CHAPTER 4 Managing Project Costs P ROJECT MANAGEMENT is always concerned with costs, but when a small business leads a project, there is a heightened sensitivity to all aspects of cost control. Business owners are, of course, cog- nizant of cost considerations in a project from the start, given their involvement in bidding, materials, the cost of labor, and payment for completion of the work. Project managers sense the urgency of managing a profitable project and understand how it directly relates to the company's profitability. And although some may discount the project team's awareness of cost and profits, its members, too, can be cost-conscious with a little coaching. All of these stakeholders should see the correlation: Projects provide business sustainability. Organizations that consistently manage projects poorly are not profitable, and that usually results 95 American Management Association · www.amanet.org