ADVANTAGES OF CRITICAL PATH METHOD IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

CIVIL_ENGINEERING

Critical path method (CPM) have been used for planning and scheduling in construction project management. The use of CPM varies from user to user, with some contractors feeling that critical path method (CPM) is a waste of time and money.

With the time, the use of project management technique have improved with experience. Most likely, the unsuccessful applications of CPM resulted from trying to use a level of detail far too complicated for practical use, or the schedule was developed by an outside firm with no real input by the user, or the CPM diagram was not reviewed and updated during the project.

Advantages of Critical Path Method (CPM) in Construction Project Management

Experience with the application of CPM on several projects has revealed the following advantages of Critical Path Method:

1. CPM encourages a logical discipline in the planning, scheduling, and control of projects.
2. CPM encourages more long-range and detailed planning of projects.
3. All project personnel get a complete overview of the total project.
4. CPM provides a standard method of documenting and communicating project plans, schedules, and time and cost performances.
5. CPM identifies the most critical elements in the plan, focusing management’s attention to the 10 to 20% of the project that is most constraining on the scheduling.
6. CPM provides an easy method for evaluating the effects of technical and procedural changes that occur on the overall project schedule.
7. CPM enables the most economical planning of all operations to meet desirable project completion dates.

An important point to remember is that CPM is an open-ended process that permits different degrees of involvement by management to suit their various needs and objectives. In other words, you can use CPM at whatever level of detail you feel is necessary.

However, one must always remember that you only get out of it what you put into it. It will be the responsibility of the user to choose the best technique. They are all good, and they can all be used effectively in the management of construction projects; just pick the one best liked and use it.

SKILL SETS OF A PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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Project Management Skill sets

There are many misconception about what it takes to become a project manager. Many people think that to become a project manager they must be technical expertise in the industry they are managing. Also, many people become a project manager just because they have performed well in the work they were assigned. So, they were later assigned the responsibility of managing the project in their department.

But some of the quality to become a project manager is similar to the quality required to become a manager overall. Some people may be good in works they do, but they may not have the skills to manage people, may not become a manager. And project manager.

The skill set required to become a project manager is broad. So, you may be wondering what are the expertise needed to become a project manager?

A project manager must have expertise in the following five areas:

1. PMBOK

PMBOK is Project Management Body of Knowledge. It is the term that describes the sum of knowledge with the profession of project management. The full project management body of knowledge includes knowledge of proven traditional practices that are widely applied, as well as knowledge of innovative and advanced practices that have seen limited use and includes both published and unpublished material.

2. Application area knowledge, standards and Regulations

Applications areas involve specialized aspects of a project, such as technical elements and specializations. A project manager must have knowledge of significant common elements within categories of project.

A project manager must have knowledge of standard practices approved by the recognized body for common and repeated use. These standards include rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.

A regulation is a government-imposed requirement and a project manager must be aware of such regulatory requirements related to the projects.

3. General management skills

General management skills covers many things that a business manager is expected to know. But it is not expected from a project manager to be fully verse with the each department and function of the company, they just need to know enough of each discipline.

4. Interpersonal skills:

This is the most important skill required for a project manager without which they will not succeed. Communication is an important interpersonal skill required by the project manager. 90% of the time of a project manager is spent in communicating, thus it is to be understood that without this skill, a person can not become a project manager.

5. Project environment;

This refers to the cultural, social, economic and the environmental context within which the project exists. The cultural and social environment includes company, ethics, religious and economic cultures. Environment includes international and political environment and also physical environment within which the project exists and a project manager must have knowledge about these.

PERT,CPM AND GANTT CHART

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PERT – Program Evaluation and Review Technique Developed by Lockheed Corporation in participation with the US Navy Polaris Missile/Submarine Project in 1958

CPM – Critical Path Methoddeveloped by DuPont c.1958

WBS – Work Breakdown Structure

A complete depiction of the entire task necessary to achieve successful project completion. Project plans that delineate all the tasks that must be accomplished to successfully complete a project from which scheduling, delegating, and budgeting are derived.

Gantt Charts: Henry Gantt who the Gantt chart is named, worked for the department of defense during the First World War. The chart is widely used as a project management tool. The Gantt chart allows you to see start and stop date for project task and subtask.

