Construction management activities

The construction phase of all projects includes two well-defined sets of activities, actual construction and construction management. 

The actual construction comprises a variety of activities involving work by different specialized craftsmen  

The work is performed by contractors specialized along the craft lines. Few contractors have the necessary breadth to perform all crafts directly however, some have capabilities in one or two of the major crafts plus the expertise and resources to subcontract the rest. In doing so, they become General Contractors. 

Construction Management involves the coordination, control, and management of the contractors performing the various construction activities as well as providing them with a clean and safe environment. The person, or entity, performing this function is called the Construction Manager (C.M.). 

A very important goal of construction management is to promote a safe and pleasant environment conducive to a high level of performance by all construction personnel. 

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This activity in small projects is directly performed by the Owner. The Project Manager is also expected to be the Construction Manager. Frequently, the work is delegated to another engineer or to a member of the plant staff, but the overall responsibility remains with the Project Manager. 

Give the Project Manager insight into the activities that take place as part of construction management. 

As mentioned before, the C.M. function could be performed, depending on the construction approach, by the general contractor, by an independently retained C.M., or by the Owner. In the latter option, the Project Manager becomes also the Construction Manager. Construction management entails many other activities, some of which are the responsibility of the contractors directly performing the work and others are the responsibility of the C.M. 

Even when construction management is being performed by others (a G.C. or a C.M.). the Project Manager must have hands-on participation in some of these activities and supervise and spot-check all of them. Those requiring special attention are marked with an asterisk. 

On major projects, the construction management function is discharged either by the G.C. or by an independent C.M. specifically retained for the project. On small projects, the Owner is the Construction Manager. The C.M. activities are performed by the Project Manager and/or a Field Engineer. 

Look Ahead Reports. Each subcontractor must submit every week a list of activities planned for the next two weeks with projected staffing. The Construction Manager must compare this information with the overall schedules to gauge subcontractors performance and promote corrective action if necessary. 

Construction Status Reports. The Construction Manager must issue every month, for management information, a complete report on all construction activities with cost and scheduled evaluation for compliance to the AFE objectives. 

These are areas where all project managers, whether acting as such or as construction managers, must assume the leadership and exert their power to influence the outcome of the field activities and insure successful completion of the project. 

The Construction Industry Institute (CII) was established for the purpose of implementing the CICE recommendations and is continuously following up and expanding upon all CICE-related issues. Every Project Manager, active and/or fledgling, must make a point to study and become fully familiar with its recommendations. 

When construction is awarded on a lump sum basis, most of the risks as well as the cost control function is assumed by the subcontractors. The Owner s main cost control responsibility is limited to controlling extras and monitoring quality and progress. On small projects, the Owner s Project Manager could act as Construction Manager and be directly involved in the cost control activities. 

The Construction Manager has a dual responsibility to both the Project Manager and the plant engineer. The Construction Manager represents the Project Manager in the field and is the official contact with construction contractors in all field-related matters. Generally, the CM is responsible for all field activities including those performed directly by the Owner s personnel. The duties include but are not limited to ... 

A schedule can also be produced in an arrow diagram, which will graphically show all the activity prior to or dependent on an activity and subsequent activities, those, which follow an activity. This presentation can be very useful in the analysis of how a project can be executed. To monitor a project schedule effectively, the level of activity should be detailed to show the items that should be accomplished during a specific period of time to maintain the overall project completion schedule. The capabilities of the design and construction management firms or EPC firm to produce and monitor an effective project schedule in the complexity required to manage these projects is an important element in the selection process of those vendors. 

The selection of the architectural/engineering (A/E) and construction/management (C/M) firms and the contracting strategy with those firms is a function of the schedule drivers. Activities must be worked on concurrently to support the... 

Top-management support of project teams has been stressed in terms of the extent to which the marragement encourages the team, provides constructive feedback, actively champions the pro-... 

The CM provides managerial services and acts as the owner s agent in construction matters. Rather than the owner contracting with a single GC, he contracts directly with multiple prime contractors and specialty subcontractors. The construction manager schedules, coordinates, and directs the day-to-day activities of these contractors. He generally does not perform any work himself, but he may provide essential services normally included in a GC s overhead cost, such as temporary facilities, utilities, cleanup, and security. These services are provided on a cost-reimbursement basis and are not part of the CM s fee. 

The polarised safe/unsafe of the legislative lexicon has unsurprisingly become embedded in organisational safety management practices and safety management systems. Binary evaluations of safety are therefore also found at the heart of various safety management activities, such as risk assessments and site inspections, and so have considerable influence on the construction of safety in practice. 

Whatever the starting point of the development of the project schedule, it must co-ordinate with the construction plan, the completion of individual design activities, and the delivery to site of materials and equipment. This is a statement of the obvious. An equally obvious statement, which however sometimes seems to be overlooked, is that in a project of any significant size, some of the activities or products which precede construction will be completed late. It is therefore an integral and fundamental part of the construction management function to... 

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