How much contingency to actually budget
What contingency covers, and how much is typical for a Nigerian build.
Contingency in a Nigerian development budget is a buffer set aside for unplanned costs, such as price movements, site surprises, or scope changes, and is usually sized as a percentage of construction cost rather than a fixed figure. Under-budgeting contingency is one of the more common reasons a feasible-looking project runs into funding trouble mid-build.
Contingency gets treated as an afterthought in a lot of budgets, when it's often the difference between a project that survives a bad surprise and one that runs out of funding mid-build.
What it's meant to absorb
- Material price movements over the build period.
- Unforeseen site conditions, such as poor soil or hidden groundworks issues.
- Reasonable scope changes that come up during construction.
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Check Compliance For FreeQuestions people also ask
Is 10% contingency enough for a Nigerian build?
It depends on the project's exposure to price movement and site uncertainty rather than being a fixed rule, contingency is sized as a percentage of construction cost, and a higher-uncertainty site or a longer build period generally warrants sizing toward the higher end.
Does contingency cover cost overruns, or scope changes too, or both?
Both. It's meant to absorb material price movements, unforeseen site conditions, and reasonable scope changes that come up during construction, not just one of those categories.
What happens if contingency is under-budgeted?
Under-budgeting contingency is one of the more common reasons a feasible-looking project runs into funding trouble mid-build, since the buffer that would have absorbed a normal surprise simply isn't there.
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