Value engineering is often confused with simply cutting cost. The two are related but not the same. Cost-cutting reduces spend; value engineering asks whether spend is delivering proportional value against the client's actual objectives, and reallocates it accordingly. Sometimes that means removing cost that adds little functional or aesthetic value. Sometimes it means spending more in one area because it delivers disproportionate value elsewhere — lower maintenance cost, better performance, or longer service life.
Done well, value engineering is a structured, collaborative exercise involving the client, design team and cost consultant, carried out early enough in design that changes are still cheap to make.