Construction Management Guide

By Dr Samer Skaik

With the unprecedented outbreak of the coronavirus across the globe, many universities and schools have been initiating projects to transform their operations from ‘face to face’ to virtual environments aided by various technologies. This call seems to be inevitable since the outbreak will continue to evolve for at least another six months. In this context, three demanding questions come into play:

By Dr Samer Skaik

Very recently, I have launched a channel on Youtube. This channel aims to provide integrated, handy and focused

educational materials for those interested in developing their competencies in construction project management, professional practice and leadership. My aim is to help raise the bar by providing sound, solid and up-to-date knowledge for students, graduates and professionals in the construction sector. The channel, in addition to the videos, includes other interesting educational playlists. You can display the playlists chronologically if you are keen to develop a robust understanding in the field and advance progressively towards mastering the subject. The playlists include:

1. My Videos (short lectures)
2. Managing projects
3. Doing Research
4. Construction Management
5. Professional Development

You are kindly invited to visit the channel, subscribe, share and provide feedback and ideas for improvement.

Samples of uploaded videos:

(Read more..)

We are very delighted to launch the Inaugural Mentoring Programme targeting graduates and early-career professionals in the construction industry.

This is a free service initiated and operated by CMGuide and led by CMGuide Founder (Dr Samer Skaik). The mentoring programme is targeting ambitious graduates and early-career professionals in the construction industry. The programme is only available in Australia. We encourage prospective and interested mentors in Australia who have the experience in any of the mentoring areas to join our ‘Mentors Panel’ ASAP so we can serve and enrol more mentees in the programme. Interested mentors should mention the mentoring area and availability arrangement so we can properly match mentees (protégé) with appropriate mentors. It is completely up to the mentors and mentees once to discuss and agree the mentoring arrangement during the mentoring year such as mentoring duration (not less than 6 months), communication method, frequency of meetings, level of support, etc.  (Read more..)

You can benefit from the FIDIC Contracts Committee’s direct guidance by attending this year’s official FIDIC International Contract Users event. They’ll be joined by world-class lawyers, top engineers and contract users from a range of leading companies to make sure that delegates go away with a comprehensive and balanced understanding of the latest contract developments. (Read more..)

By Samer Skaik

In complex high rise projects, employers tend to fast track works where construction can begin while design is still incomplete following three main phases of procurement. Shoring system and piling are firstly procured and awarded to an enabling contractor. Upon completion of enabling works, main design and traditional tendering of the second phase can be concluded in order for main construction works to commence on site. While main work is progressing, design of specialist packages will be completed and nominated subcontractors are appointed in a timely manner shaping the third phase of procurement. Such common phased construction usually results in substantial time saving in project life cycle. However, many fast track projects suffer time and cost overruns due to inherent risks of fast tracking such as design deficiencies and ambiguities in risk allocation between involved parties. This paper aims to investigate pros and cons of fast track procurement approach for complex high rise projects and examine how relevant risks are allocated among enabling contractors, main contractors, nominated subcontractors and project consultants in theory and practice. (Read more..)

FIDIC has announced the dates for their 6^th Middle Eastern Contract Users’ conference.

The event will take place in Abu Dhabi on 2^nd & 5^th March.

Readers of CMguide can get a 10% saving by clicking here. (Read more..)

Samer Skaik, the CMGuide Founder delivered 30 minutes oral presentation in “Mastering Complex Projects Conference” at Melbourne convention 2014 which was organized by Engineers Australia.  The Convention is the largest engineering event ever held in the southern hemisphere. Convention bring together all areas of the engineering profession, with national and international keynote speakers exposing delegates to megatrends and thought leadership that will influence the future direction of engineering in Australia. (Read more..)

By Parag Deulgaonkar

Dubai developers are set to commence work on several mega projects in the coming months in order to complete and deliver them much earlier than 2020.

“The Expo 2020 win for Dubai is a significant milestone, and this will definitely translate into exponential growth across a wide array of sectors, namely hospitality, tourism, trade, shipping and logistics as well as real estate,” Khalid Bin Kalban, CEO, Dubai Investments, told Emirates 24|7. (Read more..)

An estimate is a calculation of the quantities of various items of work, and the expenses likely to be incurred there on. The total of these probable expenses to be incurred on the work is known as estimated cost of the work. The estimated cost of a work is a close approximation of its actual cost. (Read more..)