Effective Project Management

For the last twenty years I have managed various demolition, construction and hazardous materials remediation projects. These projects have ranged from simple asbestos or lead removal projects in a single-family residence to the inception and construction of entire school facilities. With this experience, I have determined the most important part of completing these complicated and multifaceted projects on time and on budget is effective project management. I believe project management is literally the backbone or foundation of the construction industry and is a necessary for the overall planning, scheduling and controlling all project goals with efficiency and effectiveness.

In the next few pages we will be discussing the importance of good project management on a large commercial construction project by reviewing relevant topics from the text compared with real experiences in the field. The discussion will also reference many of the strategies and tools used to effectively manage these types of projects, deal with problems that arise, and see how essential good project planning, scheduling, and controlling, is in the projects overall success.

Let’s begin with project planning. Planning is what I consider the incipient stage of a project; it’s where the original project requirements, needs, and wants, budget and schedule begin to transform into a comprehensive design for the overall end result of what is to be built. During the project planning stage our text includes the need for the goal setting and project team organization to be developed (Heizer & Render, 2011). At this early point in the process it is important to hire a professional Project Manager or Project Organizer. The Project Manager will act as the owner’s liaison between the owner and the architectural firm, design engineers, and contractors. With a knowledge and experience in the field of construction, budgeting, permitting, etc, the Project Manager can act as the voice of reason when the planning stage begins to grow beyond what the original budget can absorb. On many large construction projects an Architectural firm will typically provide this role, however, it is still a good idea to have a Project Manager on board at the early stages of the project to track many of the owners original thoughts and ideas and get a good overall perspective of the project. It has been my experience that some architectural firms do not listen very well to their clients and begin to push their own ideas and agendas into the project design which can result in the owner getting a building completed that was not really what they originally had in mind.

The role of the Project Manager in the early planning stages of the project revolves mostly around assisting the Owner with the development of the project team, overseeing the project design, and creation of the project scope of work; with some early emphasis on the budget and master schedule. The project