In reading Roman history, one often finds reference to structures raised by people communally, by rulers, or by private individuals for various reasons. How in practice would this process look like? How much in terms of resources would projects of various scales take? I'm interested primarily in structures for human use rather than monuments or statues. I'm also somewhat interested in e.g. water and sewage projects, or dredging projects, but I still am most interested in buildings that people would walk around in.

My perspective is couched from the perspective of Rome, as I don't know anything about private monumental or public use construction projects in other civilizations, though I'd be happy to hear about those too, especially (classical) Asian or Indian ones.

Also, how much would be calculated out versus done by experience in terms of planning a viable construction project? How often did these projects result in an unsafe building that would later fail? Did the contemporaries understand the reasons for the failure of their buildings properly? What sorts of cares would be taken to construct with an eye to surviving water damage of various forms? Fire? Earthquake?