Cost Certainty: The Connected Difference
In corporate construction, cost overruns aren't anomalies; they're epidemics. Traditional procurement models routinely deliver projects 10-20% over budget, with delays compounding financial exposure at every turn. For organisations investing millions in workplace transformation, this volatility undermines business planning and erodes stakeholder confidence.
At Connected, we've built our methodology around a fundamental principle: cost certainty isn't an aspiration, it's a deliverable.
Why Traditional Models Fail
The conventional process of translating design to built environment is fundamentally broken. Traditional procurement separates design and construction into sequential phases, with contractors entering only after design is complete. This creates structural problems:
Miscommunication at transition points introduces misinterpretation and conflicting assumptions. Buildability issues surface only when contractors review completed drawings, triggering expensive redesigns. The industry has normalised variations and change orders as inevitable. Fragmented teams focus on apportioning blame rather than solving problems. Clients must maintain expensive internal teams to manage multiple contractors and mediate disputes.
The result? Program delays, budget overruns, and defects that emerge only at handover. Traditional Design & Construct models compound these issues with opaque contractor selection and value engineering that compromises design integrity.
Early Contractor Involvement: The Foundation
Connected's methodology begins with Early Contractor Involvement (ECI), fundamentally changing when construction expertise enters the project. Rather than waiting for design completion, we engage from discovery, bringing buildability insight, cost intelligence, and supply chain knowledge into every design decision.
At ALS Laboratory in New South Wales, early contractor engagement allowed us to identify and eliminate service issues before construction commenced. We developed an extensive redesign that enhanced efficiency and met the client's budget. Problems that would have triggered costly variations in traditional delivery were resolved during design development at a fraction of the cost.
Throughout the design lifecycle, we conduct real-time subcontractor review for each package. Mechanical contractors review HVAC design as it develops. Electrical subcontractors validate power distribution strategies before documentation begins. Specialist trades confirm feasibility while changes remain inexpensive.
This parallel process provides continuous cost validation. There are no surprises at tender because the people who will build the project have shaped its design from the beginning.
Data-Driven Risk Management
Cost certainty requires moving beyond gut-feel contingencies to rigorous analysis. Connected employs advanced planning tools, including Monte Carlo simulation, to model cost variability and establish contingencies based on project-specific risk profiles rather than arbitrary percentages.
We quantify which elements carry genuine cost risk and allocate contingency where it's needed. Early cost models are stress-tested against multiple scenarios, revealing vulnerabilities before they materialise as budget breaches. As design progresses, we continuously update cost models, providing real-time visibility into budget status.
Most importantly, our fixed-fee lump sum contracts transfer risk from client to Connected. We own the financial outcome.
Eliminating Scope Creep
Scope creep, the gradual expansion of project requirements beyond original intent, is among the most insidious causes of cost overruns. Connected fortifies projects through a formal Change Control Board process.
Every potential change is evaluated through structured protocol: impact assessment documenting effects on cost, schedule, and quality; transparent documentation with full traceability; approval gates requiring explicit stakeholder authorization; and budget tracking showing cumulative effects in real-time.
This rigorous governance doesn't slow projects down; it accelerates them by eliminating ambiguity and rework.
Pre-Construction Validation
Before committing to full-scale fabrication, Connected creates physical and virtual mock-ups of critical spaces and systems. Physical mock-ups allow stakeholders to experience spatial relationships, material finishes, and system integrations at full scale, particularly valuable for laboratory environments and specialized technical spaces. Virtual Reality walkthroughs extend this validation to entire floor plates.
These validation exercises consistently identify refinements that prevent expensive field changes. The cost of a mock-up is trivial compared to rectifying an installed system that doesn't meet requirements.
Designing for Long-Term Value
Cost certainty extends beyond initial construction to lifecycle value. Flexible partition systems allow reconfiguration as teams evolve. Infrastructure resilience means designing systems with capacity for future demands. FF&E supply chain strategy through local and nearshoring partnerships reduces lead time volatility and ensures consistent sourcing over the building's life.
The lowest initial cost rarely represents the best long-term value. Organisations that plan for adaptability avoid costly complete fit-out replacements every seven years
The LECI Model: Integration as Risk Mitigation
Our LECI (Lump Sum Early Contractor Involvement) model synthesises these principles into unified delivery. From Phase 1 Strategy through Phase 7 Post-Occupancy, Connected maintains single-point accountability for program, budget, and quality.
Program certainty: Detailed pre-construction ensures every element is meticulously planned before work begins.
Zero variations: Real-time cost validation throughout design eliminates the variations that plague traditional delivery.
Defect-free handover: Our ZERO Defects policy guarantees a flawless finish. Preventing defects is far more cost-effective than fixing them.
Risk ownership: Connected assumes financial risk for cost and schedule performance. Clients aren't exposed to contractor insolvency, material escalation, or unforeseen conditions.
Progressive optimisation: Continuous value engineering identifies efficiencies that enhance performance while controlling cost.
Where traditional models create adversarial relationships with contractors protecting margins through variations and claims, Connected's integrated approach creates alignment: clients achieve certainty, delivery partners work collaboratively, and we build our reputation on predictable outcomes.
Proven Track Record
At BVAQ Laboratory in Victoria, we're consolidating three separate facilities into a 9,500m² campus, Australia's largest food testing laboratory. The General Manager noted, "The team has been incredibly flexible throughout. They have worked with us with a solution-focused mindset to achieve our business objectives."
At Telix Radiopharmaceutical Facility, we're transforming a residential building into a state-of-the-art radio pharmacy with ISO 7 cleanrooms and extensive radioactive shielding. The complexity is extreme; the cost certainty is unwavering.
The Strategic Choice
For organisations evaluating workplace transformation, construction delivery isn't a commodity decision. The choice of delivery model fundamentally determines financial exposure, schedule certainty, and quality outcomes.
Traditional procurement's apparent cost savings often prove illusory. A lower initial bid that balloons through variations, runs over schedule, and delivers defects requiring rectification rarely represents best value. The fully loaded cost, including client resources consumed managing problems, typically exceeds integrated delivery models.
Cost certainty is a strategic differentiator in markets where capital is constrained, and business planning depends on reliable infrastructure deployment. At Connected, cost certainty isn't marketing language. It's embedded in our contracts, our processes, and our track record.
Because the better way to build isn't just faster or higher quality. It's predictable, transparent, and certain. That's the Connected difference.
Connected's LECI methodology delivers cost certainty, program reliability, and zero defects through early contractor involvement, integrated delivery, and single-point accountability across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States.