Published paperback
You usually learn the hard way.
Chris Wilkinson
Construction can teach you the theory of technology, contracts, design, programming and cost management. Then somebody gives you a real project. Contractors need decisions, drawings change, information arrives late, costs move, programmes slip and the apparently simple problems rarely stay simple.
90 Construction Lessons distils nearly four decades of experience around construction, buildings, projects, design teams, contractors and clients into short, self-contained lessons. It is not intended to replace technical textbooks or professional guidance. Instead, it focuses on the practical judgement that develops around them: recognising warning signs earlier, asking better questions, recording the things that matter and understanding the consequences of everyday project decisions.
The lessons range from briefing, tenders and design responsibility through instructions, commercial reality, programme, site logistics, quality, handover, difficult conversations, risk and professional judgement. Read it from cover to cover, take two or three lessons over a coffee, or open it when something on a live project feels familiar.
“Experience cannot be entirely borrowed from somebody else. But you do not have to make every mistake personally.”
Inside the book
Each lesson starts with a recognisable situation, draws out the practical point and ends with something worth remembering.
Lesson 2
A tender may have a reassuring total at the bottom, but that number is only useful if everyone has priced the same thing. On one job, a scope simply said “Replace Bathroom” — with no explanation of what replacement meant. The tenders came back with a 300% spread.
Remember: A fixed price attached to an unfixed scope is only an estimate wearing a suit.
Lesson 48
Experience on site matters, but “we’ve done loads of these” should not end the technical check. On a small structural alteration, an unexpected visit found engineering bricks being used as a padstone instead of the engineer’s specified detail. Confidence was not the same thing as verification.
Remember: Reassurance should start the check, not end it.
Practical Built Environment Guides
The other guides focus in more detail on project checklists, Pre-Construction Information, building compliance and contract administration.
