Like many things that seem obvious in hindsight, it appears that the construction industry is much more aware of how to estimate what can go wrong in projects than it is of how to avoid the risks it sees.

In one of its SmartMarket Report series of papers, McGraw-Hill Construction says that "Mitigating risk can yield significant cost benefits, yet risk assessment procedures are more widely adopted than risk mitigation, with 43 percent of owners, architectural and engineering firms, and contractors reporting that one quarter or less of firms use formal mitigation procedures"

The report was presented at the company's Construction SuperConference last month in San Francisco.

“The results reveal that the industry understands the key risks and the strategies, like BIM and integrated teams, that help address risks. The firms that will have an edge in this difficult construction market are the ones that understand the value of risk mitigation and recognize they can no longer continue business as usual,” said Harvey Bernstein, McGraw-Hill Construction's vice president for industry insights and alliances.