Gantt Charts are derived from your Work Breakdown Structure WBS

Critical Path – The longest complete path of a project.

Critical Task – A single task along a critical path

Deliverables –Something of value generated by a team or individual as scheduled often taking the form of a plan, report, procedure, product, or service.

Dependant Task – A task or subtask that cannot be initiated until a predecessor task or several predecessor tasks are finished.

Dummy Task – A link that shows an association or relationship between two otherwise parallel tasks along a PERT/CPM network.

Milestone – A significant event or juncture in the project.

Noncritical Task – A task within a CPM network for which slack time is available.

Parallel Task – Two or more tasks that can be undertaken at the same time. This does not imply that they have the same starting and ending times.

Path – A chronological sequence of tasks, each dependant on the predecessors.

Predecessor Task – Task that must be completed before another task can be completed.

Project – The allocation of resources over a specific timeframe and the coordination of interrelated events to accomplish an overall objective while meeting both predictable and unique challenges.

Project Constraint – A critical project element such as money, time, or human resources.

Scope of the project or scope of the project – The level of activity and effort necessary to complete a project and achieve the desired outcomes as measured by hours, days, resources consumed, and funds spent.

Slack –Margin or extra room to accommodate anticipated potential short falls in planning

Slack Time – The time interval in which you have leeway as to when a particular task needs to be completed.

Task or Event – A divisible, definable unit of work related to a project, which may or may not include subtasks.

Timeline –The scheduled start and stop times for a subtask, task, phase or entire project.

PERT, CPM and GANTT

Before attempting to use these tools, the project’s information must be assembled in a certain way. I include a basic description of the preceding steps.

The project planning process consists of the following:

1.Setting the project start date

2.Setting the project completion date

3.Selecting the project methodology or project life cycle to be used

4.Determining the scope of the project in terms of the phases of the selected project methodology or project life cycle

5.Identifying or selecting the project review methods to be used

6.Identifying any predetermined interim milestone or other critical dates which must be met.

7.Listing tasks, by project phase, in the order in which they might be accomplished.

8.Estimating the personnel necessary to accomplish each task

9.Estimating the personnel available to accomplish each task

10.Determining skill level necessary to perform each task

11.Determining task dependencies

Which tasks can be done in parallel?

Which tasks require the completion of other tasks before they can start?

12.Project control or review points

13.Performing project cost estimation and cost-benefit analysis

Work breakdown Structures

The development of a project plan is predicated on having a clear and detailed understanding of both the tasks involved, the estimated length of time each task will take, the dependencies between those tasks, and the sequence in which those tasks have to be performed. Additionally, resource availability must be determined in order to assign each task or group of tasks to the appropriate worker.

One method used to develop the list of tasks is to create what is known as a work breakdown structure.

A definition

A work breakdown structure (WBS) is a hierarchic decomposition or breakdown of a project or major activity into successive levels, in which each level is a finer breakdown of the preceding one. In final form a WBS is very similar in structure and layout to a document outline. Each item at a specific level of a WBS is numbered consecutively (e.g., 10, 10, 30, 40, 50). Each item at the next level is numbered within the number of its parent item (e.g., 10.1, 10.2, 10.3, 10.4).

The WBS may be drawn in a diagrammatic form (if automated tools are available) or in a chart resembling an outline.

The WBS begins with a single overall task representing the totality of work to be performed on the project. This becomes the name of the project plan WBS. Using a methodology or system life cycle (analysis, design and implementation) steps as a guide, the project is divided into its major steps. The first phase is project initiation; the second major phase is analysis, followed by design, construction, testing, implementation, and post-implementation follow-up. Each of these phases must be broken in their next level of detail, and each of those, into still finer levels of detail, until a manageable task size is arrived at. The first WBS level for the life cycle would be:

WBS numberTask Description

1.0Project initiation

1.1Draft project plan

2.0Analysis phase

2.1Plan user interviews

2.2Schedule users interviews

3.0Examination and test

4.0Design

5.0Test

6.0Implementation

1. Post-implementation review

Tasks at each successively finer level of detail are numbered to reflect the task from which they were derived. Thus, the first level of tasks would be numbered 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, and so forth. Each of their subtasks would have a two-part number: the first part reflecting the parent task and the second part, the subtasks number itself, such as 1.1, 1.2, or 1.3. As each of these, in turn, decomposed or broken down into its component tasks, each component receives a number comprised of its parent number plus a unique number of its own.

