Project Management UGA: Midterm

1/13



Site Finding

  • Google earth or google maps; type in chickamauga georgia, highway 27 and merges into lafayette

  • Google Earth can go to street mode and see the site; it allows you to see utility lines, vegetation, drains, curbs, etc. 

  • Site Plan; will need to look up things that go into an Autozone such as shelves, counters, etc. Then need to draw in AutoCad 


Preliminary Work

  • Need to know background information about the site and who we are working for

  • The site is big and paved, so need to worry about drainage 

  • There are also houses to the north so need to worry about drainage 


Letter of Transmittal

  • Cover Letter: gives and overview of what we are turning in and what it is for who, when, and why, should only be one page 


2 Page Memo

  • Background of site 

  • Background of Buttler Properties: what do they specialize in and what do they do when did they start, who started the company, etc. 

  • Should be two pages single spaced 



1/15


Industry Sectors

  • Publicly funded (36%)

  • Privately funded (64%)


Four Sectors of Construction


  • Commercial (28%)

    • Includes office buildings,large apartment complexes, shopping malls, theatres, etc 

    • Tend to be privately funded with some public funding for schools and hospitals 

    • Typically designed by architects with support from engineers and constructed by general contractions that manage the project 

    • More technology and larger capital than in the residential sector 

    • Many companies will develop a construction specialty 

    • Accounts for about ¼ of the construction market 

  • Residential  (31%)

    • Individual homes small condos and small apartment complexes

    • Projects are privately funded by individual owners for their own use 

    • Typically designed by an architect (not always) with support from structural/geotechnical 

    • Most components of this constriction are built on-site 

    • Fairly low level of technology 

    • In a good economy, about ½ of construction spending takes place in the residential sector 


  • Industrial (6%)

    • Steel mills, petroleum refineries, chemical processing plants, power plants, and automobile producing facilities 

    • The design and construction depends on the needs of the process or production equipment 

    • Generally privately funded 

    • Lots of specialities, so there are fewer companies working in this area 

    • A lot of repair work from jobsite errors

  • Heavy Engineering (35%)

    • Enables the distribution of goods and people (roadways, bridges, dams, canals)

    • Designed by civil engineers and built by specialized construction contractors 

    • Much fewer companies (companies tend to be very large)

    • Most are publicly funded as they serve the public's needs (Taxes)

    • Currently this area requires more attention 

      • Bridges typically designed for 50 years, Average US bridge age is 43 years 

      • Most cities are relying on water distribution systems built prior to WW1



Construction Historical Perspective


Construction: act of building structures 

  • As society become more and more organized the ability to build things became a hallmark of civilization (hydraulic structures)

  • Construction is a hallmark of our civilization, infrastructure, wastewater, roads, bridges, etc 

  • Why do we do it? It helps solve societal problems 

Early Human Structures


Examples

  • Settlement remains in caral-supe in Peru 

  • Earliest evidence of human wood used for structures and tools 

  • Reconstruction of oval wood hut in the south of France 


Construction management: the overall planning, coordination and control of a project from the beginning to completion

Construction Management: the organizing and directing of in individuals, materials, and equipment to accomplish the purpose of the designer 


(Two different types of construction management big M and little m)


  • More than the act of building. Addresses how resources can be best applied to complete a project 

  • Four M’s of Construction Resources: Manpower, Machines, Materials, Money, as well as time 


Types of Industry 

  • The construction industry is a service industry that’s success is dependent upon people rather than on its technology or product 

  • The industry is cyclical (abundance of projects and slow periods)

  • Demand depends on factors such as government funding demographics and market trends —weather dependent

  • A lot of construction is custom (not mass produced)


Demographic/Trends 


  • Employment is expected to rise 19% in the next 10 years 

    • Demand for commercial construction and increase in road, bridges and other infrastructure related projects 

  • Aging workforce being replaced with younger individuals

  • Need a diverse workforce 

  • The population is living longer 

    • Leads to more assisted living facilities and health care facilities 

    • Retirement communities needed


Technology


  • Using information and computing technology to manage projects bridging the office and job-site 

  • Computer Aided Design (CAD) used to design and view two and three dimensional components of buildings 

  • uilding Information Modeling (BIM)- a three dimensional modeling program that enables visualization of the project 

  • Lidar, scanning 




Opportunities 

  • Domestically one of the greatest opportunities for construction is in infrastructure: bridges, roadways, tunnels, airports 

  • Need rehabilitation and or replacement 

  • US Department of Transportation estimates the need for roads and bridges $64.1 billion 

  • Sustainability 





Management Levels


  • Hierarchical 

    • Organizational- concerned with the legal and business structure 

    • Project 

    • Activity 

    • Operation 

    • Process 

    • Work Task 

  • In the higher up tasks it is more about managing projects and physical components of the project 

  • As you get lower you get closer to the field work and day to day actions, and individual tasks 


2/5 


Organizing and Managing


  • Construction and civil engineering are normally project based 

  • Why do we need an Organization Structure?

