Cost & Procurement Audit for complex fit-outs.
A procurement audit: an independent review of budget, orders and supplier quotations, to find where a live project is losing margin and how to recover it.
Who this service is for
General contractors and interior design studios in cruise, hospitality and luxury interiors that suspect they are losing margin on a live project but have no clear visibility on the numbers.
Residential renovations and small private jobs. I work on complex projects, with technical documentation and multiple suppliers.
What I analyse in a procurement audit.
The project budget compared with the costs incurred and those still to come, line by line.
Orders and contracts with suppliers: what has been ordered, on what terms, and what is missing against the planned scope.
Supplier quotations brought onto the same scope and the same units, so they can be compared.
Actual progress compared with what has been invoiced and what was planned.
When you need a procurement audit
A procurement audit is useful when the numbers of a live project don’t add up: the cost to complete keeps growing, supplier orders don’t cover the whole scope, or the quotations received can’t be compared. Finding where the variance comes from while the project is still running is the difference between recovering margin and certifying a loss.
The four most common signals are: variations carried out but not quoted, orders placed outside budget, supplier offers on different scopes, and physical progress that doesn’t match what has been invoiced. The audit lines them up, traces their cause and shows what to fix first.
It doesn’t replace your internal cost control: it supports it with an independent view, on real documents, in a short time.
How it works.
You send me the documents
Budget, orders, supplier quotations and progress status. We agree scope and timing before starting.
I analyse the numbers
I check the variances between budget, orders and progress and trace their causes. I state my assumptions wherever the documents fall short.
Written report
A document with the variances found and the corrective actions in priority order.
Debrief call
We go through the report together, line by line, and decide what to do first.
Format and timing
One-off engagement, with a written deliverable and a debrief call.
1-2 weeks, depending on the volume of documents.
Frequently asked questions
Which documents do you need for an audit?
Budget, orders and contracts with suppliers, quotations received and progress status. If something is missing, I flag it in the report as an assumption without stopping the work.
What do I get at the end?
A written report with the variances found, their causes and the corrective actions in priority order, plus a call to go through it together.
What if the audit shows I need ongoing support?
You can carry out the actions yourself or hand me the coordination of the project: see Project & Procurement Coordination.
Can I run an audit on a project that hasn’t started yet?
The audit is designed for live projects. If you are yet to start, the entry point is BOQ and quantity take-off, which builds the baseline numbers before you buy.
Why me
13+ years handling exactly these numbers from inside projects, not as an outside consultant seeing them for the first time.
From tender to execution for shops, lounges, bars and suites on cruise ships, as Project Manager and Senior Estimator.
Estimating and business development for cruise projects.
Think a project is
losing margin?
Write to me, I reply within 48 hours.