TIME MANAGEMENT

The construction process is a complex undertaking. It involves many different activities and participants from initial planning through execution. The requisite tasks, and the roles and responsibilities of the owner, architect engineers, construction managers, contractors, and subcontractors can be organized in a number of different ways to deliver a construction project. Despite these many options, building a major construction project today without experiencing schedule delays and cost overruns is often the exception. While there are many factors that can contribute to these poor results, there are two key success factors: effectively managing time and change.

The Importance of Time

Time, with its associated costs, are vitally important for each participant in the construction process including the lender, owner, architect engineers, contractor, and subcontractors, as well as those who provide bonding and insurance coverage. Effective management and the administration of the contract time and change provisions are central to the avoidance and mitigation extended time and cost overruns. To enhance the odds of a successful project outcome, it is essential for participants in the construction process to have a basic understanding of:

• Critical path scheduling techniques, the associated scheduling specifications, and the software involved.
• Delay and how it occurs.
• The pros and cons of various schedule and delay methodologies being used by project participants and experts.
• The foundational principles for any successful schedule and delay analysis methodology.

Managing the time factor can be expensive, fraught with pressures, and subject to much uncertainty. Key factors having an influence on successful project delivery include the use of overly complex scheduling specifications, construction brokering by the contractor, errors and omissions, differing site conditions, user changes, and inadequate time extensions. These can be compounded by reservation of rights for delay, cumulative impacts, and ignoring possible completion date waivers. Further, there is still uncertainty and misunderstanding that remains in terms of what constitutes acceptable standards of proof for excusable delay and impacts. While computers and scheduling software have greatly increased the potential for enhanced scheduling capabilities, they have also contributed to a variety of user quality problems. The situation is often compounded by failure of both the Owner and Contractor to recognize from the start the need for timely resolution of delays and keeping the schedule up to date by reflecting actual performance and delays as they occur.

PROJECT ENGINEER

There are different types of Project Engineers, and each relies on different training and skills to produce designs. Civil and geotechnical engineers perform site designs, study soil composition, and create plans for roads and other municipal structures. Mechanical engineers design heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems as well as machines used in manufacturing and industry. Electrical engineers may create municipal utility systems, or calculate appropriate power supplies for buildings and homes. Finally, structural engineers use weights and loads of materials to design safe buildings and other projects.

To perform these specialized tasks, a project engineer will usually have a graduate level degree as well as several years of experience as an assistant or draftsman. He or she may pursue the title of Professional Engineer, but this designation is not required of all engineers. Most countries and states require that building plans and other technical documents be reviewed and stamped by a PE, but generally don’t require that all designers obtain this title. To use the title of Professional Engineer, an individual must obtain a graduate degree as well as several years of experience, and then pass a state licensing exam.

The daily routine of a project engineer is ever-changing. He may meet with architects and other engineers on a project to coordinate design issues, or may spend the day determining the best system to meet the technical and functional needs of a new building. He might walk the job site to inspect a project as it progresses, and help contractors with questions or problems related to the engineering design. Finally, he may simply spend the day in the office, reviewing schedules and budgets, selecting materials, and managing his fellow team members.

In the construction industry, the title of project engineer is given to new project managers, or job site assistants. Many individuals who enter this field have engineering or construction management degrees, though the responsibilities of those in construction differ significantly from a designing engineer. Construction project engineers typically work out in the field, representing the general contractor and managing the day-to-day project activities. They do no design work, and instead, they help guide tradesmen on the job by interpreting the project’s building plans. After several years of increased responsibility, the project engineer is usually promoted to project manager, and is given his own projects to run.