    • Clear accountability 

    • Efficient use of resources and time 

    • Faster decision making 

    • Reduce conflicts 

  • Two types of organizational structures (mix or both)

  • Centralized and Decentralized 

  • Centralized 

    • When decision making is concentrated at the top level such as the CEO and the President 

    • Typically smaller consulting firms

    • Pros: reduce conflicts, everyone knows there job under the CEO

    • Cons: the CEO could get to busy or making the wrong decisions 

  • Decentralized

    • Decision-making authority is distributed across individual teams 

    • As firm grows bigger it becomes more decentralized (not all decisions made by the president)

    • Pros: can be faster in decision making, less bureaucratic, big commercial construction 



Organizational Chart


  • Generalist- the most basic

    • People and employees are grouped together in general and broad groups such as managing directors, production manager, plant superintendent, and then foreman shops answering to each other  

  • Departmental- complex

    • Will have different departments and it will show how everything works (much larger firm)

  • Matrix-most complex

    • Will show department to department interactions and who might work with who, shows the interconnections 

    • Will have to answer to the department head, and also the project manager of that project, so if you working on multiple projects you will have to work with multiple project managers 



Legal forms of Organization


  • Sole Proprietorship

    • Single-person ownership, working for themselves

    • May have many employees, but only one person that is in control 

    • Can be started without and ended without any documentation

    • Can be high risk

    • Pay for all equipment 

  • Partnership 

    • Must be at least two people to be legal, percentage of ownership may vary 

    • Have to pay for everything together 

    • All debts by the company are responsible by partners

    • Will dissolve according to a prior agreement 

    • How to split company if the company dissolves 


  • Corporation  

    • Stockholders are only liable up to the amount they have invested in the company 

    • If it wants to raise capitol it can sell stocks 

    • Construction companies generally only have a few people that have stocks in the company 

    • Decisions on stock are made by people who already own stocks 

    • Slower decision making process in the firm 


Delivery Methods 


  • Represent how the projects is designed, engineered and constructed 

  • Determines how stakeholders will work together throughout the project 


  1. Design-Bid-Build 

 

  • Owner hires a design professional 

  • Developed design and contract documents 

  • Pay a fee that is either a percent of overall cost or lump sum 


  • Owner gets bid or negotiates with a specific contractor 

  • Contractor is then responsible for completing the project according to the contract documents 

    • Contractor may use in house employees or sibs to complete work 



  • The owner hires a firm to perform the design and construction throughout the life of the project.

  • Can be a single company that offers both services

  • Can be a joint venture that come together to perform a single project

  • In either case, each can hire subcontractors to perform the work in the field



  1. Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR)


  • The owner hires a design firm and constructed project management firm in the beginning 

  • Theres is a commitment by th construction manager to deliver the project within a GMP (Maximum Price)

  • Construction Manager acts as a consultant to the owner in the development and design 



Contract Types 


  1. Single Fixed Price (Lump Sum) 

  • The contractor agrees to provide a specified amount of work for a specific sum 

  • Both sides to fix the conditions of the project precisely, because after the contract is signed, both parties must live with its terms 


Pros: 

  • The owner knows before the work begins what the final cost will be 

  • Typically used with a design bid build method 

  • The designer creates contracts that the owner will bid or negotiate 

Cons:

  • The contract is only as good as the contract documents 

  • If the project changes or errors exist in the control documents then the contract has to be renegotiated 


  1. Unit Price 

  • The owner and contractor agree on the price that will be charged per unit for the major elements of the project

  • The owner estimates quantities for the project. The contract will be a total price based on these quantities.

  • Contractor overhead, profit, and other project expenses must be included in the unit prices.






Pros:

  • Sometimes difficult to accurately quantify the work necessary 

  • Designer estimates the quantities and the bidders provide a unit price for each task 


Cons: 

  • If actual quantities are significantly different, the owner's financial commitment may be greater than planned 

  • Possible for unbalanced bids (ethical?)

  • Some quantities measure in the field 


  1. Cost Plus Fee

  • Contractor is reimbursed by the owner for his work costs and receives an additional agreed upon fee or percentage of the costs 

  • The owner must be clear what costs will be reimbursed and which costs will be covered by the fee 


Pros:

  • This type of contract is beneficial when the scope of the project is difficult to define or when fast track construction 

  • Contractor can start work faster because he knows prices will be reimbursed 


Cons: 

  • Project begins with unknowns even when contract is stated 

  • The project costs may be capped, but quality and scope may be sacrificed at the expense (work is not as great of quality just so they can make the budget)



Contract Changes


In each contract:

  • An agreement is established


  • The contract is entered into after the work to be performed has been estimated and a work plan developed

  • A bid may be submitted or negotiations may occur If conditions change, the contract may have to change:

    • The scope of the project increases or decreases because of a change in owner requirements

    • The work must be performed differently because of conditions unforeseen when the contract was agreed to.

    • The design must be adjusted because of omissions in the documents or design features can’t be built as specified.