Why do construction projects fail? Ineffective communication and collaboration, and poor pre-planning processes are among the reasons given by building owners in a recent survey. To avoid those pitfalls, colleges and universities need to take a multidisciplinary, collaborative approach to preplanning, financing and carrying out their master plans for capital projects. This article discusses a better alternative to the "top-down" process of master planning at many education institutions in which capital building projects are identified by the president or the board of trustees and handed down to a planning committee.