It started out as a simple job: remove an ATM machine from the side of the supermarket and rebuild the wall. It should have been quick, clean and over with. But even the simplest construction jobs are rarely simple.

The problems began innocently enough. During the construction process, the supermarket owners wanted a minor change. No problem. The builder brought the architect back into the loop, the plans were updated, construction restarted...and builder and architect withdrew a small amount from the construction fund to cover the costs of the change.

Everything was fine, until the next work stoppage the following week. Another quick meeting of the minds, another quick update, and another quick withdrawal from the construction fund.

By the time the construction was over, the builder was looking at a six-figure cost overrun. "Looking back," builder Paul Singh says, "We should have been much more rigorous in our planning and our communications. We jumped into construction too early, and none of us did a good job of managing the back-and-forth between the architect, the bank, the supermarket, and our own crew."

Paul's experience is, alas, all too common. And before you chalk up Paul's problems to inexperience and mismanagement, you should know the other half of the story: Paul and his family own one of the leading construction companies in the Washington, D.C. metro area.