Contingencies in construction should be reduced or eliminated as the project proceeds from conceptual phase to design and more information is gathered. The cont

Contingencies in construction should be reduced or eliminated as the project proceeds from conceptual phase to design and more information is gathered. The contingency line item should almost never be carried over into the construction phase for vertical construction and if the project comes in over budget it speaks more to the failures of the design team at estimating than to a budgeting failure. Other types of construction may indeed carry contingencies through construction phase but it must be made absolutely clear to the owner of the project that the contingencies are for X unknown and not just a "we can't estimate very well so hit it with 10%".