Tasks, timelines, timesheets. It’s a special person who can keep it all straight, juggling what could be called the 4Ms: money, manpower, materials, and mastery. Construction project management is a challenging profession that sometimes requires a college degree or at least years of experience in the school of hard knocks.
Here are the four major skills needed to guarantee jobs glide smoothly from square one to done.
Money
Many builders would say cost management is the most critical skill of all. There’s safety in numbers. Following how the plan is performing financially is a full-time job in itself. It’s okay to make adjustments along the way, but holding real-time spending to the beginning budget produces the most profitable results.
That’s assuming the budget was accurate.
Underbidding occurs when costs are insufficiently tracked. There’s no excuse for that. With the availability of GPS-based construction time clocks, now employees can clock in or out as they move between locations. That provides precise data needed to estimate labor costs for a similar project. You can read more about job costing accuracy here.
Of course, there are so many other expenses beyond construction time. The modern project manager must be comfortable using construction management software for:
- Planning
- Budgeting
- Estimating
- Tracking
- Reporting results to the higher-ups
Inevitably, money management will be the strength that demonstrates competence and competitiveness to the next client.
Manpower
When you supervise crews of different trade workers, you develop a knack for team collaboration. Lining up a workforce of subcontractors, from architects and engineers to carpenters and welders, takes resourcefulness, a virtual Rolodex and some pretty diverse people skills.
That doesn’t include dealing with IT technicians, sales reps, marketing folks, HR, your boss, and the customer service department. The ability to stay connected with team members in the office and out in the field is the foundation of good project management.
Then there’s the liaison with local officials in obtaining permits, complying with safety regulations and observing building codes. Plus vendors will always be vying for attention. Daily task management and supervision must go hand in hand with team building and leadership. Whether the issue is safety compliance or employee time management, there’s a constant need for motivation.
From organizing the team’s workload to scheduling time off, there’s power in taking care of people. They will perform better and stay around longer. Anytime you can use your own case studies as actual business intelligence you’re on the road to building a great business.
Materials
Ever wonder who contracts for the wood, the bulldozers, the steel beams, the joiners and glaziers, the boxman and bit sharpener and the 8,000 pounds of concrete? In one way or another, the construction project manager has a hand in all of this handiwork.
In some companies, there’s a separate department for materials management. However, the project manager will still need to be on top of these purchases.
He or she, of course, will be involved in bidding on new jobs. For that reason, they must be very familiar with the BOQ (bill of quantities) contract. This is a document that itemizes in exacting detail on a specific job the number of needed materials, parts and labor for the purpose of starting the bidding process.
BOQ works like this. Once the design of a building is complete, materials and specifications are indicated. This results in a list of “quantities,” or measurements in numbers, weight, area, volume or time.
The bill of quantities is then distributed to viable bidders so they can determine an overall price for performing the construction work.
This means all contractors will be pricing the same thing, rather than looking at drawings and specifications to figure out quantities themselves. It provides a fair and accurate system for determining bids.
Mastery
In the end, the project must pass muster. Is the client satisfied? Has the quality of work been first-rate? Did you stay on budget? Does this masterpiece merit bearing your company’s name and reputation?
Most importantly, has the project manager shown mastery over the ever-changing circumstances of the job? If you want to be a pro, there is an abundance of valuable project-management tools out there designed to help you succeed.
Whether you bid on multi-mile developments or making superior homes, you want your workers to spend their time working and not messing with construction time clocks. Track projects and streamline payroll with the construction project management software app by busybusy. Start your free trial today.