A definition

A manageable task is one in which the expected results can be easily identified; success, failure, or completion of the task can be easily ascertained; the time to complete the task can be easily estimated; ant the resource requirements of the task can be easily determined.

Program evaluation and review technique (PERT) charts depict task, duration, and dependency information. Each chart starts with an initiation node from which the first task, or tasks, originates. If multiple tasks begin at the same time, they are all started from the node or branch, or fork out from the starting point. Each task is represented by a line, which states its name or other identifier, its duration, the number of people assigned to it, and in some cases the initials of the personnel assigned. The other end of the task line is terminated by another node, which identifies the start of another task, or the beginning of any slack time, that is, waiting time between tasks.

Each task is connected to its successor tasks in this manner forming a network of nodes and connecting lines. The chart is complete when all final tasks come together at the completion node. When slack time exists between the end of one task and the start of another, the usual method is to draw a broken or dotted line between the end of the first task and the start of the next dependent task.

A PERT chart may have multiple parallel or interconnecting networks of tasks. If the scheduled project has milestones, checkpoints, or review points (all of which are highly recommended in any project schedule), the PERT chart will note that all tasks up to that point terminate at the review node. It should be noted at this point that the project review, approvals, user reviews, and so forth all take time. This time should never be underestimated when drawing up the project plan. It is not unusual for a review to take 1 or 2 weeks. Obtaining management and user approvals may take even longer.

When drawing up the plan, be sure to include tasks for documentation writing, documentation editing, project report writing and editing, and report reproduction. These tasks are usually time-consuming; so don’t underestimate how long it will take to complete them.

PERT charts are usually drawn on ruled paper with the horizontal axis indicating time period divisions in days, weeks, months, and so on. Although it is possible to draw a PERT chart for an entire project, the usual practice is to break the plans into smaller, more meaningful parts. This is very helpful if the chart has to be redrawn for any reason, such as skipped or incorrectly estimated tasks.

Many PERT charts terminate at the major review points, such as at the end of the analysis. Many organizations include funding reviews in the projects life cycle. Where this is the case, each chart terminates in the funding review node.

Funding reviews can affect a project in that they may either increase funding, in which case more people have to make available, or they may decrease funding, in which case fewer people may be available. Obviously more or less people will affect the length of time it takes to complete the project.

Critical Path Method (CPM) charts are similar to PERT charts and are sometimes known as PERT/CPM. In a CPM chart, the critical path is indicated. A critical path consists that set of dependent tasks (each dependent on the preceding one), which together take the longest time to complete. Although it is not normally done, a CPM chart can define multiple, equally critical paths. Tasks, which fall on the critical path, should be noted in some way, so that they may be given special attention. One way is to draw critical path tasks with a double line instead of a single line.

Tasks, which fall on the critical path, should receive special attention by both the project manager and the personnel assigned to them. The critical path for any given method may shift as the project progresses; this can happen when tasks are completed either behind or ahead of schedule, causing other tasks which may still be on schedule to fall on the new critical path.

A Gantt chart is a matrix, which lists on the vertical axis all the tasks to be performed. Each row contains a single task identification, which usually consists of a number and name. The horizontal axis is headed by columns indicating estimated task duration, skill level needed to perform the task, and the name of the person assigned to the task, followed by one column for each period in the project’s duration. Each period may be expressed in hours, days, weeks, months, and other time units. In some cases it may be necessary to label the period columns as period 1, period 2, and so on.

The graphics portion of the Gantt chart consists of a horizontal bar for each task connecting the period start and period ending columns. A set of markers is usually used to indicate estimated and actual start and end. Each bar on a separate line, and the name of each person assigned to the task is on a separate line. In many cases when this type of project plan is used, a blank row is left between tasks. When the project is under way, this row is used to indicate progress, indicated by a second bar, which starts in the period column when the task is actually started and continues until the task is actually completed. Comparison between estimated start and end and actual start and end should indicate project status on a task-by-task basis.

Variants of this method include a lower chart, which shows personnel allocations on a person-by-person basis. For this section the vertical axis contains the number of people assigned to the project, and the columns indicating task duration are left blank, as is the column indicating person assigned. The graphics consists of the same bar notation as in the upper chart indicates that the person is working on a task. The value of this lower chart is evident when it shows slack time for the project personnel, that is, times when they are not actually working on any project.

