About the practice

Your project numbers deserve a reader who has done this at scale.

Project controls is the work of making the numbers simple to read, so leadership knows which projects are making money. This page is about the person who would do that work for you.

Branden Armendt, portrait
Branden Armendt · Founder

If your firm runs real project portfolios and no one's whole job is the financial health of those projects, this practice is built for you. I provide project controls, which means making the numbers simple to read, for small to mid sized engineering, design, MEP, environmental, and consulting firms.

I have 12+ years of project management experience and 4+ years specialized in project controls. Most recently I was Project Controls Lead for Stantec's US Mountain Region, where I tracked 141 projects. I also trained the Stantec Australia branch on project controls practices after the Cardno acquisition.

Recent career · Making the numbers simple to read, at scale

4+ years. One Company. Steady growth into the role.

Jun 2025 to
Apr 2026
Project Controls Lead, US Mountain RegionStantec
141 projects. $173M USD fees. $40.6B USD construction value.
Dec 2022 to
Jun 2025
Senior Project Controls AnalystStantec
Average 94 projects. $104M USD fees. $2.1B USD construction value.
Feb 2022 to
Dec 2022
Project Controls AnalystStantec
$42.2M USD design fees. $949M USD construction value managed.
Selected project experience

Five engagements that show the breadth of the work.

A small sample from hundreds of projects. A representative cross section across municipal water, federal infrastructure, and utility generation. Project values reflect total construction value, not design fees.

01 · Municipal water

Morris Forman WQTC Biosolids Processing

Client · Location MSD Louisville / Jefferson County
Louisville, KY
Construction value $166M USD
02 · Municipal water

North Secondary Upgrades, Robert W. Hite Treatment Facility (PAR 1411)

Client · Location Metro Water Recovery
Denver, CO
Construction value $150M USD
03 · Municipal water

Mallard Creek Basin Wastewater Improvements (Phases 1 and 2)

Client · Location City of Charlotte
Charlotte, NC
Construction value $84.5M USD
04 · Federal infrastructure

Broward County Water Preserve Area: C-11 Impoundment

Client · Location USACE Jacksonville District
Weston, FL
Sector Federal civil works
05 · Utility generation

Wastewater Treatment Plants at Two Power Generating Stations

Client · Location State-owned electric utility
South Carolina
Sector Power utility
See full project list

Signature achievements

01 · The Power BI rollout

A reporting cycle from days of work to a half hour.

I built a Power BI template that reduced KPI tracking time from 40-60 hours per project to 30 minutes. It was rolled out company wide and now runs across hundreds of projects. The point is not bigger dashboards. It is faster, cleaner signal in the hands of the people who can act on it.

100×
Reduction in KPI tracking time
From 40 to 60 hours per project down to 30 minutes.
10×
Project value growth
From roughly $500K USD in initial design value to over $5.3M USD in design value before federal funding ended.

02 · The C-11 turnaround

Earning a second chance and turning it into a marquee program.

Broward County's C-11 Impoundment program had run into trouble and the client's confidence in our team was on the line. I joined alongside a senior project manager to lead the recovery. I gave discipline leads a weekly view of spend against budget, ran monthly forecasting meetings that surfaced variances early, and caught an invoicing error in time to recover the money.

We booked the project at a near break even gross margin. By the time federal funding ended, we had moved gross margin 8 percentage points above the booked rate, and the client had awarded 3 large change orders growing the design value from roughly $500K USD to over $5.3M USD. The team's loudest opponent of the new reporting rhythm became its loudest advocate.

The Five Stones principle

I don't rely on luck, I come prepared. Five Stones means I walk in ready for anything, but deliver the one solution that actually works.
How I work

Five steps, in this order. Always.

  1. 01

    Identify where money or control is slipping

    Before we agree on what to fix, we ground the diagnosis in real ERP and reporting data, not anecdote.

  2. 02

    Clean and structure the data

    One source of truth, normalized. Forecast and actuals in the same shape.

  3. 03

    Build clear, usable reporting

    Reports leaders can read early in the week and PMs can act on the same week. Nothing fancier than it needs to be.

  4. 04

    Implement forecasting discipline

    Based in earned value, weekly cadence, owned at the PM level. Forecasting is a habit, not a quarterly exercise.

  5. 05

    Support decision making, not just reporting

    The dashboard is a starting point. The recommended action is the deliverable.

Working style

My default delivery pairs a written report with a 5-10 minute recorded walkthrough so you can review my work on your own schedule. Live calls are on offer, never required.

AI and data security

Your private company information and your project specifics are never uploaded to AI tools. If a deliverable needs hosted infrastructure, I will tell you upfront where the data sits, who can see it, and how it is secured before a single byte moves.

If this sounds like your firm, start with one project.

Twenty minutes, eight questions you already know the answers to, and a recorded read two business days later. No prep, no pressure. Send me the name of one project and two times that work.

Get a free read of one project

Not ready for a call? Send a message and you will hear back within 2 business days.