Projects rarely fail in execution without warning. The signs are usually visible at sanction, in the documents and in the team, for anyone who looks independently. Five of them can be checked in about a week.
1. The scope is still moving
If key process choices, plot layout, or major equipment are still open, the estimate prices a project that does not yet exist. Ask which decisions remain open and what each could add to cost and schedule.
2. The estimate and the schedule disagree
An estimate built on one set of quantities and a schedule built on another will diverge the moment work starts. Check that both rest on the same basis, and that contingency reflects the real maturity of the design.
3. Key roles are empty or part-time
A project team without dedicated construction, operations, and controls leads at sanction tends to discover their concerns later, when changes cost far more. Look at who is named, who is full-time, and who has done this before.
The cheapest time to fix a project is before commitment. Every later fix is paid for in change orders, claims, or lost production.
4. The contracting strategy does not fit the market
A strategy that assumes contractors will accept risks they are pricing heavily, or that splits scope across interfaces nobody owns, stores up disputes. Test the strategy against how contractors are actually bidding.
5. Targets were set before the definition was done
When cost and schedule targets come from the business case rather than from the definition, the project inherits a gap it cannot close. Compare the targets with similar completed projects on a normalized basis.
What to do about it
None of these signs means a project should stop. Each means a specific gap should close, or be priced honestly, before the money is committed. An independent readiness review names the gaps, ranks them, and gives the team a short list of what to close first.