Brains Before Building – How to Effectively Manage a Construction Project

Delivering a quality project to a client within budget and on time is no easy feat in the construction industry. It requires intricate planning, detailed monitoring, and collaboration amongst team members, often from a variety of different disciplines.

Successfully managing a construction project is a balancing act of competing interests, unforeseen delays, and timelines. However, with detailed and strategic planning, it is possible to excel in the field of construction project management. Read on to find our other essential tips to effectively manage a construction project.

Encourage Communication

Communication is an essential element of project management, and should be a continuous throughout every phase of the project- from crane truck hire to the finishing touches. Establishing a flow of communication with all members of the team, allows processes to run smoothly and promotes a safe and happy workplace culture.

Encouraging communication reduces confusion and frantic correspondence when problems arise. Allowing employees to speak up and make suggestions, can also result in improved practices and bright ideas you may not have previously considered.

A simple method of promoting effective communication is to implement collaborative work management software, allowing you to sync documents, notes and calendars. Another key method is to institute regular meetings, providing a forum for ongoing conversation.

Monitor your Costs and Budgets

Effectively managing a construction project necessitates the continuous tracking and monitoring of all costs. Failing to monitor your costs throughout the project, can lead to nasty surprises when it becomes time to provide the final financial reports.

Tracking and monitoring finances manually without the assistance of software isn’t practical. In order to effectively manage costs, it is essential to work alongside the accounting team. This ensures that all invoices and other direct and indirect costs are recorded. Accounting software and other online tools, also allow you to input your budget changes, finances and other costs immediately and easily. This allows you some flexibility if you are travelling or out of the office.

Continuously Plan and Revise

The construction industry is prone to unforeseen delays and changing circumstances. Therefore, a critical component of construction project management, is to extensively create and revise previous plans.

The design, pre-construction, and procurement stages of a construction project each require extensive planning — and will likely need to be revised as the next stage unfolds. Equipment failure and unexpected environmental changes, often lead to slight adjustments that can affect the overall plan and timeline.

Managing a construction project involves liaising with multiple seasoned professionals. This can include plumbing, scaffolding, carpentry and engineering. It is therefore critical to ensure that these different disciplines are coordinating their efforts with each other and managing their timeal to ensure that all disciplines are coordinating their efforts, and managing the timeline through collaboration. As delays and other unforeseen circumstances arise, refining plans and processes also ensures that any delays are minimal.

Observe

Construction projects cannot be managed from the office. Being present on the project site is essential in order to manage the quality, workplace safety and overall productivity of the project.

Construction project management requires more integration than most other industries. As the work is largely physical, field elements can drastically affect the workflow of construction projects. If the manager does not attend the site or understand the layout, it is impossible for them to foresee potential problems and to understand the issues facing their employees.

Every good project manager therefore becomes an integral part of the process, and a fellow teammate to their employees. Familiarizing yourself with the construction site and the duties and details of every professional working under you, will make you a more successful project manager.

If you are looking to break into the construction industry, following these tips is essential in order to lead a successful and productive team, and effectively manage a thriving construction project.