Architectural projects and delays: name a more iconic duo, can you? Whether it’s because of unrealistic schedules, poor project management, or some last-minute changes, most projects end up running behind—or worse, over budget.
Sounds familiar, right? No worries, you’re not alone!
In fact, we have good news for you: mastering a few key construction project management lessons can save you from these headaches. And, this blog dives into 8 such strategies – from streamlining communication to scheduling your tasks & KPIs. So, let’s turn chaos into order—architect style. Shall we?
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Top Insights
- Top Insights
- 1. Effective Project Management with Stakeholder Communication
- 2. Adapt to Change
- 3. Manage Your Project Management Risk Response
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- 4. Regularize the Roles
- 5. Keep an Eye on the Scope Creep in Project Management
- 6. Define your Quality Standards
- 7. Sign New-Project Management Agreement Documents
- 8. Document the Project Management KPIs
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- FAQs
- Conclusion
1. Effective Project Management with Stakeholder Communication
Effective communication and a client-centric approach is absolutely a must for effective construction project management. Basically, it doesn’t leave any scope of doubt, offers better stakeholder satisfaction, resource management and decision-making.
For starters, you can go with a PMS plugin, like Archslate for example, to streamline your workflow with real-time data syncing, shared assets and a performance check sheet.
Alternately, you can also schedule stakeholder meetings from the concept stage itself, and set a clear work plan and targets for all project team members, managers, investors and builders. It’s just that those meetings must have a clear guideline on the following project management points:
- Project Deliverables and Expectations – Blueprints, Permits, Inspection Reports and perhaps any necessary legal or land limitation documents.
- Project Purpose & Strategy – Basically, we need to identify the key project tasks – maybe building a curtain wall, adding vertical farming, etc. & define a clear plan of action.
- Project Goals & Realized Benefits – Improving community infrastructure, increasing property value, providing sustainable living solutions, etc.
- Expected End Result with respect to the innovation, product, service or intangible outcomes like enhanced brand reputation or long-term environmental impact.
- Key Deliverables & Constraints
- Project Budget, Time, Materials and Technology including buffer periods & procurement delays.
Quick Tip: Always base budgets on accurate cost estimates for materials, labor, and contingencies w.r.t inflation or market changes.
2. Adapt to Change
In today’s dynamic business landscape, change is bound to happen. Be it AI, rising inflation, budget limitations, or material shortages, unforeseen challenges are obviously a part of the game.
Hence, it’s super important for construction project management teams to keep things flexible in their plans. This way, they can easily make changes if needed. One idea is to set aside an extra day or two to tweak the workflow, materials, or action plan when necessary. Additionally, consider utilizing agile methodologies like scrum sprints or iterative development tools for quicker project corrections.
Quick Tip: Break down the project into smaller, manageable tasks for faster adaptability and progress. Basically, add two smaller tasks like ‘Slab casting’ & ‘Slab curing’ instead of ‘Slab Completion.’
3. Manage Your Project Management Risk Response
Things can and will often go wrong! Say, a key investor might exit, the BIM might fail or even procured materials might get damaged. So, every project management team obviously needs to have experienced, risk calculating professionals to plan and dodge potential issues beforehand.
So basically, risk management teams can help you understand:
- Potential future issues that might lead to delays and rework
- Tasks that might lead to high overhead and utility costs
- Technical risks like design flaws, material quality or construction errors
- Contract, Regulatory or Ownership issues
However, most risk management professionals avoid filling out lengthy and manual Excel risk sheets. So, instead of creating multiple sheets for each potential problem, why not automate the process? By using a single risk software, you can input all the data and have it analyzed and reported to all your team members and stakeholders in a few clicks!
4. Regularize the Roles
Let’s be honest; the project’s final monitoring, surveying and execution isn’t just a project manager’s job, right? In fact, it’s very important to identify people with a particular task expertise and empower them with the executive and control powers to schedule the project effectively.
Here are a few crucial roles that you can regularize in any construction project management group:
- Project Architect: Oversees the design decisions, development, documentation and eventually manages the architectural team
- Architectural Designer: Develops and redefines the design based on potential risks, changes and budget constraints
- BIM Manager: A BIM manager basically manages the co-ordinating data integration and model development across various disciplines of construction project management.
- Legal Counsel: Advises on contractual matters, risk management, and compliance with legal requirements.
