Project Management in construction

Posted By: Nyumba Imara on 26th of October 2012

Project management is the art of planning, organizing, securing and managing resources to bring about successful completion of specific project goals and objectives. A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to bring about beneficial change or added value. The temporary nature of projects stands in contrast with business as usual operations which are repetitive, permanent or semi- permanent functional work to produce products or services. In practice, the management of these two systems is quite different and require the need to development of distinct technical skills and adoption of separate management. The primary challenge of project management is to achieve all project goals and objectives in consideration of preconceived project constrains. Typical constrains are scope, time and budget. After design inception, the next step is to start construction work. A number of factors need to be considered when planning for work so as to achieve maximum productivity. A site supervisor must list the most important preliminaries before breaking site. Procurement of building materials, skilled and unskilled labor, water and necessary tools and equipment need to be given due consideration. Construction work can only start after all preliminaries have been taken care of. A good supervisor always keeps time for effective and efficient operations. Clocking on and off will ensure that labor constant is achieved. Labor constant is the time taken by an average worker working in average conditions to complete a unit of work. Practically as a site supervisor, I have noted that an hour delay in opening site can lead to substantial loss on an amount of work to be completed on a particular day. Allowances need to be made on break time, effects on bad weather, difficult working conditions, time spent receiving instructions, obtaining drawings and discussing procedures, delay in waiting key labor, materials and machinery, intermittent working and effects of long periods of long repetitive working. A well prepared budget goes a long way in ensuring that the project is completed. A quantity surveyor need to be engaged so as to prepare bill of quantities which will guide the client on an approximate cost of project. Bill of quantities is itemized list of each and every element of construction complete with prices. In a small project, a supervisor can act as an estimator with regard to similar projects he had successfully completed in the past. Depending on the scope of work, a project manager is engaged to oversee a project as he possesses skills in project management. He is essential in ensuring that the key issues of cost, time, quality and above all, client satisfaction can be realized. He uses technical computer applications to guide and check on work progress. For more insight on construction, materials and fundi and professional contacts, please visit our full site on www.fundimjanja.com