PERT Chart with start/stop dates

PERT Chart with Critical Path detail.

LIFE CYCLE COST IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS

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Life cycle cost in construction projects is a process of economic decision analysis, which helps taking decisions on investments in new construction. These decisions on investments are analyzed for the payback over the life of the investment. This method is also known as life cycle costing technique in construction industry.

The life cycle costing technique helps to reduce the overall cost of a project by selecting best alternative designs and components to minimize the cost not only at the time of construction, but also the over the full life of the project.

The life cycle costing simply does not considers the least cost of construction, but it considers a mechanism to determine which alternatives offer the largest economic advantage by considering costs and benefit that occur throughout the life of the project from initial concept of project to its construction and its useful life to the time it is ready for replacement. It helps the project designers to select the best alternative for the given project.

The aim for life cycle costing is to present owner of the project with maximum benefit when all the costs are accounted for by analyzing the alternative designs and components. In this process, the costs are analyzed with the benefit in the future. For example, how the cost of extra expenditure on a particular component can benefit in the project owner now or the investment shall be carried out only in future for that component. What will be the best alternative for that component now or in the future? Life cycle costing provides framework for making analysis of costs and benefits based on time value of money. This helps the analysts to compare and select from alternatives that have different spans and diverse cost and benefit profiles.

What is time value of Money in Construction Projects?

Time value of money is defined as the purchasing power of money now to the purchasing power of the same money in future. It is a method of assessment of market for the value of money with time. For example, you can purchase a component at a price $5000 now, but will you be able to purchase same component at the same price 5 years later? What if you would like to purchase it now, then will you be able to gain advantage over the purchase after 5 years from now? Or to gain advantage, you would like to invest it somewhere else and purchase same after 5 years. It is a method of assessment of cash flow from present time to future with the analysis of profit or loss, or the benefits one would get with the amount.

There are different methods for assessment of time value of money, they are:

1. Compound interest method
2. Nominal and effective interest rate methods
3. Equal life alternatives
4. Unequal life alternatives
5. Incremental cost analysis

CONSTRUCTION COST ESTIMATION

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Construction cost estimation is done to know in advance the expected cost in varying degree of accuracy, at different phases of the project.

Owner’s Purpose of Estimate

1. Making investment decision in the conceptual stage.
2. Negotiate and finalize the contract at the implementation phase.
3. To implement cost control measures.

Contractor‘s Purpose of Estimate

1. Determine project cost and profit.
2. To Implement cost control measure.
3. To develop data base for that can be used for future project.

Engineer‘s Purpose of Estimate

1. Provide the owner with probable estimate.
2. Evaluate alternatives.

Comparison of Contractor‘s and Engineer‘s Estimator

Contractor’s Estimator	Engineer’s Estimator
Determines actual cost of project for bidding purposes. Has detailed company cost data for labour and equipment. Knows which construction methods are to be used. Has knowledge of actual materials suppliers to be used and quantity discount prices.	Determines expected cost. Does not know who will receive award, therefore does not know contractor’s exact resource costs. Does not know actual labour rates. Must assume probable construction methods to be used. Does not know who project supplier will be. Must use local list prices.

Fig: Construction cost Estimation

TYPES OF ESTIMATES

1. Preliminary
2. Unit price
3. Assembly or Conceptual Cost
4. Detailed estimate

Each phase of a project life cycle requires a different type of estimate–each estimate requires different types of information.

1. Preliminary Estimate- “Order of Magnitude”

• A cost prediction based solely on size and/or capacity of a proposed project.
• Before any engineering or design is completed.
• Rely on broad data from already executed similar project
• relate cost in rupees to the main capacity/size parameter
• number of beds in hospital
• square feet of office space
• number of students in school

Advantageous

• Allows a quick determination of the feasibility of a project
• A quick screening on alternatives, etc. (e.g., should it be a concrete building or a steel building !).

Purpose:

1. Ranking alternatives
2. Evaluate economics and financial feasibility
3. As a check on more detailed estimates

2. Unit Price Estimate

Unit prices are obtained from data on projects already performed.

• Cost of labor, material, and equipment for all units of work are added together and divided by the number of units involved.

