Before starting a construction project, it’s important to identify potential risks. This can be done by holding brainstorming sessions with the team and reviewing past projects that have similar size, scope, and location to your current project.
It’s also important to record any backup plans and keep everyone updated on them. Using digital reporting software to regularly monitor costs and expenses can help prevent surprises.
Project Planning
One of the first steps in project management is to determine all of the requirements for a particular project. This is usually done through a feasibility study. After the requirements are identified, a construction plan is prepared. The plan will outline the objectives and the strategy that must be followed in order to achieve those objectives.
During this phase, work tasks are defined and categorized. These work tasks serve as the basis for scheduling and for calculating construction progress. Depending on the project, the level of detail needed for these task definitions may vary.
Precedence relationships are also established during the planning process. This step ensures that the correct sequence of activities is maintained. The correct sequencing is important to minimize costs as well as to ensure the quality of the finished product.
The next step is to monitor actual expenses and compare them with budgeted estimates. This will help to identify cost variances, investigate their causes, and take corrective action. Additionally, gia xay nha phan tho is important to establish a contingency fund to handle unexpected costs.
Budgeting and Cost Control
Cost control is a critical component of construction project management. It involves accurately estimating costs, carefully tracking expenses, and proactively identifying and mitigating potential budget overruns. Effective cost control requires close collaboration and communication between architects, contractors, engineers, clients, and subcontractors. It also requires optimizing resource allocation, particularly as it relates to equipment and labor.
Cost estimates are an essential part of construction project planning, and they’re usually performed by a professional cost estimator. The process includes assessing building unit prices and lump sum estimates, job site costs and general overhead, bidding procedures, and labor costs.
Once a cost baseline is established, teams must continuously monitor actual construction costs and compare them to the budgeted cost estimate. This step is crucial as teams collaboratively execute tasks, and it enables them to identify any deviations and take corrective actions. It’s also important to maintain a contingency budget for unforeseen expenses. This can help protect the bottom line and avoid rework, delays, and disputes.
Scheduling
Once the planning process is complete, it’s time to schedule the work. This is where the project specs and scope get put into a workflow so that project deliverables are completed on time.
This is done by creating a work breakdown structure (WBS) to break down the project into packages of scope. This also identifies key project milestones and budget resources. Next, a logic network is determined to calculate the start and end dates for each project activity. Lag time and float—which is the calculated value/amount of time that a project activity can be delayed without impacting the completion date of a following activity—are considered.
Once the construction schedule is created, it should be analyzed with a critical eye to ensure that it meets the goals of the plan. This includes ensuring that the timelines are realistic, and that there is enough time to accomplish each task. Additionally, it is important to identify any potential risks to the timeline and communicate those to the team. For example, using a collaborative software platform can alleviate many common construction risks that come from miscommunication by making it easy to push updates to far-flung teams.
Quality Management
Construction project managers must ensure that the work being performed meets quality standards. This involves identifying the steps to be taken to achieve contact quality, such as inspecting work before it is released, reworking incomplete or substandard work and tracking the status of corrective actions. The QA process must also be aligned with industry standards, like ISO 19650.
It’s common for important details to be overlooked during the rush of construction projects, but this can lead to costly problems down the road. To avoid missteps, it’s important to have a clear plan and communicate it with the entire team, including superintendents, crew members, and subcontractors.
For a clearer picture, look for versatile construction project management software that allows teams to collaborate in real time. For example, Smartsheet is a popular work execution platform that helps businesses stay productive and communicate among far-flung teams while also documenting every step of a project. It’s a solution that many of the world’s leading construction companies rely on. Find out how you can take your projects to the next level by signing up for a free trial.
Risk Management
Risk management is one of the most important steps in construction project management. During this stage, the construction company examines all the risks involved and comes up with effective ways to avoid them. Some of the most common risks include unforeseen costs, schedule delays, and unavailability of materials. Construction managers should also take environmental concerns into account.
Once a risk assessment has been conducted, the results are analyzed and recorded. During this process, the probability and impact of each risk are ranked and prioritized. This helps the project manager plan for contingencies and ensure that all required tasks are completed on time.
Another part of this process involves creating guidelines for helping field crews maintain safety and quality standards. This is an essential step in preventing project delays and miscommunications that can occur on the jobsite. Construction managers can also use project management software to keep everyone on the same page and eliminate common mistakes that cause risks to escalate. For example, plans, markups, and RFIs can all be shared easily when teams are using a platform like Smartsheet.