Managing a construction project singlehandedly can be a tough one to tackle. Engaging a construction manager who sets realistic, measurable goals is a surefire way to set your project up for success. What are some practical targets to anticipate from a general contractor taking the reins? Look no further.
One common denominator across all these goals is to mitigate risk through planning with expectation of unforeseen issues.
To set a project timeline, budget, and safety plan that are accurate but also appealing to the client, comprehensive conflict and crisis management observations early on are huge. Let’s face it—it’s much easier to deal with a budget/timing overage in the beginning and plan accordingly than a massive overrun at the end, when it’s too late to turn around. Through being attentive to time by sticking to a planned procedure and evaluating progress of actual vs. planned process can allow for elimination of unneeded steps. Efficiencies realized can aid in overall project ease.
The following is a solid way to address SMART goals on a construction job, relative to a few key areas of project success.
(1) Time & Money:
To proactively address time and cost issues that have a strong potential to affect performance, the following ratings can be used to aim for minimal blunders.
Rating/Criteria:
5: Overall time & cost for construction better than the market average performance measure and 0% avoidable cost/time overruns
4: Overall time & cost for construction within established performance measures and 0% avoidable CEI cost/time overruns
3: 0% avoidable CEI cost/time overruns
2: 5% – 10% avoidable CEI cost/time overruns
1: > 10% avoidable CEI cost/time overruns
(2) Safety:
Office and field staff should be attentive towards safety practices and procedures laid out in the company’s handbook/safety manual. Some of these goals should be kept internally (safety being one of these), however measurable ratings can be used to note progress and benchmark job performance. With that in mind, success in this area can be evaluated under the following rating criteria (as suggested in an example by the Florida DOT):
Rating/Criteria:
5: Meets the criteria for a 4, attends >90% of safety meetings and either receives a safety award or makes a safety award nomination.
4: Meets criteria for a 3, attends at least 75-90% of safety meetings and either serves on a safety committee/team or proposes and develops a safety initiative or makes a safety award nomination.
3: No chargeable incident or avoidable injuries and completes 100% of the required safety training during the rating period.
2: Has one chargeable incident or avoidable injury or completes less than 100% of the required safety training during the rating period.
1: Has one or more chargeable incidents or avoidable injuries and completes less than 100% of the required safety training during the rating period.
This framework for ‘grading’ performance is the basis of a model that can be built out any way unique to a project’s scope. Using this type of standard within projects shows a commitment to improvement to clients, and can also help realize some true results.