When it comes to managing construction, most people focus on the more exciting parts of project management, such as starting the project, planning it, carrying it out, keeping an eye on it, and monitoring its progress. However, the end is just as important as the start or progress. At this crucial and final step of a project’s delivery, ensuring that you have done everything in your scope, completed the project with the best value possible, and met each client’s demands and standards is critical.
In this article, we will examine a project closeout and how to deliver the project to the client as efficiently and effectively as possible.
What Does Project Closeout Mean?
In a nutshell, a project closeout is the last step of the project management cycle. It is when all the activities related to a project are finished, and the project is officially over. The project manager will then organize all documents, finalize all financials, and turn over any manuals to the owner.
Project closeout must be done in a way that meets the standards or scope set in earlier stages of the project life cycle. The goals of project closing steps are to let project team members go, find out what lessons were learned, and make sure that all deliverables and scope are met.
The Importance of Project Closeout
The most important reason is that it helps ensure that closing payments to teams and resources go smoothly. Your closeout documentation should include a financial report that provides for the cost of each resource, ongoing fees, and how much you spent.
Having a clear overview of your finances allows you to get an idea of what to improve in your processes or who to work with in the future. It also ensures consistency and organization with external stakeholders.
Another reason is that your team transitions from one project to another. At the end of a project, the people who worked on it will now begin a new one. It is critical to tie up all loose ends that could impact your next project, such as needing more time or additional resources.
A project closeout process provides a vital structure to how you operate as a general contractor or a project manager. If you deliver the project entirely on time and within budget, then you will gather trust from your clients and be able to build solid relationships with them. You can also use the project closeout as a source for valuable insights into your company’s performance, productivity, and operational efficiency.
How Will You Know If It Is Time To Close Out The Project?
You need to make sure your job is finished before you close it. But what does that really mean?
There are a few ways to tell if your project is finished, but the most important thing is to see if you met the goals you set when you planned it.
No matter what method you use to set goals, they tell you what project success looks like and give you a clear target to aim for. Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and SMART goals are some of the different ways to set goals.
You can say the project is finished even if you did not meet your goals when:
- You have finished the tasks that were in the project plan.
- You have completed everything indicated in the project plan
- You have spent all of your project cash
What Are The Steps To Closing Out A Project?
As you will see in the following sections, project closeouts, when done right, are highly beneficial to project managers, teams, and clients. The project closure phase officially ends your project and gives you a clear plan for what to do next, whether giving the project to a different team, starting a new project to improve your work, or using what you have learned in past projects.
But how does it go? Let us look at the steps for closing out a construction project.
Tie Up Any Loose Ends
Look over your project plan and mark jobs that still need to be done. This helps you finish up any loose ends and ensures you do not miss anything. One easy way to do this is to use construction project management software like Pro Crew Schedule. It offers simple yet powerful features that can help automate tasks and streamline processes.
Make The Next Steps Clear
When you finish a project the right way, you can either give the work to another team, start a new project to improve your old one or use what you learned in past projects.
Organize All Documents
Record and archive all relevant documents. Send all project deliverables, such as contracts, papers, and signatures, to the client. Organize them in a way that can easily be used by the client and keep them up to date, such as your process documentation, project budget, and project plan. During this step, check your estimates against the actual results to see if you were right. For instance, compare the results you expected and the ones that happened for your project’s budget and schedule.
As with any vendor contracts or agreements, make sure that all project papers are signed. End any agreements you have with outside parties like suppliers, workers, donors, and others.
Account Your Financials
Make sure that your last payments are sent or received, and let your financial team know about the changes. Check to see if team members have been moved to different projects. When necessary, sell or give project resources like tools to other teams.
Do Final Testing and Commissioning
Make sure to do all relevant tests on your project deliverable to ensure it meets expectations. For example, try to see if a light switch is working or if there are any leaks in your bathroom. It is essential to do this because performance changes after it is used, so it is critical to be able to deliver systems in the best condition possible.
Write Down What You Have Learned
Your team can learn and get better with every project. When the project is over, you should write down what the team learned instead of putting it in the project notes.
Conduct Project Reviews
Meet with your internal team and stakeholders to assess what worked and what did not. Be open to constructive criticism and take note of their insights as project leaders. In a meeting after the project is over, review what was learned and give your team a chance to comment and make changes to their processes. Distribute a final report that shows how well your project met its objectives.
Send a Final Report
A final report that includes an outline of what your project did, how it measured up against your goals, and any significant wins or failures.
Your plan for how you will finish the things on the punch list that were still unfinished when they were due.
Create A Project Roadmap
Now, it is time to think about what will happen next after you have finally evaluated how your project went. You can now use a project roadmap to plan how you will improve and iterate on your final product and management processes. By preparing for future improvements, you can be sure that your final deliverable and project management methods will continue to get better over time.
Gather Feedback
Gather the feedback you got from project team members and partners. Find themes that keep coming up and circle any things you need to do. For instance, if someone on the team said they did not have enough time or the deadlines were too rushed.
Celebrate With Your Team
Finally, plan a time to celebrate what your team has done well. To build a robust organizational atmosphere and encourage teamwork at work, it’s important to show appreciation.
As a way to say “thank you,” you can send a card or gift, hold a team happy hour, or even take the afternoon off.
Think about how your team works together and what each person wants, then choose the choice you think everyone will like the most.
Congratulate Yourself on a Job Well Done
Give yourself a high five now that you have just finished and successfully delivered your job. Now that you have ensured everything is in order and tucked away any leftover ends, you can move on to your next project without worrying because you know everything is taken care of and have a clear plan for what to do next.
You could make your project closure process into a unique project template if you want to make sure that everyone on your team follows the same steps. Using construction project management software, you can make a template you can copy, improve, and use repeatedly every time you finish a job to ensure its quality and value.
