Module 3: Construction
Phase
© [Link] 2018
Introduction
• Stages of Construction Project:
design
preconstruction
procurement
construction and build
commissioning
owner occupancy
project closeout
Introduction
• Construction management life cycle begins during in the early
conceptual stage of the project idea.
• Then move on to the design stages and the bidding process
• Once the contract has been finalized, the main component of the
project can start.
Typical stages of any construction project
PRE-
DESIGN PROCUREMENT
CONSTRUCTION
OWNER CONSTRUCTION
COMMISIONING
OCCUPANCY & BUILDING
PROJECT
CLOSEOUT
1. Design
• The first stage of the conceptual of a construction project
• Once it is completed, it signals the beginning of the bidding process
design bid build
• the owner chooses a contractor based on completed designs and its
evaluation criteria.
1. Design
An architect or a design consultant first;
• assesses the feasibility of the design based on regulations and
codes of the building
• the number of rooms
• the size of the building
• the amount of space
• Then creates schematic designs or sketches, researching the type of
equipment and materials needed and their cost.
2. Pre-Construction
• The bidding process is over and the owner has chosen a contractor.
• The Letter of Award(LOA)was sent by the owner and received by
the contractor and should sign this document to signify the
contracting company formal acceptance of the construction
contract award.
• Should the President or Managing Director accept and sign the
Letter of Award or not at this juncture is still an option.
• However, most cases the LOA is signed by the contractor signifying
concurrence and acceptance of the construction contract and will
performed as stipulated in the contract documents.
2. Pre-Construction
• Then the schedule of kick off meeting follows where the Owner,
consultant, user of the project, the contractor and other concern
stakeholders formally starts to announced contract details, such as
start date, duration, end date, and critical issues of the project. A
meeting agenda is the basis of the kick off meeting.
• For this, a project manager is appointed.
• At this stage, the major deliverables or Main Activities and the
project teams and sub contractor are identified. This is the time
when the project team begins to take shape.
• Approval is then required by the project manager to move onto the
detailed planning phase.(Most of the time the approval of the
project manager by the Owner is a critical step which include also
the key staff(architect or engineers) to be deployed for the project.
2. Pre-Construction
• Then the contractor assign the project team, including a contract
administrator, project manager, engineers, architect, as the case
maybe.
• Then the team gets the site ready for construction. They conduct a
site examination, test soil, and identify any possible unexpected
situations, like environmental challenges, resources, project risk, or
transportation and site obstacles.
2. Pre-Construction
• The next phase, the planning phase, is where the project is further
developed in as much detail as possible and the steps necessary to
meet the project’s objective are planned. In this step, the team
identifies all of the work to be done.
• The project’s tasks and resource requirements are identified, along
with the strategy for accomplishing them.
• A project plan is created outlining the activities, tasks,
dependencies, and timeframes.
2. Pre-Construction
• The project manager coordinates the preparation of a project
budget by providing cost estimates for the labor, equipment, and
materials costs. The budget is used to monitor and control cost
expenditures during project implementation.
• This is mainly carried out by project scheduling software like MS
project or PRIMAVERA. This scheduling charts would help us to
track the stages of our project as time passes. This is also referred
to as “scope management.”
2. Pre-Construction
• Once the project team has identified the work, prepared the
schedule, and estimated the costs, the three fundamental
components of the planning process are complete.
• This is an excellent time to identify and try to deal with anything
that might pose a threat to the successful completion of the
project. This is called risk management.
• In risk management, “high-threat” potential problems are identified
along with the action that is to be taken on each high-threat
potential problem, either to reduce the probability that the
problem will occur or to reduce the impact on the project if it does
occur(more on this topic will be discuss in Bonus course 1 of the
PMC).
2. Pre-Construction
• This is also a good time to identify all project stakeholders and
establish a communication plan describing the information needed
and the delivery method to be used to keep the stakeholders
informed.
• Finally, you will want to document a quality plan, providing quality
targets, assurance, and control measures, along with an acceptance
plan, listing the criteria to be met to gain customer acceptance. At
this point, the project would have been planned in detail and is
ready to be executed.
• This means schedule of material submittals and approval,
construction drawing submittal and approval, and procumbent
schedule is identified for submission for review, comments, until
approval by consultant/owner.
3. Procurement
• After project approval, the project team purchases the required
equipment, materials, and labor. In other words, the procurement
stage is when the team buys everything it needs to complete the
project.
• The complexity of this stage depends on the size of the project and
the company. Large national construction companies usually have
procurement departments that hire labor and purchase materials
for hundreds of projects at once.
