Finishing your homework at school has always been an achievement. Whether it's an hour before classes start or a day before the end of vacation. Finishing a project is an achievement in itself. This feeling continues until the end. When it comes to a work, the feeling is amplified.
Architects, construction managers or contractors are passionate people who work tirelessly to turn ambitious plans into reality and contribute to society in their own way.
However, this is a difficult mission. Managing a team of so many people is a herculean task. Construction managers need to keep their eyes and ears open while on their feet all day to manage crowds.
Project managers tell us they spend 40% of their time on site, day in and day out, attending meetings, making calls, and writing reports. This can be extremely frustrating, especially when relying on tools that are not adapted to the construction industry.
And unfortunately, that's not all. They always need to be fully aligned with the site manager to ensure that your project remains protected from commercial complaints and that all non-conformities are resolved on time so that there are no unpleasant surprises during deliveries.
This is also why many think of construction managers as the uncrowned kings of the industry. They have to deal with so many burning issues at the same time, never lose sight of planning and, most importantly, make the construction site a safe place for everyone who works there.
How to manage a construction project step by step
Taking all this into consideration, here are 10 powerful tips that can help all construction managers stay on top of their projects and increase site visibility without drowning in excessive administrative workload:
1. Choose construction-specific tools
It's no secret that the construction industry is addicted to Excel and WhatsApp. And we understand why. Both are great tools that can make your daily life a lot easier and allow you to connect with different people with just a few clicks.
However, when it comes to managing a construction project, they are not enough. And the reason is simple. They are unable to link planning to the updates you receive from the website.
The result? Project managers end up lacking visibility into what is happening in the field and quickly find themselves faced with complicated decision-making and excessive administrative workload. That's why it's so important to find the right tools for your projects.
By relying on a construction-specific tool, they can get a live, on-site, shareable view of their project and track each team's progress every step of the way. In the long run, this can save you time and money.
2. Use a single source of truth
Another big problem for many construction managers around the world has to do with the amount of time they spend collecting all the information they need from multiple sources and stakeholders.
Again, this is intrinsically linked to the use of tools that are not developed for the industry and cannot connect and interact with each other in a single data source.
Using a single source of truth across your projects can significantly reduce administrative burden and provide the overview you need to make informed decisions faster and communicate across your teams seamlessly.
3. Reduce administrative burden
We already mentioned the administrative nightmare of construction at the beginning of this article, but we cannot emphasize enough the impact it has on the industry. Without a doubt, project managers are the ones who suffer most from this.
So many meetings and phone calls that should have been a notification in a construction-specific tool robbed them of hours, if not days, of meaningful work.
This is something that needs to change. And there's only one way for that to happen. Using specific construction tools that can connect different stakeholders and ensure that everyone reports to a single data source and has full visibility into the tasks that are important to them.
This way, responsibility is transferred to local teams and project managers have more freedom to focus their attention on the things that matter most.
4. Make security a priority
Our next piece of advice is something we can't emphasize enough. Safety should always be the number one priority, regardless of your project type or budget. Nothing is more important than human life and this is something project managers know well firsthand.
Either we are talking about safety on site or managing stress so that construction workers can be happy and, by extension, productive, focusing on the well-being of your team is of paramount importance.
And this is something that is also closely linked to planning. The more a project gets out of control, the greater the stress that weighs on the shoulders of project stakeholders.
However, by focusing on safety you ensure that serious incidents will be avoided and that most tasks will be completed more quickly. This can give space for both you, as a project manager, and your team to breathe easier and be much more effective during the shift.
5. Invest in repeatability
In this blog, we have referred countless times to the importance of standardization and why investing in repeatability is the way forward. Thanks also to the COVID-19 crisis, the construction industry desperately needs to find a new normal.
In other words, a way to reduce delays and build more efficiently and with higher quality. The industrialization of certain parts of the production process can play a decisive role in this direction.
Especially, in projects where you have to build a series of the same structures or follow a series of the same processes, standardization allows you to improve your processes and gain better control of the way you design, manage and communicate around a project.
Simply put, it’s the “been there, done that” approach that will ultimately lead to faster delivery and greater profitability.
6. Connect quality to your planning
Many project teams around the world are accustomed to dealing with nonconformities at the end of a project, just before delivery. This causes serious delays in delivering the project to the client, as in many cases even more problems are discovered at the last minute.
As a project manager, you don't want to put yourself in a situation like this. Therefore, it is an excellent idea to start resolving non-conformities as they arise rather than leaving everything until the end of the project.
To achieve this, you need to connect your checks to short- and long-term planning. This way, you can gain full control of the construction process and have better visibility into which on-site tasks require the most attention.
This can also work miracles in your effort to keep your project complaint-free as you will always be one step ahead of everyone else.
7. Always stay on top of costs
This advice may seem a little generic, but in reality it's because in every construction project there are multiple sources that can generate costs out of nowhere. In this sense, it is necessary to always be on top of all aspects of the project to avoid this.
Of course, this is easier said than done. The good news is that there are certain areas where you can start. More specifically, limiting delays, being extremely careful in managing your materials (for example, avoiding ordering materials too early or too late), responding or raising complaints quickly can be some of the ways to take responsibility for your project and stay within your budget. under control. .
All of the above, however, requires impeccable communication between your website and the meeting room and largely depends on using the right tools. Therefore, once again, we return to advice number 1: choose digital tools adapted to the construction industry.
8. Be extremely careful with complaints
It's no secret that business complaints are one of the biggest headaches for every project manager. The slightest mistake and you can quickly find yourself stuck in a never-ending construction dispute.
And the worst part? The time you spend (weeks to months, sometimes) searching for that precious email or photo that proves you are not to blame for the delay or quality issue that has appeared.
9. Bring lean to the website
Lean construction is without a doubt one of the most brilliant methods of managing a construction project. Especially at the beginning of a project, it offers that unique visual clarity about the different tasks and responsibilities of each project team.
As good as it is, it can sometimes end up being a little confusing due to the fact that it's a manual process that relies on colored post-its and a whiteboard.
How could we overcome this? Well, bringing your colorful plan to the website in digital format. This doesn't mean the whiteboard back in the office needs to be removed. On the contrary, it will continue to be a vital part of processes due to the visual clarity it provides and which can be useful in many different ways. For example, when you have teams that speak different languages, color coding can be valuable.
However, there must be a better way to update it or reflect changes in real-time forecasts. This can be done through the use of digital tools that have been designed and built with construction as the main focus. Look for these tools and make them an extension of your whiteboard.
10. Lead and take everyone with you
Last but not least, always remember that you are leading this project. Make sure you stay close to your teams and listen to them from both a professional and personal perspective.
This will help you gain their trust and establish more direct and trustworthy communication with them.
This is extremely important not only for your current projects but also for your future projects. As we mentioned above, repeatability is key, and what better way to invest in repeatability by having the same teams working with you over and over again.
But to make people want to work for you, you ultimately need to be a good leader.
Start working smarter today!
Now you have a good idea of how you can manage your construction projects effectively so you can deliver faster and cheaper without compromising quality. But this is just the beginning, because now it's time to act!
