SUMMARY
Project controls have been defined in the existing literature as managerial decisions and actions aimed at rectifying poor project performance. Understanding the potential unintended negative effects of such controls will be beneficial to project management practice and to the resulting project performance. Using the system dynamics approach, this article investigates some unintended negative effects of client project cost controls. Empirical data from a raw-water infrastructure project are used to calibrate the formulated system dynamics simulation model. Simulation results suggest that the client project cost controls (aimed at minimising project cost), unintentionally generate some counteractive effects (an increase in the project cost and the time schedule duration).