£5m Capital Expansion.
Creating Budgetary Control in the Retail Sector
The Challenge:
Project overspend due to lack of financial control
A multi-site retail business undertook a £5 million expansion project, including a new facility.
Despite the scale of investment, no formal budget had been prepared, and the project was already running over forecast without cost visibility or structured financial oversight.
Leadership lacked accurate reporting to evaluate progress or anticipate overspend.
The Approach:
Creating detailed capital budgets and forecasting tools
I was brought in to create a full project budgeting framework from the ground up.
I collaborated with operational leads and suppliers to establish realistic cost projections and integrate them into a phased expenditure plan.
The budget was built using live procurement data, supplier quotes, and historical cost benchmarks.
I mapped spend categories against construction timelines, allowing the team to manage cash flow and prioritise high-impact decisions.
Key actions included:
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Developing a master budget model with dynamic forecasting linked to procurement and contract milestones.
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Creating a monthly budget vs. actual tracker, aligned with project deliverables and contingency plans.
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Introducing approvals for capital expenditure and formal budget review checkpoints.
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Embedding financial reporting into leadership project meetings to keep non-financial stakeholders aligned.
The Result:
Delivered real-time control and spending discipline
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Leadership gained full visibility of the expansion project’s financial trajectory for the first time.
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Overspending was brought under control, and timelines re-evaluated to reflect real-world delivery conditions.
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The business avoided overcommitting capital and was able to adjust investment pace based on real-time budget insights.