About BudgetOverrun.com
An independent reference for budget-overrun statistics across software projects, construction programmes, IT migrations and major capital works. Operated by Digital Signet, founded by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. Built so the 'how often do projects of this type miss budget?' question can be answered with named-source benchmarks rather than consultancy white-paper folklore.
What this site does
Project-cost overruns are universally cited but rarely with named sources. The often-repeated 'IT projects run 45% over budget on average' figure traces back to a specific McKinsey-Oxford study from 2012, with conditions buyers should know about before quoting it. Most top-ranking pages on overrun statistics are written by project-management consultancies pitching governance services. This site exists to publish overrun benchmarks by project type with named sources for each, plus a calculator that translates a project budget into a contingency-band figure.
About the operator
Oliver runs Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio that builds data-led pricing and decision tools using public datasets. After 20 years as a solutions architect and tech lead across media, utilities, satellite, and data, he founded Digital Signet to apply autonomous AI development methodology to real software at scale.
Reach Oliver: [email protected]. Profile: LinkedIn.
Digital Signet, the wider network
This site is operated by Digital Signet, an independent AI-development studio founded by Oliver Wakefield-Smith. It is part of a portfolio of consumer cost-reference and calculator sites we run as a live R&D lab for our Signet methodology, an autonomous AI development team that ships real software at scale.
Digital Signet does not sell project-management software, does not act as a project-rescue consultancy, does not run a programme-governance practice, and does not accept paid placements from any vendor in the project-management space. Editorial direction is set by Oliver. Drafts are produced via Digital Signet's autonomous AI development methodology and reviewed against the editorial framework before publication.
For consulting enquiries (fractional CTO, AI product strategy, autonomous-dev-team setup): see digitalsignet.com.
How we operate
- Source pattern. Built on public reference material across the relevant publisher landscape.
- No paid placements. Does not sell project-management software, does not act as a project-rescue consultancy, does not run a programme-governance practice, and does not accept paid placements from any vendor in the project-management space. Independent of every named third party in the relevant space.
- Math is documented inline. Where the site has a calculator, inputs and assumptions are visible on the calculator page. Nothing is hidden behind opaque scoring.
- Update only when underlying reality changes. Triggers: New Standish CHAOS Report edition; New Flyvbjerg megaproject research publication; Major NAO / GAO public-project audit report with material findings; PMI Pulse of the Profession refresh.
Contact
For corrections, methodology questions, or scenarios that don't fit cleanly: [email protected].