Before starting any construction project, it is important to follow these steps to ensure that you deliver exactly what the client wants. For the most part, clients have the final vision in mind but may not understand what steps need to be taken between signing the contract and achieving their vision. It is therefore incumbent on the project manager to ensure that they make the process as clear as possible to the client. This in turn means that you must plan properly and ensure that the pathway to the vision is also as clear as possible for you. If you are in the process of a construction startup, here are the steps that you need to follow to ensure success.
Understand Contract And Project Scope
This is one of the most critical steps as failure to do this could lead to some serious and expensive mistakes down the road. Spend some time with the drawings and ensure that you fully understand what the entire project entails. You must also be clear, as per the contract, what your scope in the project is. This is for situations where your input is only part of the construction project, and the rest of the project is to be delivered by others. The latter will largely be guided by the terms of the contract, which at this point should be signed. Do not ever start any construction project without a contract in place unless you are the owner of that project and are responsible for its entire delivery.
Safety
The next thing is to develop a safety plan if that is not already in place. Ensure that your project is compliant will all the legal and regulatory requirements. Remember that this varies from location to location so if you are not clear about what is entailed, try to get a local expert to help you out. You can use websites such as that of OSHA and others to get as much information as possible about federal and state regulations. Make sure that you have construction permits as well, as these may slow down work if they are not properly drawn up and available.
Verify the Construction Schedule
At this point in the planning process, you probably have the work schedule in place. This outlines timelines and deliverables at each stage. It is a good idea to verify that the agreed timelines are still in place. You should crosscheck this schedule with team charts so you can be sure that you have the right personnel to deliver each stage of the work. For example, if you need certain skills in the second phase of the project, you will need to start sourcing for these much earlier so that the resources are in place when the first phase of the project is completed. The danger of not doing this is that work may grind to a halt if the required experts or resources are not in place. Verifying the work plan with other contractors and the owner also ensures that you catch any changes that may have occurred between when the schedule was created and when you are about to start the project.
Start The Work
Once you are sure that your paperwork is in order and that you are all on the same page, then you can start the construction project. Although there will be things that will come up that you had not anticipated, proper planning and following the outlined steps will ensure that nothing major is likely to pop up. It also means that you will be prepared to deal with such problems should they arise
