There is a widespread belief that a project “begins” with breaking ground. From the standpoint of cost management, this is the opposite of the truth. The decisions made in Phase 0 — before there is a design, before there is a permit — determine the larger part of the final budget.
The reason lies in the cost-influence curve. In the earliest phases the opportunities for optimisation are at their maximum, while the funds spent are at their minimum. As the project advances, the ratio reverses: every change costs more and more, because it is already embedded in design documentation, contracts and completed works. A change to the concept on paper costs hours; the same change during construction costs weeks and reworks.
This is why, at Strive 4BG, Phase 0 is not a formality. The financial and economic model, the technical analysis of the plot and the delivery strategy, prepared before the start, are the instruments that protect the investor from the most expensive mistakes — those that only become visible when it is too late to correct them cheaply.