Project Management

In schedules, when showing drywall installation, it is a common mistake to show it as a single item. What precedes drywall are the following: Stud framing, Installation of risers, pipes and conduits, backing or blocking, insulation material. There is an important point however. The drywall does not finish before those pipes and conduits and insulation are done installed. In other words, the predecessors have both […] Read More

When writing work scopes, have your specs and drawings open in front of you all the time and try not to duplicate what is already indicated in those documents. What you should primarily include in your work scope mainly are, clarifying the areas that the subcontractor might tell you later that it wasn’t part of his deal, as well as clarifying the gray areas that […] Read More

Per the PMBOK (r) , the Project Management Body of Knowledge, Project Schedule uses the most number of inputs and is used by the most number of processes or documents, either directly or indirectly. Also, the most number of processes fall under the Planning process group. (see Pages 61 and 173 of PMBOK(r) Edition 5). Indeed, the schedule relating to so many other processes is […] Read More

Most large companies have established procedures when it comes to organizing and constructing meetings during a project, and also when updating and distributing meeting minutes. Although this may seem like an administrative task, the running of the meeting and taking proper notes and updating the meeting minutes is usually not the job of the project administrator but the project engineer or even project manager. Smaller […] Read More

In a schedule, calculating overall duration based on probabilities can be very counterintuitive. For example lets say there are few activities in parallel, and lets assume they all have same start date and same most likely duration. And also let’s assume that their most likely duration to finish is 10 days, minimum expected duration is 5 days or maximum in 15 days. So they all […] Read More

For some people, things can go wrong when they hire a contractor, who does not do a proper job and threatens to leave the jobsite. Before anything, the first thing you do is the consult a professional regarding your particular situation. Here you can find only some general information, which may or may not be useful for you. Here are a few things you can […] Read More

In order to run the operations properly from the construction site, you will need to have a temporary office at the jobsite most often times. This is not usually as straightforward as it seems. You need to setup the temporary electricity, water, internet, even toilets and of course your trailer. All these items need time and effort. You have to determine the most efficient location […] Read More

Construction projects usually cost a lot of money, usually more in comparison to other types of projects in other industries, because construction involves materials, labor, equipment, and it is affected by so many factors from real life.  For example, you can call a software project of $5 million in size a very large project to develop, where the same amount for a construction project is […] Read More

This post is written from a General Contractor point of view. below we will list some key items to be considered when processing submittal logs. All the materials you use on a project will need a formal submittal that needs to be approved by the Architect, Engineers and other consultants as applicable. The making of your submittal log does not start when you start receiving […] Read More

Like all industries, construction is also being automated, but it is one of the slowest that experiences this. This is because the real life variables that come into play in construction are very high, and real life variables are very hard to predict. In other words, it is harder for AI to manage construction projects, than manufacturing cars in an assembly line, making diagnostics in […] Read More