3. Assembly or Conceptual Estimate

• Performed when conceptual design decisions are being made.
• Work package concept can be used to determine the element or assembly to be studied
• We need a breakdown of cost of a completed project into its functional elements to:
• Find the relationship between element cost and project cost
• Distribution of cost between constituent elements (sq. feet of _____)

4. Detailed (Definitive )Estimate

• Prepared after drawings and specification are completed.
• Requires a complete quantity takeoff based on drawing and the complete set of contract documents
• Need information on labor rate “productivity”, material cost, cost of renting or purchasing equipment

Variation Factors in Estimating

1. Time

• We base our estimate on the cost of existing projects that were built in the past
• Price-level changes over time
• We need to project costs of future projects
• Many organizations publish construction cost data on regular basis.

Cost Indices

• Used to update old cost information

Uses

1. To update known historical costs for new estimates
2. To estimate replacement cost for specific assets
3. To provide for contract escalation

Limitations

1. They represent composite data, average of many projects.
2. They fail to recognize technological changes.
3. There is a reporting time log.

To update old cost information to current date

Cost of new facility = cost of old facility x (new cost index/old cost index)

To predict future cost

F = P (1 + i)n

F  = future cost

P  = present cost

i   = predicted rate of cost escalation per period

n  =  number of periods (years)

2. Location

• Some factors affecting cost in different locations are:

1. Transport cost
2. Taxes
3. Labor supply and local productivity
4. Codes and local inspection

• Construction costs also vary in different regions of the USA.
• ENR and Means publishes periodically the indices of local construction costs in the major cities.

3. Size

• As the quantity built increases, the unit cost decreases,

Size Factor = (Proposed Size/Comparison Size)

• UCM = Unit Cost Multiplier

UCM = SF-1

 

4. Shape

5. Other Factors

Hard to quantify but should be evaluated

• Quality
• Soil condition
• Weather Condition
• Competition
• Productivity

FACTORS CONSIDERED FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

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Selection of a site depends on the type and the size of the Project. Aim should be to reduce the consumption of energy resources and still create an efficient structure.

Factors that affect construction project Site selection is mainly based on two factors:

1. Factors concerning before construction of the project

2. Factors concerning after construction of the structure (after use efficiency)

Factors concerning he before construction of the project”

• Availability of skilled labour
• Availability of cheap labour
• Transportation facilities
• Availability of local or natural materials to reduce construction and transportation costs
• Rate of population growth and urbanization in that area
• Town planning and environmental conditions

These are the factors that are to be examined and kept in mind while selecting a site prior to the construction of the project.

Factors concerning after construction of the structure (after use efficiency)

• Access to Parks and Playgrounds
• Agricultural potentiality of the land
• Availability of Public Utility Services especially water, electricity and sewage disposal
• contour of the land in relation to the building costs
• cost of land
• distance from places of work
• ease of drainage
• location with respect to schools, colleges and public buildings
• nature of use of adjacent areas
• transport facilities
• wind, velocity and direction

METHODS OF EVALUATION OF EXISTING BUILDINGS

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Evaluation of Existing Buildings

The available methods are evaluation by structural analysis based on known material properties, dimensions and loading, evaluation by analysis and physical load testing, and evaluation by analysis and structural modeling depending on the nature of the structure and the level of information available about the existing condition of the structure.

Evaluation by analysis is used when sufficient information is available, load testing is impractical or unsafe due to the complexity of the loading and testing arrangements. Load test is not recommended where a sudden and brittle failure is expected. The gathered information is used to analytically determine the safe load-carrying capacity of the structure or portion of the structure.

Evaluation by physical load testing is used when the complexity of the structure makes evaluation solely by analytical methods impractical or uncertain, the loading and material characteristics cannot be readily determined, the structural distress causes uncertainties into the input parameters of an analytical evaluation, the degree of defects cannot be easily determined, and when there is doubt about the adequacy of the structure under future loading more than the original design criteria. Preliminary and approximate analytical evaluation is performed before the load test to determine the location and magnitude of the test loading and to plan the test.

Evaluation by the construction and testing of structural models may be employed in place of a full-scale load test. This method is used when analytical solution does not provide a unique solution, sudden failure is expected, load testing is physically impractical, design is complex, shrinkage, creep, temperature, and differential settlement, etc., are significant in the presence of restraint, or when the part having doubt can not be tested at full scale with other parts of the structure. The results will be reliable when the structure, loading, restraints and material strengths can reasonably be modeled and the principles of modeling are fully employed to interpret the results.