- Construction Administrator: Oversees construction documents, manages contracts, and co-ordinates with contractors and subcontractors. You can also consider specialized training, webinars or input sessions to help team members contribute more effectively.
Quick Tip: Develop comprehensive SOPs for each role, with detailed routine tasks, approval processes & workflows to ensure consistency & efficiency.
5. Keep an Eye on the Scope Creep in Project Management
In simple terms, scope creep refers to the gradual and unnoticed expansion of the project’s objectives and deliverables beyond the original plans and scope. Say the client adds new design requirements, changes the layout, or requests some utilities.
So, this increased work, along with redrawing the plans, fitting budgets and keeping up with deadlines is a real task for architects! But don’t worry! Managing scope creep in construction project management is easier done than said.
You can go with any Gantt or Kanban style project management systems, for example, to get real-time analysis on the status, assignees or any potential blocks right onto your timeline! Really simple, isn’t it?
Here are some popular Kanban project management system examples for your reference: Trello, Jira, Asana, Click up, Microsoft Project, etc.
6. Define your Quality Standards
Most architects we talked to didn’t have any specific quality management strategy that maintains their materials, benchmarks and specifications on one track. Like, most of them literally relied on guesswork or visual tests for the same, even in 2024!
But these tests are indeed very rudimentary and might lower your project’s durability and efficiency in the long run. So, here’s a professionally curated, precise quality standard checklist that you can use instead:
- Require contractors to submit material samples for approval against the specifications.
- Include clauses in contracts addressing material quality, warranties, and non-compliance remedies.
- Inspect materials upon delivery for damage, specifications and proper storage
- Collect and maintain all material certificates and warranties for future reference.
- Create a punch list of any identified material deficiencies
So now, there are no loopholes as to the material testing, delivering and procurement on site. Trust me, it’s one of the easiest project management hacks today!
7. Sign New-Project Management Agreement Documents
Ensure that clients sign new agreement documents, brochures, and pamphlets whenever they request changes in design, utilities, or services. This practice eventually fosters transparency regarding extended deadlines, project scope & billing changes.
Also include the following things on your project management agreement document:
- Legal name, Address and Contact Information of the architectural firm
- Project brief & specification attachments
- Client’s responsibilities (decisions, approvals) & payment obligations
- Late payment penalties & resolution procedure
- Termination clause & settlement
8. Document the Project Management KPIs
Remember that one of the best metrical systems to track and measure your project’s
progress is through the ‘Key Performance Indicators’ or ‘KPI.’ These eventually provide spot-on analytics for architects and project managers while helping stakeholders make an informed decision.
Here a few top KPIs that architects must track for effective project management:
- Number of design iterations: Monitor the number of design revisions required to achieve client approval, while aiming for minimal rework.
- Budget adherence: Track design costs against the allocated budget and identify all the potential overruns beforehand.
- Client satisfaction: Measure client satisfaction through surveys or feedback sessions, ensuring their expectations are aligned with the design.
- Number of construction delays due to design issues: Measures design quality and coordination with construction.
- Cost Variance: Basically, cost variance is the actual difference between the budget of the employee working hours w.r.t the actual project cost. This eventually helps to know if the project is going over budget at an early stage.
FAQs
Construction project management in simple terms is the art of planning, co-ordinating & overseeing every step of a construction project, right from concept & pre-construction to the final handover. Basically, you need to check everything from the budgets, materials, timelines, over-runs, specifications & labor for a smooth work flow.
CPM, or Critical Path Method, in construction project management is a handy scheduling technique that helps you prioritize all the important tasks in your timeline. So, it basically, maps our different activities & their durations and designs a timetable for faster & efficient project execution.
Yes, a fresher can become a project manager if he has some base level B.e civil, B.Arch. or CAPM (Certified Associate in Project Management) certifications, along with a passion for organizational skills & quality analysis.
Conclusion
Now that you know the 8 best construction project management practices, it’s time to apply them to your next project asap. So, start by preparing a proper workflow, use the right tools & reduce your overhead costs & watch your team deliver exceptional results! And if you need more tips, don’t hesitate to contact us right away!
About the Author:
Ar. Ruchika Deshpande
I'm an architectural storyteller with a passion for demystifying design. For over 5 years, I've been using SEO expertise to create content that not only informs but inspires. Imagine: complex concepts broken down into bite-sized pieces, designer insights made accessible, and architectural details explained in everyday language. That's what I bring to the table.
