GAO Cost Estimating and Assessment Guide (GAO-20-195G)
by U.S. Government Accountability Office · U.S. Government Accountability Office
Companion GAO guide laying out a twelve-step process for credible cost estimates: work breakdown structures, ground rules and assumptions, estimating methods, cross-checking, sensitivity analysis, risk and uncertainty analysis, and earned value management for tracking cost and schedule performance.
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The Last Planner System of Production Control (PhD thesis)
Ballard's 2000 University of Birmingham doctoral thesis introducing the Last Planner System. Argues CPM contract schedules cannot control production, then shows through case studies how make-ready planning, weekly commitments and percent-plan-complete measurement raise plan reliability on site.
CPM in Construction Management, Eighth Edition
The long-standing practitioner reference on critical path method for construction: network logic and calendars, duration and resource assignment, cost loading, updating and progress measurement, delay and claims analysis, and scheduling specifications. Readers can build, review and defend a construction programme.
How Big Things Get Done
Flyvbjerg's database of more than 16,000 projects underpins this account of why megaprojects overrun: think slow and act fast, modularity, reference-class forecasting, and fat-tailed risk. Readers gain a statistical model of why front-end planning decides outcomes.
GAO Schedule Assessment Guide: Best Practices for Project Schedules (GAO-16-89G)
Free 240-page federal guide setting out ten best practices for a reliable schedule: capturing all activities, building sequenced network logic, estimating durations, resource loading, validating the critical path, schedule risk analysis, baselining, and managing change. Includes audit criteria.
Project Management for Construction (and Deconstruction): Fundamental Concepts for Owners, Engineers, Architects and Builders
Open-access textbook (CC BY-SA, 2024 edition edited by Carl Haas) covering the construction project lifecycle from the owner's viewpoint: cost estimation, economic evaluation, financing, contracting, CPM scheduling, cost control and quality. Readers finish able to plan and control a project end to end.