How To Avoid Delays During Your Commercial Construction Project
Not many people know that skillful construction management is essential for finalizing a project in due time. The role of a construction manager makes it one of the most demanding positions in the industry. It entails managing projects, negotiating conditions with affected parties, monitoring and helping employees, safety, communicating with subcontractors, etc. Essentially, something can go wrong every step of the way unless your management knows how to avoid delays during your commercial construction project. Hence, we will discuss how you can avoid setbacks that can disrupt your schedule.
Keeping things on schedule is extremely important when executing a commercial construction project. Even a seemingly minor delay might eventually push back your project irreversibly later on. Project delays lead to additional spending, something that the subcontractors, general contractors, and the clients expect you to keep to a minimum.
Devise a realizable schedule
Of course, mistakes and oversights are inevitable, but you must have a tangible strategy that will allow you to handle them or, even better, avoid them entirely. That is why many commercial subcontractors hire general commercial contractors, as they have the experience and management skills to keep everything under control.
Delivering a project on time depends on having a clear idea about the time it takes to wrap up each project phase. In that sense, you have to be realistic when discussing the schedule with the stakeholders.
The general schedule is there to dissolve the project’s main components into achievable phases. Each phase is divided into activities with well-defined start times and finalization dates. In addition, it is best if you assign the owner to each mini-project right from the start. This way, you will be able to find a replacement and avoid delays if something doesn’t go according to plan. Excellent and timely communication with subcontractors will help you set down the estimates for each activity, helping you fortify your master schedule.
Expert contractors can anticipate setbacks that may create construction delays even during the planning phase allowing you to assess the schedule and prepare remedial purchases and actions to keep the delays as short as possible.
For instance, a precursory market analysis might indicate a shortage of materials or workers needed to execute a particular construction activity in the given time frame. Having this insight can help you restructure your schedule or find a different vendor that will help you bridge this gap.
A detailed review of the project specifications
Before you set down the phases of your master plan, it is necessary to perform a detailed analysis of the project. This analysis will help assess the specifications and create an executable timeline later. In addition, this assessment also allows you to communicate and manage the expectations of all parties involved in the project. The general contractors are there to keep all contractors in the know and request timely and efficient actualization of their activities.
Organize regular meetings with shareholders and subcontractors
To keep everyone posted, you should organize regular pre-bid and post-bid meetings. If some schedule changes occur, the general contractor can discuss possible actions with the subcontractors. This way, you can counteract the delay as soon as possible.
Know your way around the project documentation
A thorough review of the project documentation must precede any other activity on your part. Since this necessitates several internal meetings, make sure you do this well ahead of time. You have to inform all subcontractors on time about what they need to deliver and when. Postponing this can push back the beginning of construction, something that might be difficult to catch up with if commercial properties are in high demand when you finally start the construction.
For instance, considering the benefits storage can provide, you might want to rent out commercial storage facilities to store the needed materials or equipment. It makes sense to know how many supplies you will keep well ahead of time so that you can rent the appropriate storage unit. Hence, consider the convenience of having everything stored and ready well before the beginning of the project.
Have a backup plan to avoid delays during your commercial construction project
If something goes wrong, it helps to have an actionable backup plan. Identifying risks and anticipating the solutions to potential issues should help you prevent delays during the project. Having a backup plan helps instill a sense of security and trust when negotiating with investors. So, you could make the steps and draft a plan that prescribes the acquisition of additional machinery, more staff, expert opinions, and other strategies that will ensure any damage that occurs is minimal.
A good backup plan goes a long way and helps avoid delays during your commercial construction project.
Partner up with reliable subcontractors
After you have gone through the mentioned steps, it is time to research and determine which contractors have the best reputation in your area. Establishing a network of reliable and skilled subcontractors ought to be a priority. One way you can do this is to shortlist contractors with a lot of experience with commercial construction and use state-of-the-art technologies. For instance, drones have enabled contractors to survey the construction site, locate oversights, and prevent delays.
Aside from technological innovations and the subcontractor’s reputation, finding a reliable partner will also involve tracking down other notable characteristics of their operations. Ask for references, the safety standards, and staffing information to ascertain if the contractor has the resources and the strategies to avoid delays during your commercial construction project.