The civil construction sector in Italy is going through a period of particular economic tension. Unlike in other European countries, over the decade from 2010-2019, the sector was unable to return to the levels prior to the 2008 recession, even touching volumes lower than those at the start of the millennium. In a mature, highly competitive sector with stagnant demand such as that of construction, cost structure probably represents the main source of competitive advantage. The adoption of cost management techniques imposes a dual temporal perspective: from a short-term viewpoint, rigorous cost governance is indispensible through systematic control of projects and careful monitoring of the levels of saturation and efficiency of use of resources; from a medium to long-term viewpoint, it is indispensible to plan choices regarding the sizing of equipment and structures.