PROJECT PLANNING, SCHEDULING AND CONTROLLING

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PROJECT PLANNING

In planning phase, plan is made and strategies are set, taking into consideration the company policies, procedures and rules

Planning provides direction, unifying frame work, performance standards, and helps to reveal future opportunities and threats

In Planning, the following steps are followed.

• The Objectives of the projects in definite words
• Goals and stages intermediate to attain the final target
• Forecast and means of achieving goals i.e., activities.
• Organization resources-financial, managerial and operational-to carry out activities and to determine what is feasible and what is not.
• Alternatives-individual courses of action that will allow accomplishing goals.
• For consistency with company’s policies
• An alternative which is not only consistent with its goals and concept but also one that can be accomplished with the evaluated resources.
• Decision on a Plan

Forward Planning

• Planner starts from the initial event and builds up the events and activities logically and sequentially until the end event is reached.
• What event comes next?
• What are dependent events?
• What events can take place concurrently?

Backward Planning

• The planner starts with the end event, and arranges the events and activities until the initial event is reached.
• The planner asks himself “if we want to achieve this, what events or activities should have taken place?

Combined Planning

• Combination of both forward planning and backward planning.
• At any stage the planner may need to traverse the network back and forth several times until it is found to be satisfactory.
• Questions of the Planner
• What event or events must be completed before the particular event can start?
• What event or events follow this?
• What activities can be accomplished simultaneously

Resource Classification

• Manpower
• Material
• Machine
• Time
• Money

PROJECT SCHEDULING

• Scheduling is the allocation of resources
• Resources in conceptual sense are time & energy but in practical sense are the time, manpower, equipment applied to material.
• Scheduling is the process of formalizing the planned functions, assigning the starting and completion dates to each activity which proceeds in a logical sequence and in an orderly and systematic manner.

In Scheduling, the following steps are followed.

• Detailed control information is to be calculated.
• Timings to events & activities are assigned
• Consideration must be given to resources generally concerned with those resources whose availability is limited and which there by impose a constraint on the project. Important ones are skilled, technical and supervisory manpower and capital investment
• Resource Allocation

PROJECT CONTROLLING

 

 

• This phase is carried during the execution of the project.
• The difference between the scheduled performance and actual performance are reviewed once the project starts.
• Project control is established to determine deviations from the basic plan, to determine the precise effect of these deviations on the plan, and to replan and reschedule to compensate for the deviations.
• Controlling, the following steps are followed.
• The Standards and targets are established and targets are generally exposed in terms of time.
• Performance is measured against the standards set down in the first step.
• The Deviations from the standard are identified

CHARACTERISTICS OF A CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

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Any construction project management has two philosophies, i.e. time-driven and cost-driven. Managing cost of construction project with completion in time with high quality and achievement of objectives is called project management.

A project shall have its own characteristics set aside so that it can be completed within budget and time. As cost and time for a construction project are interdependent, these shall be carefully planned. An increase or decrease in construction project time affects the budget of construction projects. These set characteristics define the projects and helps in completing the project in time.

 

Following are the characteristics of a construction project:

• The project should have a specified target.
• The project should be unique and cannot be replicated with the same task and resources giving the same results.
• The construction project should satisfy the owners requirement and expectations from the project.
• The construction project should not be a routine work, although there are some aspects that are routine.
• The construction project shall consists of a number of associated activities contributing to the project as a whole.
• The time limit for completion of project shall be defined.
• The Construction project is complex and it involves a number of individuals from different departments. So, right coordination shall be setup within departments.
• The project manager must be flexible to accommodate any change that might occur during the project.
• There are factors of uncertainty such as the performance of individuals, how their skills adapt to unfamiliar work, and other unknown external influences.
• The total cost of construction project shall be defined and project shall be completed within the given budget.
• The project should provide unique opportunities to acquire new skills.
• The project gives impetus to the project manager to adapt to working under changing circumstances, as the nature of the project is change.
• There are risks with each step of the project, and the project manager should manage those risks to reach the project goal.

