action and its actual required date; a general monthly total can hide a ticket that needs attention today.
- Review cash timing. List expected receipts and upcoming payments using the office's current information. Flag a disputed or unconfirmed date. Assign coordination with the person responsible for payments rather than promising money during the meeting.
- Make the needed decision explicit. State the choice, who has authority and what information remains. Read back the actions before closing, then bring their status to next week's page without carrying forward stale explanations.
Common mistakes
- Inviting everyone before the numbers and missing inputs are assembled.
- Repeating an action without checking whether its owner completed it.
- Treating a short meeting as permission to omit a serious unresolved issue.
Checklist
The next meeting page
- Cutoff date and missing inputs.
- Labour hours beside completed quantities.
- New commitments beside their budget lines.
- Changes by their next required action.
- Cash dates and uncertainty.
- Decision, action owner and follow-up date.
Check your understanding
An invoice discrepancy cannot be resolved within the meeting. What should you record before moving on?
