We never have time to Get it Right.

We started off by undertaking a thorough piece of research to identify both the most economically significant errors and their causes. The results of our research are set out in detail in our Research Report (November 2015).

Key international studies suggest that the measured direct costs of avoidable errors are in the order of 5% of project value or £5Bn per annum across the sector in the UK and is higher than average profit levels across the industry (around 3%).

However, when unmeasured and indirect costs are included the situation gets much worse with estimates of total costs ranging between 10% and 25% of project cost or between £10-25Bn per annum across the sector. This is equivalent to seven times the total annual profit of the UK Construction Industry.

Error is the elephant in the room. Nobody wants to talk about it because it puts the industry in a bad light. However the cost of error should not only be measured in financial terms but also in resource terms. Every commentator on our industry discusses the ongoing and increasing shortage of resources and poor productivity levels in our industry.

There are real opportunities to reduce error and increase productivity. We can only do that by working together at all levels and across every sector of the industry.

The Get It Right Initiative is an opportunity to improve productivity by dealing with the causes of error in a radical way.