Even though construction happens on the job site, general contractors and project managers do more than focus on building things. One critical responsibility of a project manager is to involve all three teams, the field, warehouse, and administration, when it comes to planning and managing resources such as materials, inventory, tools, equipment, and consumables.
Each team is responsible for its tasks, and coordination is critical to ensure the process goes as smoothly and seamlessly as possible. The field workers dictate what materials and equipment to finish a task, and the warehouse team is responsible for getting the items to the field team in good working order when needed. The administrative team needs to be able to see what is going on, ensure there are always enough resources on site, and keep an eye on things to ensure the project stays on track and within budget.
As a result, construction companies need to plan and manage their resources well. In a study by Global Scientific Journal entitled Resource Management in Construction Projects, without resource planning and management, projects will be prone to more delays, failing to follow the predetermined budget and schedule. Having an efficient system that allows you to keep track of your construction resources, monitor movement to and from the field, check and fix things, buy and receive items when they run out, and more can change the way you handle your project. In this article, lets us look at the importance of effective resource planning and management for construction companies.
What is Resource Planning in Construction?
Resource planning organizes and allocates resources across multiple projects, such as people, money, tools, and materials. It involves getting information about what resources are available, understanding the company’s strategic goals and priorities, determining what resources are needed for different projects, and determining how they can be used to reach those goals.
It is meant to help businesses make the best use of their resources. Without proper planning, you can easily find that your organization needs more resources and has to deal with problems that take more time and money to fix or stop it from reaching its goals. Resource planning lets the management make intelligent choices about where to put resources and how to rank projects or jobs. With a good plan for using their resources, organizations can cut down on waste and save money.
What is Resource Management in Construction?
On the other hand, construction resource management is more than just keeping track of what is in your warehouse. It lets you think strategically about assigning resources to projects and handling the process and the assets used.
When working on multiple projects simultaneously, you must ensure that you always have the right amount of resources at the right time. Let us say you have two of your most valuable resources working on different projects. Needs that come up simultaneously can cause problems, and the worst case may lead you to compromise one project for the other. Instead of worrying, you can use digital tools such as construction scheduling software to save time and streamline your processes.
Many modern construction companies can handle their warehouse, purchasing, and receiving all at once, so they do not waste time or lose output. They can reduce the costs of these tasks by putting in place suitable systems to help their employees improve the speed and accuracy of their warehouse and field operations.
The Difference Between Resource Planning and Management
Planning and managing resources are different, but both are critical for a construction company and it is critical for ensuring your business thrives and runs smoothly.
Planning your resources means finding and estimating your requirements to finish a job or task. You will need to know how many resources are needed, what qualities each resource needs, and how long they will be needed, and this should be a critical part of your planning phase.
On the other hand, resource management is keeping track of and controlling the resources given to a project or job. This means monitoring how resources are used and how many are available. On the other hand, this process goes on throughout the project’s life cycle. With today’s innovations, much software like construction dispatching and scheduling software lets you view valuable information with just a few simple clicks.
Tips on Managing Construction Resources Across Multiple Projects
Managing your resources is necessary to reduce extra work and save time and money. Your resources are critical to completing a specific task, affecting the project’s success.
This section lists some of the best ways to handle and manage your resources on a construction site.
Check Your Resources On Hand Daily
More often than not, lack of accurate data is one of the main reasons there are inventory problems. If you do not have an efficient and adequate way of managing construction, you can easily get lost in all the necessary details you need to keep track of. You must regularly audit your goods to know precisely how much you have, including your building products, supplies, tools, and equipment.
Utilize Construction Technology
People have often considered the construction industry full of traditional, manual, and tedious work. But since then, there have been several technological advances that many construction companies have widely used. Construction technology has streamlined and optimized processes, from building information modeling to employee scheduling software.
Luckily, there is a lot of software that makes it easier to manage resources, allowing you to focus more on the essential parts of the project.
Make A List Of Trusted Suppliers
No matter how well you plan, you will always need help with your goods which can slow down your business. Any slowdowns in the flow of goods can easily cause delays and hurt your cash flow. If you run out of stock, you should have a list of suppliers, including their delivery places and how to contact them. With this knowledge, you can plan their lead time if there aren’t enough materials.
In addition to this, look for suppliers that can supply at the last minute. Timing is critical in a construction job, and any delays will hurt your company’s reputation. When you are short on supplies, having a supplier on-call can help.
Avoid Project Overlaps
Avoid project overlaps since they can make focusing on a single job hard. You can schedule the resources based on how long each job takes. It will save your employees’ energy and keep them from doing too many things simultaneously, which can result in your project having low quality.
Plan For The Busiest Times
The project you start will need your full attention regarding making, delivering, and testing. Considering this difference, you can plan how the job will be done. It will help you handle busy times when you have to work on multiple jobs simultaneously, and your resources are already being used.
Consult With Other Team Members
Teams led by different project managers might work at different speeds. Depending on what they have to do, they might have a different action plan. It would be best if you worked with other project managers to plan the use of resources. Share your plan with them and find out what theirs is so you know where things stand with the tools.
Create An Efficient Project Schedule
Employees often work multiple jobs simultaneously, depending on the company’s needs. If that is the case, setting time tracking or scheduling is an excellent way to monitor how well they are doing.
You can use different software tools focused on crew schedules to keep track of how much time each employee spends on projects or jobs. This way, you will see which of your crew takes too long to finish the task at hand and if they need some assistance. You can find out about the employee’s breaks, the time off they must have taken, how they handled their tasks, and any problems with human resources.
Plan Thoroughly
Ensure that you are doing the right level of scheduling when you give work to your workers. You cannot give workers 100% efficiency goals or expect them to meet them as they need to recover and rest. It would help to remember that the employees are working different jobs simultaneously.
For example, you can use construction dispatching software to schedule where and when your crew should be at specific periods.
Use Dashboards
Using a dashboard lets you see how many workers work on each project or how many resources are at a specific job site. It will tell you immediately how your projects are doing individually and if they are progressing according to plan. You can handle resources for multiple projects by using the same dashboard or different dashboards for each project.
Data presented in an accurate and organized way lets you view the data you need efficiently and effectively with just a few simple clicks. This way, you can make sound business decisions on assigning resources and maintaining healthy stock levels.
