Abstract : Historically, owners and project managers in the construction industry have relied on their own experience and intuition when deriving estimates for project cost and duration. This has resulted in less-than-optimal outcomes: the vast majority of projects come in over budget and past deadlines. In the K-12 construction sphere, there is less tolerance for these outcomes as budget is oftentimes subject to public referendum and time is frequently locked in by the school district calendar. However, additional challenges are posed in the process of decision-making. Public school projects involve many stakeholder groups (e.g., district administrators, school board members, parents, and community representatives). Bond construction or steering committees may be comprised of members from each of these groups. While well- meaning, the creation of such groups frequently results in delayed decision-making as more meetings are needed, additional approvals are required, and perhaps even necessitate school board votes. Instead of just focusing on the outcomes (which are not measurable until “after the fact”), a more comprehensive approach involving the examination of the decision-making process as well is proposed. A standardized risk-management approach removes individual biases, captures more data inputs than most project managers initiate on their own, and ensures a more comprehensive view to address and ameliorate potential causes of overruns. Adopting this proactive approach provides efficiencies and expedited stakeholder co-ordination, mandated proactive planning, and reduces the expensive "learning curve" experience that exists for every new school project.

Keyword : Budget, Construction, K-12 Construction, Schedule, Standardized decision-making.