Monitoring your project execution phase is essential to the project performing as planned. Construction project management dashboards give you a high-level view, collecting data and calculating that information into graphs and charts that show a number of project metrics to keep you on track.
dashboard showing project metrics in real-time
Team scheduling and resource management are other essential features you’ll want, to help you chart the availability, skill set, cost and allocation of your workforce and your construction materials in real time.
ProjectManager's workload chart, ideal for resource management in construction
You can also monitor their workload and create calendars to help you manage team members’ hours, knowing when they’re going to be out, so you can plan. It also helps with tracking other resources and their costs, such as construction equipment rentals to keep your projects on budget.
Another way to manage your team’s hours is through timesheets. No matter where your team is located, either onsite or in the office, they can update their timesheets fast. They submit in seconds, and managers can easily review and approve all with a keystroke. And you can notify them that timesheets are due with automated emails.
ProjectManager's timesheets are ideal for construction project management
Not only your team but the many vendors you employ on a construction project can be managed anywhere and at any time, with the cloud-based construction project management software from ProjectManager. They can send updates while in the field and you can monitor their progress and track costs and performance.
Reporting features go further than the dashboard, focusing on project variance, tasks, cost and more. The better your data, the better your decision-making process. That’s why you want a reporting tool that can filter your information to show what you want to see and also target it for stakeholders.
Construction management software from ProjectManager is cloud-based and gives you unlimited file storage for all your documents, and there are even more documents in a construction project than the already paper-heavy regular project. You can then attach those files as needed to any communication or even task, and track updates to the documents.
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Types of Construction Projects
When looking into how to break down construction project management into types of projects, one must go to the source. There are three types of construction, in general, and they are buildings, infrastructure and industrial. The distinction can be further divided into residential and nonresidential.
From the three general types of construction, seven subsets can be listed.
Waterfall Project Management for Construction Projects
Construction is a more traditional project and most projects in construction project management use the waterfall methodology. This is a technique with clear milestones, tasks with set due dates, deliverables and expectations from the project owner or stakeholders. All this is organized on a timeline.
Waterfall offers a systematic approach, which lends itself to most construction projects. You can’t build a skyscraper without first digging a hole to create the foundation to support it. Waterfall and construction management work so well together because both use a sequential process.
The term waterfall illustrates the process of the methodology, which is one that moves downhill towards completion. Each stage or phase of the project moves the process to the next point, which aligns with construction’s design-bid-build, design-build and CM at-risk methodologies. You can’t design a building until you know the requirements. Therefore, in waterfall as in construction projects, you can’t move on to the next step until the one you’re working on is complete.
The benefit of this for construction management teams is that it allows them the time to focus on one aspect of the project at a time. This makes for a quality product at every stage of the build. Also, working with a waterfall model offers the attention to detail that keeps small things from falling through the cracks and being overlooked, which can have a devastating effect later in the project.
Click HereUnique Challenges of Construction Management
Like any project, construction project management has hurdles to clear, some of which are common and others unique to the field. For example, having undefined goals. This is usually a communication problem.
Another issue is scope changes or scope creep, which means that scope is moving past what had originally been planned for. This will ding your budget, so any change orders must be carefully regarded as to whether they’re worth implementing or not.
Having the wrong team or a team that is not skilled to the level that the project requires is a problem with construction project management, as the skills are varied. Training before the start of a project is crucial.
Another key to a successful construction project is accountability. There are many teams working separately but together for the greater good of the project. However, if contractors or team members are not willing to take responsibility for those tasks assigned to them, the whole process can suffer. Strong leadership is the cure for this ill. You can use our construction daily report template to keep track of the daily progress of your construction site.
With construction project management, risk management is even more important than on other projects. There are issues with safety that are more dangerous than risks that can impact other types of projects. Therefore, spending time with the team gathering their input as well as researching other sources is key to a strong risk management plan.
Things will go wrong, even with the best risk management plan in place, so having a contingency plan is critical. However, an ambiguous one is going to make a bad matter worse.
