5 Tips for Construction Project Managers Guide, Building Design PM Advice, Contractors site work

5 Tips for Construction Project Managers

17 Mar 2021

The top construction managers plan well, communicate well, budget well, and use technology well. Let’s dig into these skill sets and give you a few tips you can use right now.

Watch the Budget

Money is perhaps the most critical and most complicated aspect of a construction project. Costs come in so many forms: permits, wages, materials, and equipment, to name a few. Budgeting well is essential to ensure profitability.

Great project managers don’t assume that they must know everything about the budget in the beginning. Contact domain experts to verify your estimates. These might be municipal employees, vendors, or contractors. Adding their input will make your numbers more accurate than if you created them alone.

Develop a Detailed Construction Plan

Construction project plans serve two purposes. They keep your project team on track to ensure you end up with your intended project. A well-crafted plan also reduces inefficiency. Inefficiencies equal increased costs.

While the plan needs to be concrete enough to ensure you get the building you want, it also needs to be flexible. The unexpected always happens, and your plan should allow for some of this change. Add “float” time so that the project can absorb changes as they happen. Don’t think of your plan as final when you start a new project. Assume that you’ll create the best plan you can at the beginning and revise it as you go.

It’s also important to keep an eye on the various permits you’ll need. For example, if you are required to conduct bat surveys before building in a certain area, it’s best to take care of it sooner rather than later. Companies like batsurveys.co.uk can help you assess what types of surveys you might need to get a permit for any given project.

Be a Good Communicator

Everyone knows that effective project managers are skilled in written and oral communication. Clear and concise communication across all parties is essential to coordinate all the building’s steps. Project stakeholders will often request information from you about the project and should be ready to offer it.

The best project managers also listen as much as they talk. Listening is the other half of communication. You can’t know about all the details happening on the job site unless you listen for them. Listen closely to catch minor issues quickly before they develop into larger problems that delay or even completely derail a project.

Give Everyone Access to Technology

If a tool makes someone’s job easier, they will use it, even workers on the job site. Some project managers think that technology on the job site is a liability for damage or lost time from off-task activities. If you select technology and show how it will improve the work process, people will take care of it and use it. Use construction trade-specific software that is tailored to your team’s needs as much as possible. Generic software that only offers limited benefits won’t be as well used.

Review Completed Projects

After you complete a project, review your performance on construction project planning, budgeting, technology use, and communication. The next time you encounter a problem in one of these areas, you’ll be able to act faster and with more success since you have a database of solutions at your fingertips. Fewer hiccups in your future jobs equal less stress for you and make you a valuable asset to any owner that hires you.

5 Tips for Construction Project Managers Summary

Some people say that excellent construction projects are like a three-legged stool built on cost, time, and quality. The tips in this article focus on time and cost more than quality. The reason is that if you get these five items right, your projects will always be high-quality.

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