Are You Signing a Project or a Contract?

In construction, 98% of megaprojects face cost overruns or delays. In IT, fewer than 35% of projects are delivered on time and within budget. These are not outliers. They are the norm. And the question most leaders fail to ask is not why the project went wrong, but whether the contract was equipped to handle it.

Business leaders focus heavily on project execution — milestones, deliverables, timelines, resources. The project is visible, tangible, measurable. The contract, by contrast, sits in a drawer. It is reviewed at signing and forgotten until something goes wrong.

But projects deliver outcomes. Contracts protect the value those outcomes create. Without robust contract terms — variation clauses, extension of time provisions, dispute resolution mechanisms, payment protections — a successfully executed project can still destroy margin.

Project deviations are inevitable. Scope changes. Conditions differ from what was anticipated. Instructions evolve. Timelines shift. The question is not whether deviations will occur but whether the contract provides the mechanisms to manage them without eroding the commercial position.

A common organisational blind spot persists: companies obsess over execution metrics — programme compliance, resource utilisation, quality KPIs — while leaving contracts unattended until problems arise. By then, the time bars have passed, the notices were never issued, and the entitlements have been quietly waived through inaction.

This represents a fundamental leadership oversight. It is not enough to deliver the project. The contract must be managed with the same discipline, the same attention, and the same seniority as the project itself. Because margins are not made on site. They are protected — or surrendered — in the contract.

The reframe is simple: you are not in the project delivery business. You are in the business of managing contracts through projects. The project is temporary. The contract is the durable instrument that determines whether the project creates value or destroys it.

Before you sign, ask: does this contract protect me when the project deviates? If the answer is unclear, you are signing a project, not a contract. And that is where the exposure begins.