Finance asks why a fire-station build needs a cost baseline instead of only a rough funding estimate. What does cost planning primarily enable?

Cost planning develops estimates, aggregates them into a budget, and establishes a cost baseline used for funding requests and performance control. Comparing actual cost to that baseline reveals variance early enough for corrective action. A rough political estimate alone lacks the structure needed for disciplined tracking. Associate-level practice treats the baseline as the reference for cost control, not a promise that spending cannot change through formal change control.