Things will go wrong, even with the best risk management plan in place, so having a contingency plan is critical. However, an ambiguous one is going to make a bad matter worse.
Poor communication is the death knell for any project, so is not having a strong engagement with the project owner and stakeholders. This is true in any project, and construction project management needs to always be aware of resource allocation, as there tends to be a lot of materials and equipment to manage.
Like the five blind men encountering different parts of an elephant, each of the numerous participants in the process of planning, designing, financing, constructing and operating physical facilities has a different perspective on project management for construction. Specialized knowledge can be very beneficial, particularly in large and complicated projects, since experts in various specialties can provide valuable services. However, it is advantageous to understand how the different parts of the process fit together. Waste, excessive cost and delays can result from poor coordination and communication among specialists. It is particularly in the interest of owners to insure that such problems do not occur. And it behooves all participants in the process to heed the interests of owners because, in the end, it is the owners who provide the resources and call the shots.
By adopting the viewpoint of the owners, we can focus our attention on the complete process of project management for constructed facilities rather than the historical roles of various specialists such as planners, architects, engineering designers, constructors, fabricators, material suppliers, financial analysts and others. To be sure, each specialty has made important advances in developing new techniques and tools for efficient implementation of construction projects. However, it is through the understanding of the entire process of project management that these specialists can respond more effectively to the owner's desires for their services, in marketing their specialties, and in improving the productivity and quality of their work.
The introduction of innovative and more effective project management for construction is not an academic exercise. As reported by the "Construction Industry Cost Effectiveness Project" of the Business Roundtable: [1]
By common consensus and every available measure, the United States no longer gets it's money's worth in construction, the nation's largest industry ... The creeping erosion of construction efficiency and productivity is bad news for the entire U.S. economy. Construction is a particularly seminal industry. The price of every factory, office building, hotel or power plant that is built affects the price that must be charged for the goods or services produced in it or by it. And that effect generally persists for decades ... Too much of the industry remains tethered to the past, partly by inertia and partly by historic divisions...
Improvement of project management not only can aid the construction industry, but may also be the engine for the national and world economy. However, if we are to make meaningful improvements, we must first understand the construction industry, its operating environment and the institutional constraints affecting its activities as well as the nature of project management.
The acquisition of a constructed facility usually represents a major capital investment, whether its owner happens to be an individual, a private corporation or a public agency. Since the commitment of resources for such an investment is motivated by market demands or perceived needs, the facility is expected to satisfy certain objectives within the constraints specified by the owner and relevant regulations. With the exception of the speculative housing market, where the residential units may be sold as built by the real estate developer, most constructed facilities are custom made in consultation with the owners. A real estate developer may be regarded as the sponsor of building projects, as much as a government agency may be the sponsor of a public project and turns it over to another government unit upon its completion. From the viewpoint of project management, the terms "owner" and "sponsor" are synonymous because both have the ultimate authority to make all important decisions. Since an owner is essentially acquiring a facility on a promise in some form of agreement, it will be wise for any owner to have a clear understanding of the acquisition process in order to maintain firm control of the quality, timeliness and cost of the completed facility.
From the perspective of an owner, the project life cycle for a constructed facility may be illustrated schematically in Figure 1-1. Essentially, a project is conceived to meet market demands or needs in a timely fashion. Various possibilities may be considered in the conceptual planning stage, and the technological and economic feasibility of each alternative will be assessed and compared in order to select the best possible project. The financing schemes for the proposed alternatives must also be examined, and the project will be programmed with respect to the timing for its completion and for available cash flows. After the scope of the project is clearly defined, detailed engineering design will provide the blueprint for construction, and the definitive cost estimate will serve as the baseline for cost control. In the procurement and construction stage, the delivery of materials and the erection of the project on site must be carefully planned and controlled. After the construction is completed, there is usually a brief period of start-up or shake-down of the constructed facility when it is first occupied. Finally, the management of the facility is turned over to the owner for full occupancy until the facility lives out its useful life and is designated for demolition or conversion.
Figure 1-1: The Project Life Cycle of a Constructed Facility