ABSTRACT
Contractors generate small percentage of profit margins, between 2 and 7%, from large annual turnovers. For example the 2006 annual report of the UK’s largest contractor Balfour Beatty indicates an after-tax profit of £125 million on an annual turnover of £5,852 million, that is, 2.13% (www.balfourbeatty.com [accessed 20 April 2007]). Without an effective company-wide cost-control system this would result in substantial risk to any contractor’s slender margins.