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT DEVELOPMENT FROM SCRATCH

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The development of any project follows some major phases in project life cycle. For the success of the project, the project team must successfully plan, organize and control their work activities so that they are performed in proper sequence and on time. Some parts of the major phases of project life cycle is performed before the construction phase starts.

Following are the steps involved in development of a construction project from scratch:

1. Conceptual phase

2. Proposal phase

3. Project design phase

a) Engineering design

b) Procurement of major equipment

c) Project control function

d) Construction inputs from experienced engineers

4. Procurement of other construction materials

5. On-site construction

6. Facility start-up and turnover

1. Conceptual Phase of Construction Project:

This phase of construction project is generally done by owner or client with the help of consultants, project managers and other experienced engineers. The major activities in this phase can be:

• Product development
• Process development
• Marketing surveys
• Setting project scope and design basis
• Capital cost estimating
• Project financing plans
• Economic feasibility studies
• Board approval of the project

When client develops a need for new facility for any reason, the need for new construction project arises. Then client with the help of their R&D team, consultants and project managers etc., does the above steps during the conceptual phase of the project. Market research for the product development need, capital cost estimating of the project, project financing plans and project scope and design basis are the important part of this phase.

2. Proposal Phase of the Construction Project:

Once the construction project gets approval from the board, then the project enters proposal phase. In this phase the main goal is to select a suitable contractor to carry out the construction activity as required by the client or owner. This phase involves following activities:

• Preparing a contracting plan – like terms and conditions of contract, payment terms, security deposit, earnest money deposit etc.
• Prequalifying contractor slate – prequalification needed for a contractor to carry out the project is finalized, like size of project executed by the contract, type of project executed by the contractor etc.
• Preparing a request for proposal (RFP) or Request for Quotation (RFQ – this involves bill of quantities of each item of work to be executed in the construction project, and quotation for the same is requested from the contractor.
• Receiving and analyzing the proposals- each quotation received by the means of tendering is then opened and analysed as per the requirement of the client. Then client decides on selection of the best proposal based on cost and quality in mind and contractors work experience.
• Selecting the best proposal
• Negotiating a contract: after the best proposal is selected by the client, the selected contractor is called for negotiation. In this step, generally contractors are requested to review the rates quoted by them so as to minimize the cost of the project.

3. Project Execution Phase of the construction Project:

After a suitable contractor is selected by the client or owner, the project manager is ready to execute the project in accordance with the contracting plan. The construction project is initiated in this phase. The following activities are generally carried out by the contractor (project manager):

• Engineering design phase: it covers those activities required to generate the plans and specifications for the procurement of the equipment and construction materials and the construction of the facility. Process design, mechanical design, civil, architectural and structural design, piping design, electrical design, instrumentation design, general specifications and construction input from past experiences and other experienced engineers are the major activities in this phase.
• Equipment procurement activity: procurement of construction materials and equipment are carried out during design stage and transported to the construction site as specified and on time to meet the construction schedule. Interaction between construction groups and procurement groups becomes much important during this phase of the construction.
• Project control functions: to meet the project goals relating to budget, schedule, and quality effectively, a team of control specialists performs the necessary project control functions. All the project commitments and expenditures are monitored by cost engineers to see that they conform to the budget and cash flow projections. Weekly and monthly project reports are prepared to ensure that various activities are as planned or to take any steps to keep the activities on track.
• Construction field activities: each team member is presented with certain jobs on site for the construction of the project on time and as per contracting terms. The construction manager delegates the major areas of the construction project. The group of engineers is led by a field superintendent who directly reports to the construction manager. This superintendent is assisted in executing the construction work by an organization of area engineers, craft superintendents, general foremen, and sub-contractor supervisors. All other field groups perform their duties to support the field construction operation.

The field engineer receives and distributes the technical documents for the field organization. They manage the design construction interface to ensure that the project is built according to the design documents. All design clarifications, design and field changes, change orders, as built drawings, vendor assistance contacts, and the like must pass through the field engineering office.

The engineer is also responsible for the quality control operations. This involves quality control testing services, laboratory reports, radiography services etc. the field engineer also maintains copies of the applicable codes and government regulations and interprets their application to the project.

4. Facility start-up activities

This is the last activity on the project. This step establishes the order for putting the operating units into service. The amount of construction participation in the startup must also be considered in the scope of services along with the money and resource plans for the overall project.