Ian Rogers, managing director, Procync
In construction and property development, everyone talks about visibility. Dashboards, reports and data platforms are supposed to solve delivery problems, but if you have ever been involved in a project that ran late or went over budget, you will know that visibility alone changes very little, and the cost of that gap can be significant.
When accountability is missing, developers do not just lose time; they lose money. Every week of delay on a £20 million project can equate to £100,000 to £200,000 in lost rent, extended finance costs or contractor claims. Industry research shows that up to 30% of total project value can be eroded through rework, inefficiencies and disputes linked to poor coordination.
The illusion of progress
Teams often celebrate hitting milestones such as “design complete” or “procurement signed off”, yet the overall job still slips. These achievements look good on a chart but mean little if the work on site is not coordinated. One team may have finished its task while another is waiting for information. A supplier might have met a target, but the next trade cannot start.
Superficial visibility creates a sense of progress that hides risk, and risk costs money. Every delay adds to site overheads, financing charges and labour inflation. Developers end up paying for downtime, design changes and claims that could have been avoided if accountability had been built in from the start.
Data without ownership
Technology helps when it is used with purpose. The right tools can give genuine insight into what is happening across multiple sites. The problem comes when information is uploaded without context. Long reports list what has been done but say nothing about what might go wrong next.
Real accountability means knowing who is responsible for an outcome, not just a task. Without that link, teams work in isolation, protecting their own section of work instead of the overall result. It is the difference between finishing on time or absorbing six months of delay costs, late delivery penalties and the erosion of developer profit margins.
Making visibility useful
The best projects I have worked on always had one thing in common: everyone knew exactly what success looked like and how their part contributed to it. Visibility and responsibility were built together.
At Procync, we build frameworks that connect data to ownership and communication. It starts with mapping who is accountable for each stage and when it must be achieved. Reporting then follows those accountabilities, not just task lists.
This simple shift cuts through noise and shows what is really happening before it is too late to act. When a delay is visible and clearly linked to someone’s responsibility, people tend to solve it early. That single behaviour change can save developers hundreds of thousands of pounds in rework, claims and time extensions.
The real cost of poor accountability
Developers often receive glossy dashboards that suggest control, yet costs rise and disputes follow. What they need is visibility that exposes risk early enough to make a difference. Without accountability, that visibility becomes a false economy.
A ten-week delay on a £10 million build can add £1 million or more to the overall spend once you factor in prelims, extended financing and lost revenue. Multiply that across a portfolio of projects and the impact is huge, not just on cashflow but on reputation and investor confidence.
The questions that make the biggest difference are simple:
- Who owns this milestone?
- What could stop it from being achieved?
- Are we seeing an accurate picture or a filtered one?
When developers consistently ask these, visibility turns into a genuine cost-control tool.
Changing the culture
This is not just about systems. The culture of construction still leans towards blame and protection. People avoid flagging risks because they fear the consequences. Without honest reporting, accountability fails and costs spiral.
Trust is the foundation. When teams know they can raise concerns without being punished, they are more likely to share problems early. Visibility should not be used to catch people out but to help them deliver. It is about shared truth, not surveillance.
From firefighting to prevention
Many project leaders spend their days dealing with crises that could have been prevented. Aligning visibility and accountability allows problems to be spotted while they are still cheap to fix. Early intervention saves far more than reactive recovery ever can.
When every person and process has clear responsibilities, decisions happen faster, disputes reduce, and project margins improve. Visibility then becomes a steering tool, not a post-mortem.
Investing early to save later
Spending more time at the beginning of a project, and accepting that it may cost a little more upfront, pays back many times over. By getting structure, accountability and communication right from day one, developers can save 20% to 30% in time and cost by avoiding overruns, claims and inefficiencies.
More importantly, those savings continue after completion. A well-coordinated build can reduce operating costs by up to 40% because everything works as intended and the handover is clean. That kind of return does not come from better software or longer reports. It comes from clear expectations, honest communication and people who understand exactly what they are accountable for.
Moving forward
The pressures facing the industry are not going away. Margins are tight, skilled labour is limited and client expectations keep rising. Developers cannot afford to mistake information for insight.
True visibility is about clarity, not quantity. The data that matters most is the data tied to ownership because that is where cost and control meet. Projects fail not for lack of information, but for lack of accountability. When both are aligned, cost certainty follows.
Ian Rogers is the CEO and visionary founder of a leading construction consultancy known for solving complex project challenges and delivering smarter, dispute-free outcomes across the built environment.
