HOW TO AVOID TROUBLE IN BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS (PART III)

We continue our series on how to avoid trouble in building and construction projects.

• The Importance of a Good Project Manager and a knowledgeable team

 This  example draws from a recent experience. And it also draws from famous instances of projects stuffing up. I can’t emphasize this enough: a good project manager – one who competent – is worth their weight in gold.

Good project managers:

1. Constantly check work

People design and fabricate according to the plans and drawings set out in the engineering and architectural drawings. More often than not – these details are often missing. A good project manager would be aware or should be aware of:

• Any missing information that is critical.
• How things should be constructed and in what order.
• The consequences and costs of mistakes.
• And most importantly: he should handle/structure the flow of money to ensure that suppliers are paid promptly, and when (and only when) they deliver good work.

 Examples

For example, a good project manager would know that laying down the foundations of a building is critical to its success and structural integrity. So Joe Bloggs – the guy pouring the concrete comes along. He dumps some concrete here and there, and says, “Yup – I’ve done my job!” The project manager glances out of his window and sees some concrete and concurs:

“Here’s $15m dollars for your efforts my good man!”

The concreter snatches the cheque from Mr Project Manager with glee and prompts scampers out of the site office into the neighbouring pub.

Meanwhile, other trades come on site: one particular trade has to erect some steel columns. When they try to do so, they realise that the concrete has been badly poured – that it hasn’t been poured according to the agreed upon dimensions and tolerances – the steel beams and columns they purchased and cut and welded – it now doesn’t fit. None of it. It’s all useless.

Who carries the can?

Notice very carefully what happened, and how it happened:

1. The project manager stuffs up.
2. The concreter gets paid.
3. The trades consequently building upon the work of previous trades are held up: the steel doesn’t fit because of the concreter. Consequently, the steel fabricator doesn’t get paid. They can’t erect. And moreover, they are forced to lug the steel back to the workshop – to make the appropriate cuts/welds and to then re-haul it back on site. When you have 5 contractors on the clock, working for that trade, things get expensive really quickly. Also, consequential trades that depend on the fabricator are also affected. If those trades don’t get paid, then they might be forced to take on other work – they might relegate the current project to the bottom of the pile. Moreover, if they are concerned about the fabricator’s liquidity, or solvency – then all bets are off. If the fabricator doesn’t get paid, then he won’t be able to pay his detailer. And if the detailer doesn’t get paid, then he’ll be forced to take on other work. Simply put, the entire project can slowly grind to a halt.

What should the project manager have done? He should: check!

1. He should know what the correctly set out concrete should look like.
2. He should check that the concrete will be poured correctly before it is poured. You do this by checking the concreter’s lines and guides.
3. He should check that the concrete is currently poured after the work has been done.
4. He should structure payments to the trades after verifying that everything is done properly.

 Maintains Good Lines of Communication between Relevant Parties 

1. If something does go wrong then the project manager ought to communicate this information to the relevant parties only. You don’t want to see 20-50 emails each with zip files of some 5-10 drawings every single day – especially if the contents of those emails have nothing to do with your trade. Granted – it has been sent to you, so you are obliged to check whether it impacts your work or not. And if the changes in the drawings are not marked (as they are wont to do) then you need to dig up the previous revision of that drawing and check. Do that over a month for a couple of hundred drawings and it gets really old, really fast. Add up the time and it all becomes significant. Bad project managers email blast everyone and cost all parties a lot of time and money. Good managers communicate only the relevant information to the relevant parties.
2. It’s no good sending people 50 emails a day and then burying one very important email in that haystack. A good manager will call up the relevant parties and tell them important and critical pieces of information/warnings to ensure that they are not overlooked, “friend, the walls are gonna come a-tumblin’ down if…”
3. A good project manager communicates information in a timely manner. A recent project manager in our recent experience: (i) didn’t warn consequential trades that changes had been made. That’s a huge problem – especially if those trades begin fabricating structures that will do not fit – due to some changes which were not communicated. 

3. A good project manager: Knows who’s skilled

They know who to call. They can get the job done quickly, and effectively. A bad project manner will hire any Dick off the street without verifying their credentials and expertise. Of course, who suffers if that particular trade fails to deliver?

4. A good project manager: Isn’t cheap

They know how valuable they are. And they charge. But ‘cheap’ is a relative term. These managers might be expensive, but they’ll probably be a whole lot cheaper than a poorly designed/built building.

My friend, if you have a good architect, and a good engineer and also a project manager who is also an accountant, then you are in a much more favourable position to successfully prosecute your building and construction project.