Overview of Construction Project Management Roles
Construction Project Management Roles are mainly assigned to project managers (PM) who are responsible for planning, organizing, and overseeing the various tasks involved in a construction project. These project managers are in charge of construction project management, and they represent the builder or contractor hired to perform the work.
Project management as a whole is a complex task. It changes dramatically from project to project. The employees working in this field will find that the requirements and processes of management will constantly shift depending on the project’s specifics. The Project Manager has to protect the interests of his employer by maximizing the profit and by keeping the costs under control.
Roles and Responsibilities
Construction Project Management Roles and responsibilities are as follows:
- The main role of a construction project manager is to ensure that the project is successful.
- These projects can be related to residential and commercial bridges and skyscrapers.
- The main responsibility of the construction project manager is to be well aware of the building process from scratch. And is preferred to have experience in working closely with engineers and architects to develop plans.
- They are also responsible to establish timetables and determining labor and material costs that are involved.
- They are in charge of hiring and managing staff which includes the subcontractors and employees.
- They are also responsible for planning, creating benchmarks, managing staff, and budgeting along with distributing the resources, and lastly, the most important thing is to communicate with the staff regularly.
1. Planning
- A project manager has to ensure that the work is completed within the stipulated time.
- They have to plan the tasks of the project within the projected budget.
- They also have to ensure that the construction project complies with all the building codes and any other legal requirements.
- It is very risky to start a construction project when there is no plan of action. So, it is the utmost responsibility of the project manager to ensure that every stage of the project is planned out well in advance, which is also a key necessity for completing the project successfully.
2. Distributing Resources
When we speak of the construction project, the primary necessity is material. So the manager needs to understand what materials are needed and have to ensure that they would suffice to complete the work. The manager’s main duty is to ensure that the resources are allocated correctly, and most importantly, they need to ensure that there are no shortages.
3. Managing Staff
- Managing staff is the key responsibility of a construction project manager. However, all tasks cannot be handled alone. So, the various tasks need to be delegated to the workers according to their respective job roles and skill set. So hiring plays a major role here.
- While hiring, it is important to select employees that are diverse in their skill set to ensure the efficiency of the employees is improved. And, of course, it goes without saying that it’s important to delegate tasks only to reliable employees.
4. Creating Benchmarks
- Benchmarking is a very effective and common practice used in most of companies. It is to compare the various business processes and performance metrics with the best practices in the industry. Therefore, it is one of the main responsibilities of a project manager to create benchmarks for the project.
- The benchmarks act as checkpoints, and the manager uses them for the project to see how the employees are performing to achieve the desired progress. Therefore, and especially for a construction project, it is very crucial to have the Bench-marking set to ensure that the best standards in the industry are met.
- Thus, it would be difficult for a construction project manager to oversee the project situations and outcomes without benchmarks. Thus ensuring that the project runs smoothly without any unexpected hurdles.
5. Managing the Budget
A construction project cannot start without an appropriate budget. Therefore, one of the primary duties of a construction project manager is to manage the budget and financial plan for the project. The project manager has to keep track of the expenses and have to have a budget allocated for unplanned expenses to ensure that it does not go over the budget. Hence, it is important to keep the team informed about forecasts and be prepared at all times because you never know when there could be a bolt out of the blue.
6. Communication
Communication is very important for any job. As a manager, it’s unprofessional to expect the workers to know everything about their tasks without clear instructions and guidelines. So, clear inputs need to be given about the task to ensure productivity is met. And also, it’s very important to be open to the ideas of the workers since they may have more efficient ideas as they work on the same task day in and day out. So, communication between workers is necessary, and communication between the stakeholders is crucial as well. A lack of communication with them might lead to some unnecessary problems.
Conclusion
The true success of a project lies in the hands of the project manager. Project managers guide the workers and work together as a team to achieve success. So, by teamwork, planning, budget and resource management, and two-way communication. And, definitely, it’s important to be amidst like-minded people to ensure productivity at its best. And when there is unity in how everyone thinks in a team, then it’s easier for the manager to guide the project towards success.
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And it’s always nice to learn from the experts. So here are some Inspirational People In The Industry –
Tony Palgrave is the construction project director for building The Shard, which is the second-tallest building in Europe.
The Shard is a tapering glass tower that spears the London skyline. Though Renzo Piano was the architect who created it, Tony Palgrave helped to achieve the dream with his construction project management skills.
But nothing comes easy. We can achieve great things only when we admit the foreseen challenges. He thus said, “Building 300 meters into the air with 52 million people coming in and out of London Bridge station at the foot of the tower and a hospital across the road is a challenge,’’
It was the greatest achievement of Palgrave, and The Shard has become the landmark that changed the London skyline.
Morgan Sindall project manager Mark Chitty has been shortlisted for the Chartered Institute of building’s construction manager of the year awards for his work creating a new primary school in Huddersfield.
‘’I am thrilled to be considered for this award,’’ says Mark.
The accolade recognizes his achievements in managing the construction of Hillside Primary school in Newsome for Kirklees Council.
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