Cost planning in construction is necessary since building a house is a very expensive thing to do and any mistakes can be very costly to the client. It is very important to know how to plan and to ensure that the building is suitable as far as the resources are concerned. All factors should be considered to ensure maximum value for your money. It is also important to note that a building should not cost more than what the client has budgeted for. There are different methods of cost planning during construction which the client should be able to use for purposes of ensuring the budget is not overrun. These methods involve approximate estimation of the client’s budget. One method involves looking at similar structures erected within the resent time frame since costs do not differ very much within the same location. A developer should always consult on the prevalent Continue reading
Project Management
What is Project Management?
A project is an endeavor that is undertaken to produce the results that are expected from the requesting party. A project consists of three components namely, scope, cost and schedule. When a project is first assigned to a project manager it is important that all three of these components be clearly defined. Scope represents the work to be accomplished, i.e., the quantity and quality of work. Cost refers to costs, measured in dollars and /or labor-hours of work. Schedule refers to the logical sequencing and timing of the work to be performed. The quality of a project must meet the owner’s satisfaction and is an integral part of project management, which is shown as an equilateral triangle to represent an important principle of project management: a balance is necessary between the scope, budget, and schedule. In any project, there is a certain amount of Continue reading
Managing Project Life Cycle
Projects have a distinct life cycle, starting with an idea and progressing through design, engineering and manufacturing or construction, through use by a project owner. Project life cycle is a collection of generally sequential project phases, whose name and number are determined by the control needs of organization or organizations involved in the project. A project phase is collection of logically related project activities usually culminating in the completion of major deliverable i.e. any measurable, tangible, verifiable outcome, result or item that must be produced to complete a project or part of project. The project originates as an idea in someone’s mind, takes a conceptual form and eventually has enough substance that key decision-makers in the organization select the project as a means of executing elements of strategy in the organization. In practice, the project manager must learn to deal with a wide range of problems and opportunities, each in Continue reading
Agile Project Management – Concept and Stages
What is Agile Project Management? Agile project management has been defined as short cycles of product development that deliver incremental updates of the product rapidly based on the changing needs of the customer. This methodology is the opposite of waterfall project management, which values extensive planning and pre-production. The agile approach consists of a number of stages including rapid iterative planning and development cycles allowing a project team to constantly evaluate the project and obtain immediate feedback from users or stakeholders allowing the team to learn from their experiences after each cycle. After the streamlined planning requirements, definition and solution design phase is completed to get the project underway iterations or more detailed planning requirements are created. This allows for immediate modifications of the product as customer views change. Agile project management requires a dedicated full time team including a customer or end users. Agile project management differs to traditional Continue reading
Project Planning and Scheduling
Project planning is the process of identifying all the activities necessary to successfully complete the project. Project scheduling is the process of determining the sequential order of the planned activities, assigning realistic duration’s to each activity, and determining the start and finish dates for each activity. Thus, project planning is a prerequisite to project scheduling because there is no way to determine the sequence or start and finish dates of activities until they are identified. Techniques for Project Planning and Scheduling The technique used for project planning and scheduling will vary depending upon the project’s size, complexity, duration, personnel, and owner requirements. The project manager must choose a scheduling technique that is simple to use and is easily interpreted by all project participants. There are two methods that are commonly used in project management for the purpose of project planning and scheduling: the bar chart (sometimes Continue reading
Characteristics of Project Financing
Project financing involves non-recourse financing of the development and construction of a particular project in which the lender looks principally to the revenues expected to be generated by the project for the repayment of its loan and to the assets of the project as collateral for its loan rather than to the general credit of the project sponsor. Project financing is commonly used as a financing method in capital-intensive industries for projects requiring large investments of funds, such as the construction of power plants, pipelines, transportation systems, mining facilities, industrial facilities, and heavy manufacturing plants. The sponsors (the sponsor(s) or developer(s) of a project financing is the party that organizes all of the other parties and typically controls, and makes an equity investment in, the company or other entity that owns the project) of such projects frequently are not sufficiently creditworthy to obtain traditional financing or are unwilling to take Continue reading