An Ultimate Guide to Construction Project Management

Construction project management is a complex construction process that requires many different skills. Construction managers are the ones who make sure construction runs smoothly and efficiently. They have to be experts in construction, scheduling, estimating, safety regulations, and more.

This article will explore what construction management entails and how to do it successfully.

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What is Construction Management?

A construction manager’s job is to ensure that construction is done successfully and on time. New construction, renovation construction, and building restoration construction are different types of construction projects that need to be managed differently.

Construction managers have to understand the unique needs of each type of construction project they work on to manage it effectively. They also have to know how the construction process works from start to finish to manage their team accordingly.

Construction managers coordinate with architects, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, such as the best roofers in Cincinnati, suppliers, safety inspectors, insurance agencies, and more. Sometimes multiple people may have responsibility for managing one part of construction, like scheduling or estimating costs. Schedulers and estimators work closely with construction managers to ensure construction stays on track.

What is Scheduling?

Scheduling is all about time management. Schedulers coordinate with construction teams and subcontractors to find out when construction will happen, how long it will take, and what kind of resources they need to do a construction job well.

They have to consider things like weather, deliveries of materials, site conditions, building codes requirements, construction crew availability, and more when creating a schedule for construction projects.

The most crucial thing schedulers can do is help construction stay within the project’s timeline to meet deadlines for finishing construction successfully. If construction doesn’t start or finish on time, it can cost money because people have been paid extra wages for working over hours or because construction supplies have been sitting idle. So schedulers work closely with construction managers to make construction deadlines stay on track.

What is Estimating?

Estimators need to know how much a construction job will ultimately cost. They do this by considering the several stages of the construction process and what each stage requires. They calculate the total construction costs by considering things like labor, heavy machinery leasing, materials, such as the best FRP grate,  permits, safety measures, and more. They also have to calculate how long each part of the construction process will last to make an accurate estimate.

Construction estimate software is one-way estimators do this. With this kind of software, they can look at blueprints for construction sites to calculate the estimated amount of time each step-in construction will take before giving their estimate to construction managers or clients. Once estimators estimate a construction project, construction managers can make construction budgets and schedules around it.

Construction Project Management Roles

Construction project management requires construction managers to be experts in construction, scheduling, estimating, safety regulations, and more. Construction managers work closely with schedulers and estimators to create construction schedules that keep construction projects on track by finishing construction tasks within a specific time frame.

Each type of construction has its own unique needs that require construction managers to get different skills for each industry, like engineering or supply chain management, depending on what kind of construction they undertake.

This means construction project management is a complex process because a person has to understand many different things to successfully manage a construction team, so the suitable materials get used at the right time. Then, everything runs smoothly towards completing a successful construction project.

The construction team construction managers work with includes subcontractors, suppliers of architectural cladding, safety inspectors, and insurance agencies, to name a few. In addition, construction managers often coordinate construction tasks by using construction management software to ensure construction stays on track throughout all stages of construction.

They also gather information from other people like architects and engineers because construction draws on many different types of knowledge like design and building sciences and law, business administration, finance, and more for each construction project.

Construction Management Tools & Techniques

To manage a successful construction project, managers need to know how to use tools to help their team successfully finish tasks within a specific timeframe. Software is one of those tools because it enables you to create blueprints, schedules, work orders, task lists, and more so you can see what needs to be done and by when so your job site runs efficiently.

Apps are another tool construction managers use, including apps for contract management or construction field management. Construction management also involves using checklists, Gantt charts, and bar graphs to make schedules which you can use on construction job sites or in-office construction projects.

Conclusion

Construction project management is one of the most complicated construction jobs because construction managers have to be experts in so many areas.

It’s not just construction work that construction managers need to know about; construction management has many other aspects like business administration, accounting, engineering, government regulations, and more. Even though construction work may seem simple, it often involves a lot of complicated processes.

Be sure to check out Toolfit for amazing useful tools that can help you a lot while working.

Check out: Top Tips for Successful Project Management