Construction management

Construction management refers either to the study and practice of the managerial and technological aspects of the construction industry (including construction, construction science, construction management, and construction technology), or to a business model where one party to a construction contract serves as a construction consultant, providing both design and construction advice.

Construction management involves organizing people, materials, equipment, information, schedules, contracts, budgets, and safety requirements so that a construction project can move from an idea toward completion. It overlaps with Construction engineering, Project Management, Engineering management, architecture, estimating, procurement, business administration, and the skilled construction trades.

A construction manager may help coordinate owners, architects, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, inspectors, consultants, and government agencies. The exact responsibilities can vary according to the type of project and contractual arrangement.

Construction management can be studied as both a technical and organizational subject. A manager needs to understand how construction actually occurs while also understanding schedules, budgets, contracts, communication, risk, quality, and human coordination.

Major areas of construction management

Project Management
Construction planning
Construction scheduling
Estimating costs in construction
Procurement
Contract administration
Construction safety
Quality management

Risk management
Construction Materials
Building information modeling
Site management
Cost control
Subcontractor coordination
Construction documentation
Operations management

Planning a construction project

Construction management begins before physical construction starts.

The project team may first need to define what is being built, where it will be built, how much funding is available, what regulations apply, and which professionals need to participate.

Planning activities can include:

Developing the project scope.
Creating preliminary budgets.
Establishing schedules.
Identifying required permits.
Reviewing site conditions.
Hiring architects and engineers.
Determining procurement methods.
Identifying major risks.
Developing safety plans.
Selecting contractors and suppliers.

Construction planning can change throughout the project as new information becomes available.

Scheduling

Construction projects contain many activities that depend upon one another.

Excavation may need to occur before foundations are installed. Foundations need to be sufficiently complete before major structural work proceeds. Electrical, plumbing, and mechanical systems may need to be coordinated before walls and ceilings are closed.

A construction schedule attempts to organize these activities in a logical sequence.

Scheduling can help identify:

Which tasks must occur first.
Which activities can occur at the same time.
Which activities could delay the entire project.
When workers and equipment are needed.
When materials should arrive.

Large projects may contain thousands of individual scheduled activities.

Cost estimating and budgeting

Construction managers frequently work with estimates and budgets.

Costs can include:

Labor
Materials
Equipment
Transportation
Permits
Professional services

Insurance
Temporary facilities
Subcontractors
Contingencies
Financing costs
Project administration

Early estimates may be approximate. Estimates normally become more detailed as engineering drawings, specifications, and quantities become better defined.

Cost control continues after construction begins. Managers may compare actual spending with the budget and determine why particular costs are higher or lower than expected.

Contracts and procurement

Construction projects often involve many separate contracts.

The owner may contract with designers, consultants, contractors, and other organizations. A general contractor may then hire multiple subcontractors.

Procurement involves obtaining the labor, materials, equipment, and services needed for the project.

Construction managers may therefore need to understand bidding, purchasing, contracts, payment procedures, change orders, insurance, and documentation.

Different project delivery systems can divide responsibility differently among the owner, designer, contractor, and construction manager.

Submittals and documentation

Construction generates substantial documentation.

A submittal is information submitted by a contractor or supplier for review before certain materials or equipment are installed.

Submittals can include:

Shop drawings.
Product information.
Material samples.
Equipment specifications.
Manufacturer information.

Other common documents can include requests for information, meeting minutes, inspection records, change orders, schedules, photographs, invoices, and progress reports.

Accurate documentation helps participants determine what was approved, what changed, and what work remains.

Safety and quality

Construction management includes responsibility for creating systems that support safe and technically acceptable work.

Safety planning can address hazards involving falls, excavation, electricity, cranes, vehicles, machinery, confined spaces, and material handling.

Quality management can involve inspections, testing, documentation, and verification that construction follows the drawings, specifications, codes, and other requirements.

Safety and quality should be planned into the project rather than treated only as responses to problems after they occur.

Technology and collaborative construction

Modern construction management increasingly uses digital tools.

Examples include:

Building information modeling.
Digital drawings.
Cloud-based project management.
Electronic submittals.
Scheduling software.
Cost databases.
Drones.
Laser scanning.
Geographic information systems.
Mobile field applications.

Collaborative technologies also raise an interesting question for an educational wiki: could some aspects of a real construction project be developed openly and collaboratively?

An open project might publish designs, budgets, schedules, research, material options, and progress reports while still relying on licensed professionals and legally responsible organizations where required.

Learning workspace and discussion

Suppose we wanted to create a real world construction project the wiki way. How would this work? How would safety be implemented? Suppose we crowd-funded the project. How would everyone be paid?

How would the design of the project be decided upon? Could tools be created to collaboratively design a project?

Suppose we wanted to collaboratively hire consultants in order to make sure the ground we wanted to build the project on would support the building. How would we go about doing this?

How could the project be collaboratively managed within the frame work of existing legal codes?

Additional questions and projects could include:

Create a hypothetical construction budget and determine how funding would be distributed.
Develop a basic construction schedule for a small building.
Compare several project delivery methods.
Research how architects, engineers, contractors, and construction managers divide responsibilities.
Design a transparent system for documenting decisions on a collaboratively managed construction project.
Examine how open source software could be used for scheduling, budgeting, design, and document management.

Discussion questions, essay ideas, and learning related AI prompt ideas

What is the difference between construction management and Construction engineering?
What makes a construction schedule useful?
How should unforeseen costs be managed?
What information should be publicly available on a collaboratively funded construction project?
How could an open design construction project maintain professional accountability?
What parts of construction management could be decentralized?
How could Building information modeling support collaborative design?
Ask an AI system to create a basic construction schedule for a small building and then identify dependencies between activities.
Ask an AI system to develop a preliminary project risk register and verify whether important categories are missing.
Could a wiki serve as part of the documentation system for a real construction project?

Resources

Wikipedia:Submittals (construction)