Ask any project director in Nigeria’s oil and gas, power, manufacturing or facilities-maintenance world what separates a smooth contract from a troubled one, and the answer is rarely “more labour” or “bigger equipment”. It is usually control: a credible schedule, an honest cost forecast and someone who can tell management, early and plainly, where the project is drifting.
That control comes from planning and cost engineers. Yet many employers still hire them in a hurry, on a vague job description, and then wonder why the project reports arrive late or say very little. This guide sets out a better way to find, assess and engage contract planning and cost engineers, whether you need one specialist for six months or a small team for a multi-year maintenance services contract.
Why planning and cost engineering deserve their own hire
On smaller jobs, a site manager can carry the schedule in a spreadsheet and the budget in their head. That stops working once a contract has multiple work fronts, shutdown windows, subcontractors, variations and monthly valuations. At that point the work of planning and cost control becomes a full-time discipline in its own right:
- Planning and scheduling turns scope into a logical, resourced programme with a critical path, so you know which delays genuinely matter.
- Cost engineering ties that programme to money: budgets, cash-flow forecasts, earned value, variation tracking and cost-to-complete.
- Progress measurement and reporting converts site activity into numbers management can trust, usually in a monthly pack and a shorter weekly view.
On many Nigerian contracts one senior person covers all three. That is perfectly workable, but it means the role is broader than the title suggests, and your hiring process should reflect that.
Step 1: Define the role before you advertise it
Most poor hires trace back to a poor brief. Before you contact a single candidate, answer these questions in writing:
- What is the contract type? A maintenance services contract, an EPC project, a shutdown or turnaround and a rolling facilities contract each demand different planning habits.
- Which tools does the client or head office already use? Primavera P6 and Microsoft Project are the usual schedulers; Excel, Power BI and an ERP often carry the cost side.
- Who will the person report to, and who consumes their reports? Reporting to a client representative is very different from reporting only internally.
- What must exist after the first 30, 60 and 90 days? A baseline programme, a reporting template, a variation register: name the deliverables.
- Is the engagement site-based, hybrid or remote? Much cost-control work can be done remotely; progress verification usually cannot.
Step 2: Know what good looks like
Certificates and software lists are easy to claim. The following table separates surface credentials from the evidence that actually predicts performance.
| Area | Weak signal | Strong signal |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduling | Lists “Primavera P6” as a skill | Can explain how they built a baseline, handled logic ties and reported float erosion on a real project |
| Cost control | Says they “monitored budgets” | Describes a forecast they changed, why, and what the client decided as a result |
| Reporting | Sends long reports | Produces short reports that lead with the three issues management must act on |
| Commercial awareness | Knows the contract in general terms | Can trace a variation from instruction to valuation and flag time-bar risks |
| Communication | Technical vocabulary only | Explains a delay to a non-engineer in two minutes |
Step 3: Interview with scenarios, not trivia
Replace “What is the critical path?” with questions that force the candidate to think like they are already on your project:
- “A key spare part arrives three weeks late. Walk me through what you check first, what you tell the project manager and what you put in the weekly report.”
- “Your forecast says the contract will overrun, but the site team insists they can recover. How do you decide whether to trust them?”
- “The client adds work verbally on site. What do you do the same day?”
- “Show me a report you are proud of, with confidential details removed. Why does it work?”
A good planning engineer does not simply report that a project is late. They show which activities caused it, what can still be recovered and what decision is needed this week.
Step 4: Structure the engagement properly
Contract engineers are rarely hired on a bare “day rate and good luck” basis, and they should not be. A sound engagement agreement covers:
- Scope and deliverables, expressed as outputs (baseline programme, monthly cost report, variation log) rather than only hours.
- Term and review points, such as a first-month review and a clear notice period either way.
- Fees and payment schedule, including the currency of payment and how any exchange-rate movement will be handled. (We cover this in more detail in our guide to dual-currency pricing.)
- Tax and statutory treatment, including whether withholding tax and VAT apply. Confirm current rules with a qualified tax adviser rather than assuming.
- Confidentiality and data handling, particularly where you share client schedules and rates.
- Intellectual property, so templates and models created on the job are clearly allocated.
- Tools and access, including who supplies software licences and how remote access is secured.
Common hiring mistakes to avoid
- Hiring for software, not judgement. Tools can be learned in weeks. Sound judgement about logic, risk and cost takes years.
- Skipping reference checks. Speak to someone who actually received the person’s reports.
- Treating the role as clerical. If the engineer is just a data-entry resource, you will get data, not insight.
- Starting without a baseline. Agree early on what “on plan” means, or every later report becomes an argument.
- Ignoring continuity. On long contracts, plan for handover so knowledge does not leave with one person.
Where Tistalents fits in
Tistalents is the talent and freelance branch of TAMFIS NIG LTD, and our approach is people first: understand the project, then match it with professionals who have done comparable work. Whether you are an employer looking for technical and business talent in the energy and industrial space, or an engineer weighing contract opportunities, a clear brief and an honest conversation about scope will save everyone time.
Quick checklist before you hire
- Written role brief with 30/60/90-day deliverables
- Agreed tools, reporting format and reporting line
- Scenario-based interview questions prepared
- Two reference checks planned
- Payment currency, tax treatment and notice terms agreed in writing
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Always confirm contractual and tax questions with a qualified professional.
