4 Tips for Managing Construction
By, Maura McGraw
As I close out construction at one of our flips this week, I thought I would share some of my tips and lessons learned for managing construction over the past few years. While construction is not overly complicated, it is somewhat of an art to properly manage a project and make sure that things run efficiently and on or under budget.
1 – Set Clear Expectations Up Front
One of the most important parts of successfully managing a construction project is setting clear expectations, preferably in writing, with your team up front. Make sure that you clearly communicate job expectations, timelines, budget, pay schedules, and material lists up front to all of your contractors and anyone who will be participating in the project. Creating written contracts with each of your contractors that clearly outline each person’s responsibilities, timeline, and draw schedule can go a long way in helping to ensure that the project runs smoothly.
2 – Regularly Check You Job Site
It is important that you or a trusted project manager is regularly present at the job site. Inevitably, unforeseen issues will arise throughout the project and it is important that the project leader is there to address these issues and to adjust the master plan accordingly. It is especially important for the project manager to be present frequently during the first and last phases of construction. These are often the most challenging and critical times for the project leader to get construction started smoothly, and then to get the project to the finish line on time. In my experience, people often get tired towards the end of a project and sometimes need an extra “push” to complete the job on time and tend to all of the last details properly. Luckily, you have both your leadership skills and final paychecks available at this point to help motivate your team to finish strong.
3 – Pay People on Time
One of the most important things you can do to take care of your contractors (and retain them) is to pay them on time. This may seem obvious, but enough people do not do this that it seems worth mentioning. Before a project starts, you should figure out a draw schedule with each of your contractors so that they know how much they are being paid for each phase of the project. Never pay a contractor everything up front. On rare occasions, some contractors will accept one large payment at the end of the project; however, most contractors will need some smaller incremental payments throughout the project before their final paycheck in order to sustain their families. Figure out these details before the project starts, write up a schedule, and stick to it. This will help keep everyone happy, on schedule, and on budget.
4 – Conduct An “After Action Report” After Completion
After conducting operations in the Marine Corps, we used to conduct After Action Reports (AARs) to review what things went well, and what things should be improved for future operations. Now, I like to do something similar after completing construction projects. With each project, I learn a lot of new things about how to improve our processes and make things run more efficiently.
So, after completing a project I like to sit down with my team and review the following:
- Basic Project Details:
- Projected vs Actual Timeline
- Projected vs Actual Budget
- Current financial projections for the project
- Team Members Involved
- Things That Worked Well
- Things That Need Improvement
- Big Lessons Learned
My team and I capture these notes, save them in our shared drive, and post them in our #lessons-learned company Slack channel. This process helps everyone learn, grow, and get better over time.
COMPANY UPDATES
We have a new project on the market! We recently finished construction on one of our projects in Birmingham and it hit the market last week and is already under contract.
