As the project leader, you know firsthand that construction projects are complex jobs that typically involve budgeting, paperwork, scheduling, and managing a potentially large team. Only an effective project leader has the skills to supervise many tasks and people while keeping the project within budget and on time.
In this blog, we will share project management tips you can utilize to increase efficiency on job sites and boost the quality of your work.
But What is Construction Management Anyway?
The process of overseeing the development of structures and buildings using project management tactics is called construction management. This includes every single phase of your project, from planning and initial construction to the construction phases to completion.
As the project leader, your duties involve the following:
- Monitoring resources and budgets
- Choosing suppliers
- Preparing schedules
- Overseeing teams of worksite employees
- Collaborating with engineers, vendors, architects, and other professionals
- Ensuring people and projects follow building and safety codes
Improve Construction Management by Following These Tips
The more organized and efficient your construction management skills, the more projects you are likely to get. Improve your reputation, performance, and revenue with these construction management tips:
1. Know the details even before you start
Gather all the information you have about the project, including its requirements when you are still in the planning stage. The more details you gather, the better you can supervise the project and prepare for any challenges. You can get additional information from your clients, your subs, and suppliers, as well as your research and observation.
- Determine milestones you can use to measure progress, like completing tasks within a certain budget or specific data.
- Ensure your team understands the project’s safety and building codes and how to use the materials and equipment involved.
- Learn more about the construction site and the people you have hired to work on it.
- Schedule a project launch meeting to introduce all team members, review responsibilities and tasks, answer a lot of questions, and confirm details.
2. Create a plan
Develop a project management plan that follows the five phases of construction management – initiation, planning, launch, performance, and close. Build a deliverable for the end of every stage so you can measure success and measure. These deliverables may be a report for your client or completion of the key tasks. Moreover, you need to assess performance and progress at the end of every phase to maintain quality and ensure the construction project is on schedule.
You also need to understand that plans can change a lot of times in construction management. So, you may need to adjust and improve your plans to continue to depend on the past stage’s work. Having the flexibility to adapt, so your project stays within budget and on time is key to project success.
Also, project management software helps you create workflows and maximize efficiency in such scenarios. Take advantage of this construction-specific tool, for it is guaranteed to be very beneficial in every aspect of your project.
3. Communicate constantly
Communication is essential to completing the construction project transparently and smoothly. Ensure you communicate regularly with everyone involved in the project, including your stakeholders, clients, subs, suppliers, and other staff—schedule meetings to keep your team up to date.
You can best connect with your teams using an all-in-one construction scheduler to organize meetings in one place. This construction tech allows you to send quick messages, alerts, and notifications to your team and get responses and comments immediately.
4. Lead your construction team
Good leadership can further maximize your team’s performance, keep your project running smoothly, and ensure everybody understands their responsibilities. To be an effective project manager, make sure to practice the following leadership methods:
- Ask your staff for feedback and listen to what they say. Recognize your team’s opinions and ideas.
- Learn the strengths of every team member so you can assign tasks based on their experience and skills.
- Give productive feedback to boost overall performance.
- Track employees on the job site so you can help when necessary and praise good work whenever you see it.
- Offer training to ensure your construction team is up to date on new building codes and new materials and machines.
5. Stay organized
Organizing is a critical skill for project leaders responsible for schedules, budget, deliverables, tasks, and materials. Consider using construction scheduling software to help you stay organized and monitor each phase of your construction project. Utilize this tool to track tasks in real-time, whether onsite or in the office, and supervise operations from your tablet or phone.
If you possess a high level of organization, you can alter plans quickly in response to some changes while keeping projects within budget and on time.
6. Monitor costs
Project managers are accountable for tracking many expenses, from equipment to materials to permits and wages. To ensure your project stays on budget, you need to record and manage every cost. You can achieve this far more easily with the use of a construction software solution that allows you to input all expenses, calculate costs, make budget changes, and create invoices.
Here are some steps you can take to control your spending and maximize your budget:
- Avoiding ordering supplies too sooner or later
- Limiting delays
- Making sure equipment is up-to-date and functioning properly
- Asking questions and communicating budget concerns quickly
- · Adopting lean construction practices that reduce waste
7. Choose the right technologies
Technology, particularly construction-specific solutions, has helped streamline construction project management, saving both money and time. Always choose tools that will meet your individual project’s needs, allowing the processes become more efficient.
Make sure to look for software solutions with features like:
· The ability for multiple parties to report and view one data
- Budget and asset tracking
- Customizable reports and dashboards
- Real-time insights
- Full integration
- Mobile accessibility
Pro Crew Schedule, an all-in-one collaborative platform and leading software in the market, has everything you need to streamline your workflows and operations, including the highlighted features above.
Request a free demo if you want to learn more about its features.
8. Use Automation
Automation can save a project leader your time and even allow you to focus on supervising the project. Make use of automation tools to help you:
- Send status reports
- Build spreadsheets
- Create schedules
- Update expense sheets
- Collect and distribute comments and questions
- Track incidents
These automation systems can effectively lessen the amount of correspondence you do every day and even enhance workflows.
9. Emphasize Safety
Make safety your major priority onsite so your construction team can focus solely on their work rather than their safety or well-being. Safer work environments can enhance productivity, increase job satisfaction, and reduce stress. A safe work environment can also keep projects on schedule because few incidents are most likely to occur.
10. Stay on schedule
Completing your construction projects on time can keep your clients happy and even lessen labor costs. Check your milestones and timelines consistently to keep your projects on schedule. Make use of task lists and automation tools to set realistic timelines and manage the project’s scope.
And during the planning stage, complete construction projects by the exact date you can achieve. If possible, set extra time into your estimates to accommodate unexpected delays. Use construction software solutions to keep your construction team more informed and following the plans.
11. Manage potential risks
Risk management is one of the most important construction management practices today that is critical for project success. Risks are potential threats that can endanger anytime and can even compromise the whole progress of your projects. To ensure your projects are successful, all possible risks have to be determined beforehand so that effective measures will be taken immediately.
That is why project leaders should have the experience and considerable expertise in managing risks. Possessing the skill can help you foresee when the risks are about to happen and when corrective measures should be taken place.
12. Monitor and maintenance of acquired assets
Tools and equipment in construction are expensive, and often construction sites are poorly secured. These are the major reasons why construction equipment theft has been a big-time issue. So, to combat this issue effectively, apart from better security measures, a project leader has to be more extra focused on asset tracking.
Knowing the current location of the assets at all times not only increases security but can also help you to collaborate work across multiple job sites better. Improve your asset monitoring using inventory management software to ensure no asset is lost, and no routine maintenance tasks are being skipped.
Schedule and Prioritize Your Work with Pro Crew Schedule
In the above section, we share with you some tips that can help you with construction management. We previously mentioned the use of construction-specific software tools and their growing importance in the business.
Pro Crew Schedule is what every construction project leader should be equipped with. Dealing with multiple teams and projects at multiple locations can be difficult. Without reliable construction management software like Pro Crew Schedule, there is no way things get easier for project leaders. Only the best project management solution can give project managers an efficient and effective way to centralize the coordination of the processes across different projects, like:
- Resource management
- Better team communication
- Ease of use across multiple locations
- Estimates and assets
Ready to see what difference Pro Crew Schedule could make in your project management and workflows? Check it out.
