Best practice construction program management

Realistic expectations must be asserted to prevent project failure. While setbacks happen, this is the first step in a successful project.

Having a project scope in writing sets up a great base for managing construction projects. It ensures you have enough money to cover expenses, as well as sets your milestones for you. Scope creep is the continuous or uncontrolled growth in the scope. And managing as a team can benefit you. Small details or pieces are easily overlooked. However, they also can cause greater issues down the road. By taking the necessary time to see the smallest details it will prevent issues.

Small details can turn into large problems, which links back to team managing. It can be hard to remember to pay attention to the details when staring down deadlines. Even relatively small construction projects contain hundreds of moving parts and individual costs, so to remain effective you need to use software that can also help you manage costs as you move through the key phases of construction budgeting. In addition, through your software platform, you should have access to templates for construction project management.

Additionally, integrating DocuSign reduces time spent collecting signatures for every invoice, which means you and your contractors can devote more attention to the task at hand. The 4 Key Phases of Construction Budgeting. No construction project manager has the time to reply to hundreds of emails a day — or use the phone to call and address every question about budgets and progress. In addition to concentrating comments and schedules, you can cut down further correspondence by implementing automated reporting systems.

Construction project management requires the weekly distribution of various spreadsheets and status reports, and automated delivery tools will save significant time over the span of the build. This automation will ensure the right reports go to the right people on time, allowing you to focus on other tasks and communication. Other reporting systems, such as safety and health management, can prevent hazards, track incidents, and streamline worksite analysis when issues do arise. Smartsheet benefits not only construction project managers, but also their teams, subcontractors, partners, and stakeholders.

The Smartsheet platform helps teams improve visibility and streamline workflows through real-time updates, automated reporting, and integration with popular apps.

Watch the session video below to learn how Kiewit, Top Shelf Real Estate Advisors, and Chipman Design Architecture use Smartsheet to improve field operations, quality control, organizational efficiency, and more. For many organizations, data collection and data entry are manual processes prone to human error. Planning for a construction project is a tremendous undertaking. Read about how the right work execution platform can empower your budgeting workflows.

Construction project management poses unique challenges. In recent years, it has received a bad rap as a way to drastically cut both costs [ Here are a few tips and construction management best practices to help maintain your sanity during your construction project: Seek wisdom in all the right places. Hire the best professionals within your means for design, building and construction management. Going cheap may cost you in the long run, sending your peace of mind right out the window.

Retain experts and rely on their opinions. Deconstructing the construction team. Get to know the players before you hire them. Talk to former clients, their vendors and people outside their reference list for true enlightenment. Take a big view on time and budget. Manage your expectations. Hire a master and let go. Professional construction managers are essential to keep large projects on time, on budget and risk managed. The money invested will end up saving you substantially, often more than their own fees.

A construction manager will coordinate relationships, budgets, schedules and contracts and keep all the players on the same page. Plan, plan, plan. Prepare a preconstruction plan based on real information from your professional team—even better, have a construction manager do it.