Feasibility studies are used to find the economic and financial viability of construction projects, because they are used by decision makers to examine all the cost and revenue implications of proposed schemes. They are systematic and logical and paint a hypothetical scenario of what may happen if the building were to be built. Although they are often used to justify project proposals, they are really only a rational approach to decision making. Feasibility studies are only as good as the assumptions that go into their calculations. They compare all the costs and all the revenues associated with a building proposal and are therefore often called cost– benefit analyses. Cost– benefit analysis allows a systematic approach to comparing the costs with the benefits of the scheme over the predicted life of a project or until it is demolished. Feasibility studies apply as much to private projects built for profit as they do to public sector projects built for the public good.

In construction, a building project can be defined as a development, in which a client engages a contractor to assemble materials and components to create a durable structure, usually on a particular site. The contractor’s client is the developer, who brings together the land, assembles the construction team, arranges the finance and takes on the commercial and financial risk for the proposed project. The construction team can include funders, architects, structural engineers, quantity surveyors, building contractors and property or real estate advisors and consultants, as well as the many specialist firms required for their technical skills and know- how. An important element of the whole construction team is the labour force employed by the various participating organizations, whose efforts and skills collectively transform the site and materials into finished buildings.

Each project is discrete: it has a beginning, a middle and an end. One common perception of the construction industry is that it is temporary in nature and employment in the building industry is insecure and irregular. This is not necessarily the case, although it is true that individual workers can find themselves working irregularly, with periods of work followed by periods of unemployment, but – as in every industry – skilled workers find it easier to get work than their less skilled colleagues.