• On the other hand, for smaller projects, the contractor may buy
limited quantities of materials from local building supplies or hire a
local laborer.
4. Construction
• To kick off the construction phase, the contractor through the
project manager will arrange a meeting with the subcontractors and
material vendors to set the ground rules for working together.
• Then the team must get ready to start construction, completing
activities like setting up temporary storage facilities, securing the
site, developing a materials and handling plan, establishing safety
programs, and more. After that, the team begins construction.
• During the implementation phase, the project plan is put into
motion and the activities of the project is performed. It is important
to maintain control and communicate as needed during
implementation.
4. Construction
• Progress is continuously monitored and appropriate adjustments
are made and recorded as variances from the original plan. In any
project, a project manager spends most of the time in this step.
• During project implementation, people are carrying out the tasks,
and progress information is being reported through regular team
meetings.
• The project manager uses this information to maintain control over
the direction of the project by comparing the progress reports with
the project plan to measure the performance of the project
activities and take corrective action as needed.
4. Construction
• The first course of action should always be to bring the project back
on course (i.e., to return it to the original plan). If that cannot
happen, the team should record variations from the original plan
and record and publish modifications to the plan.
• Throughout this step, project sponsors and other key stakeholders
should be kept informed of the project’s status according to the
agreed-on frequency and format of communication. The plan
should be updated and published on a regular basis.
4. Construction
• Status reports should always emphasize the anticipated end point
in terms of cost, schedule, and quality of deliverables.
• Each project deliverable produced should be reviewed for quality
and measured against the acceptance criteria.
• Once all of the deliverables have been installed or completed and
the customer has accepted the final installation, the project is ready
for closure.
• During the planning phase, the project team developed an
integrated project schedule that coordinated the activities of the
design, procurement, and construction teams.
4. Construction
• The project controls team also developed a detailed budget that
enabled the project team to track project expenditures against the
expected expenses.
• The project design team built on the conceptual design and
developed detailed drawings for use by the procurement team. The
procurement team used the drawings to begin ordering equipment
and materials for the construction team; develop labor projections;
refine the construction schedule; and set up the construction site.
• Although planning is a never-ending process on a project, the
planning phase focused on developing sufficient details to allow
various parts of the project team to coordinate their work and allow
the project management team to make priority decisions.
4. Construction
• The implementation phase represents the work done to meet the
requirements of the scope of work and fulfill the project objectives.
• During the implementation phase, the project team accomplished
the work defined in the plan and made adjustments when the
project factors changed.
• Equipment and materials were delivered to the work site, labor was
hired and trained, a construction site was built, and all the
construction activities, from the mobilization to the final installation
were accomplished.
4. Construction
• The closeout phase included turning over the newly constructed
facilities to the operations team of the client. A punch list of a few
remaining construction items was developed and those items
completed. Final acceptance certificate request by the contractor
and when approved should be issued by the owner.
Performance and Monitoring Phase of Construction
Project
• This stage is all related to the measurement of progress and
performance to make sure that items are tracking with the project
management scheduling and cost. This phase regularly happens at
the same time as the execution phase.
5. Commissioning
• Once construction is completed, the commissioning stage begins.
There are two parts to the commissioning process. First, the project
team must test the systems and equipment to make sure
everything is working correctly before turning over the building to
the owner. Then the team must train the owner’s personnel in the
operation and maintenance of the systems in the new building.
6. Owner Occupancy
• When the Owner occupancy permits is approve by the
Municipality, then the owner moves into the new building, the
warranty period starts. This ensures that all the materials,
equipment, and building quality meet the expectations outlined in
the contract. There are two types of warranties: express warranties
(written and included in the contract) and implied warranties
(established or required by law).
7. Project Closeout
During the final closure, the importance is on providing the final
project deliverables to the customer, that is:
• Handing over project documentation
• Termination of supplier contracts
• Releasing project resources( Equipment and manpower)
• Communicate the closure of the project to all stakeholders.
• Last and final is to conduct lessons-learned studies to examine what
went well and what didn’t.
7. Project Closeout
During the final closure, the importance is on providing the final
project deliverables to the customer, that is:
• This type of analysis would make the knowledge of experience to
be transferred back to the project organization or key stakeholders,
which will help future project teams.
7. Project Closeout
• In addition, this final phase ties up any loose ends. The team
formally completes any remaining contractual obligations to finish
the project.
• They may create a project punch list of any tasks that didn’t get
accomplished and may conduct a post-project review, archive
project documents, and prepare a project completion report.