Because construction projects are highly complex, collaborative, interdependent and long-lasting team efforts, the exact final cost is impossible to estimate. It has never been a matter of skullduggery or incompetence that leads to contentious extras, cost overruns or busted schedules, as many industry patrons have come to believe. It’s actually the nature of the construction project. The high risk of those projects is exacerbated when the owner and contractor enter into a one-way, fixed-price contract designed to protect the owner from the presumably unscrupulous, incompetent contractor.