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Chris Carson

Director of Program & Project Controls | VP

Arcadis

United States

About

Chris Carson is a recognized thought leader in the Program/Project Controls and Construction Management industry with over 45 years of experience.

He was the recipient of the 2021 AACE International “O.T. Zimmerman Founder’s Award ” for “… the development of policies, practices, procedures, and projects directed to the advancement of the precepts of total cost management and AACE International”, the 2011 AACE “Technical Excellence” award, the 2009 PMI College of Scheduling award for “Significant Contributions to the Scheduling Industry”, and the “Chairman’s Award” from CMAA in 2006 for contributions to the CM industry.  He was on the AACE 2016-2018 Board of Directors and the Board of Advisors for CII for 2019-2020.

Chris Carson was selected as an AACE International Fellow in 2013 “in recognition of professional attainment and significant accomplishment in cost management or cost engineering.”  He was selected as the first founding Fellow of Project Controls by the International Guild of Project Controls in 2014, and a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in 2015 for his individual achievement “as well as demonstrating significant career achievements and successes…”.

As a top ranked speaker and presenter of over 750 industry sessions, Mr. Carson’s credentials include over 80 peer-reviewed publications such as AACE Recommended Practices, “Forensic Schedule Analysis”, “Identifying the Critical Path”, “Recovery Scheduling”, “Development of Cost Estimate Plans”, “Original Baseline Schedule Review”, and “Update Schedule Review”.   Mr. Carson was an Author/Editor for the book, “CPM Scheduling for Construction – Best Practices and Guidelines”, 2014, contributing author for “Construction Project Scheduling and Control”, by Saleh Mubarak, 2010, and contributing author for the “Time Management Guidelines” and “Claims Management Guidelines” by CMAA, 2011, 2017, 2018.  In addition, in September 2021, AACE published its 100th Recommended Practice and Chris had the eighth greatest number of individual contributions to those Recommended Practices.

Currently he is serving as the Enterprise Director of Program & Project Controls and Vice President for ARCADIS U.S. He is the Lead for the Program & Project Controls (PPC) Community of Practice, and the PPC training and best practices development center. He is also an instructor with Project Control Academy, teaching the Forensic Schedule Delay Analysis online training.

To connect with Chris, please visit his LinkedIn profile.

Panel Moderator

The Project Controls Jeopardy Show

Join this panel discussion to engage in “The Project Controls Jeopardy Show,” a unique and interactive experience designed to challenge and entertain.

This lively session takes a game-show approach to project controls, testing your knowledge in a format inspired by the classic Jeopardy! game.

Participants will have the opportunity to answer questions across various categories related to project controls, fostering a competitive yet educational environment.

Perfect for professionals looking to sharpen their skills in a fun and dynamic setting, this show promises to be both an enjoyable and enriching experience that will enhance your understanding of project controls in an unforgettable way.

Title & Abstract

Historical Cost Benchmarking & Forecasting Escalation Costs for Estimates – What Are the Reliable Resources

Project Controls Practitioners are often tasked with a variety of cost estimating needs, such as the need for quick conceptual estimates, like AACE Class 5 or 5 estimates, where there is little scope definition.  Sometimes an owner has a project that was already built somewhere in the world, and they are interested in the cost of a similar new project in another location.  And with any cost estimate, it is important to be able to estimate how a contractor will bid the project when the duration is large enough to require purchases at some point in the future, elevating the risk of a fixed bid.

The solution to these needs is the use of cost benchmarking or cost escalation indices, because providing empirical data is more reliable than attempting to provide some sort of line items costing without much in the way of scope definition.  There are a number of organizations that offer historical construction costs and escalation factors as well as some that offer crystal ball forecasting of future costs.

The speaker will bring some sunlight into the world of historical cost escalation, location factoring, and future escalation forecasting by an examination of the available reliable cost benchmarking data and escalation/location factoring data.  Session attendees will find resources for their costing needs in this session. 

Presentation Category:  Cost Estimating

 Competency Level: Intermediate