Dinner 7 - Birmingham

“It’s Not Your Money”: Construction Leaders Warn of the Cost of Commercial Blind Spots

Senior construction commercial leaders have warned that poor communication between project teams and commercial functions can turn apparently healthy jobs into major losses.

The warning emerged at CLIC’s first Birmingham dinner, which brought together around a dozen senior figures from main contracting, highways, utilities, consultancy, foundations and construction technology.

The discussion focused on the “foundations nobody checks”, the processes, behaviours and systems underpinning commercial performance that often receive attention only when something goes wrong.

One example involved a water framework where a site team had saved £1.5 million by removing part of the scope, only to spend the saving elsewhere without the commercial team’s knowledge. Within two weeks, the project forecast reportedly moved from a healthy profit to a projected loss of between £7 million and £10 million.

The conversation also covered commercial training, technology, chartership and the growing influence of AI. While attendees were not opposed to AI, the consistent view was that experienced professionals still need to challenge and verify its output, particularly as automation begins taking on work traditionally performed by graduates.

The evening ultimately returned to a simple message about commercial responsibility. As one commercial leader told the room: “You’ve got nothing to spend. It’s not your money. I’m just looking after it for somebody else.”