9 Important Stages of Construction Project Management

Construction projects require critical management skills, as one small error can cause a loss of thousands of dollars. Proper construction project management involves many professionals with different skill sets and expertise working together to achieve the same goal.

Every construction project has the same cycle. It initiates with conceptualization, planning, documentation, construction and ends with closure.

This article will discuss the construction project management stages in detail. So let’s explore.

Construction project management stages

You must have reliable knowledge of technical and non-technical construction areas. Without them, you can’t supervise a construction project. You must also integrate with the following 9 stages of construction project management:

A) Vision

Determining the construction project's vision is the first step to creating a strong foundation. Envisioning a construction project can be challenging. It requires foresight, skill, and competence related to construction.

A construction manager or a general contractor defines a vision for every project. The process involves:

• Organizing your construction ideas
• Gathering them in the project
• Considering the client’s requirements or whoever will use them

You can also consult a construction expert to improve the construction vision.

b) Team

Bringing your construction vision to reality is often considered a challenge. However, you can easily do that with the right team building. Since a construction project requires team members with different skills, you should ensure to include the following experts in your team:

• Mathematics experts - To solve complex numerical problems and measurements
• Architects - To design the project’s detailed architecture and blueprints
• Chemists - To test the soil quality and chemicals required for the construction
• IT people - To run construction management and tracking software

During the construction, you must spread awareness of the project vision and educate the workers about why they are working. Many potential employees and laborers are eligible for the job, but not everyone will be ready to follow your vision.

Therefore, choose your partner wisely because the project might be ruined if your construction team leaves you.

c) Design phase

In the design stage, you sit with the construction designers and architects to make complex diagrams and blueprints of the project. They might ask you questions about the client’s requirements. So, you must hold meetings with the client and clear the queries of your design team.

You must also invest in the construction drawing software to save time and produce a high-quality visual representation of the project.

The team will create a schematic design of the project, which is a skeleton and a rough internal of the building. Then, the design team members share these documents and prepare a design document.

Using that document, they make a final project design and add it to the construction document to proceed.

d) Pre-construction planning

The construction manager and contractor invest time in the planning stage and assess every construction factor, including:

• Budget - Financial resources required for the project completion
• Schedule - The construction project timeline
• Resources - Equipment, workforce, and technology required for the construction project
• Risks - Unexpected circumstances that affect the project schedule

The pre-construction planning stage includes safety standards, construction protocols, and legal formalities. All these factors are important to achieve excellence in completing a project. Get Bobcat T770 overview here.

When the planning stage is about to get completed, you must prepare a rough document and submit it to the documentation team to make its presentable copy.

e) Construction documents

At this stage, the construction documents in the design and planning stages are collected. The documentation team also prepares their professional copies. Make sure you use a word processing tool to create professional construction documents.

Since these documents will be forwarded to the client, they must include all the required details and follow the format asked by the client.

Some clients attach a Request for Proposal (RFP) during the bidding phase, which includes such formalities. Therefore, thoroughly read the client’s documents to understand what the client wants and respond to them with the documents you prepared.

f) Budget estimation

In the past, the cost was the biggest factor in the construction industry. For example, if you have bid on the job with the lowest project cost, you will get it.

But today, clients are more aware of the games contractors and companies try to play. They look for a qualified and skillful construction company with a proven work history. They also look for the project cost, but that’s not the only factor.

Therefore, you must estimate a balanced budget that neither favors your company nor looks expensive to the client. You can even take help from professionals for better budget management.

Companies with marvelous construction records also highlight their achievements and earn their client's trust, which benefits them in the future. So, making your construction portfolio is another technique to convince the client of your proposed budget.

g) Procurement

Contractors usually cater to the procurement of resources since they have years of construction experience. They also know which vendor or supplier provides the best pricing and quality.

However, you must keep track of the budget contractors are consuming because your company suffers losses. Besides, you must guide the contractor when they buy or rent construction equipment. They might not know your budget, so they want to bring top-quality machinery to complete the project.

The procurement stage is about the balance between budget and quality. Expert contractors and managers will maximize quality while saving much money with their experience and foresight.

h) Construction

After completing all the legal formalities, the contractor gathers the subcontractors and equipment, then heads toward the construction site to begin the work. That will be day one of the project, and you must start tracking the project status from this date.

i) Close-out

Everything is completed according to the client’s requirements and the contractor’s contract. You must submit all the deliverables to the client and make a final budget. Usually, the project close-out stage creates conflicts, especially when a party asks for their unmentioned rights.

Therefore, you must keep all the documents, including the signed agreements and contracts, present to resolve the conflict. The best practice is to finish a project on good terms to keep a healthy relationship for future projects.

Conclusion

The construction project management follows a cycle that includes planning, designing, documenting, procuring, constructing, and closing. These are the general stages; you can add any stage in-between according to your need.

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