Cost control
3 mistakes that push tourism projects over budget
October 2026 · 3 min read · De Consulting
On hotel and resort projects, the overrun is usually built in long before construction starts. We see the same three mistakes again and again on the Albanian coast.
1. Budgeting from a rate per square metre
A budget set at concept stage from a single rate per m² looks precise, but a resort is not an apartment block. Guest rooms, restaurants, spa, pools, back-of-house areas and landscaping cost very different amounts per m². Furniture, fixtures and equipment (FF&E) and operating supplies are often left out entirely. When the hotel operator's brand standards arrive at detailed design, the scope grows and the budget has nothing to absorb it.
What to do instead
- Build an elemental cost plan: the building by function, external works, infrastructure, FF&E and operating supplies, fees, permits and finance, each shown separately.
- Get the operator's brand standards before schematic design, not after.
- Hold a design contingency that falls as the design develops, and a separate construction contingency.
2. Forgetting what sits outside the building
On coastal sites the building is only part of the bill. Access roads, power supply, water, sewage treatment, storm water and coastal protection can take a large share of the budget. On many sites the developer pays for connections the utilities cannot yet provide. These costs are often missing from the first budget because no one owns them.
What to do instead
- Check network capacity with the electricity distribution operator and the local water utility at feasibility stage.
- Budget off-site and site-wide infrastructure as its own package, with its own programme.
- Allow for temporary solutions, such as generators or on-site treatment, if permanent connections will arrive after opening.
3. Approving changes on site without a cost check
Design changes and site instructions are normal. They turn into an overrun when they are approved one by one, verbally or by email, and nobody adds up the total. By the time the final account arrives, dozens of small changes have become a large number, and many are hard to dispute.
What to do instead
- Keep a change register: every change gets a number, a reason, a cost estimate and an approver before it is instructed.
- Report the anticipated final cost every month, not only the amount certified so far.
- Under FIDIC contracts, use the variation procedure the contract already gives you, and agree the price before the work wherever possible.
A Cost Check before design is frozen takes a few weeks and costs a fraction of one change order. It gives you a budget that matches the design, a list of risks with numbers attached, and the savings that are still available before they are locked out.
