Construction Management Guide

Concurrent delays
By Jad Chouman
When delays occur on a construction project, it is not uncommon for each party to attempt to use concurrent delays in defense against the opposing party’s delay damages: Employers often cite concurrent delays by the contractor as a reason for awarding an extension of time without compensation, whereas contractor’s claims usually ignore the concurrent delay from the claimed delays in order to claim full prolongation costs stemming from the employer delays and to prevent exposure to liquidated damages. (Read more..)

By Philip Adams
In a previous article I referred to the term ‘coordination’ and given recent experiences, I thought it would be useful to expand on the subject a bit more. I have come to the conclusion that this word is considered by some to be an ancient mystical symbol infused with magical qualities. When faced with problems on site one only has to utter this word and ‘poof’ they miraculously disappear! (Read more..)

When a project or collection of projects is in the idea or concept stage, you want to put together a high-level estimate to see whether or not the project is worth pursuing. You typically do not want to spend too much time working on a detailed estimate at this point, since you do not know if the idea is a worthwhile. Basically, you just want to know the relative magnitude of the effort. While you may be asked to provide a high-level estimate of the cost, the business people are also struggling to try to understand and quantify what the benefits of the project will be. (Read more..)

Detail and Summary Activities

If you look at a WBS activity and determine that it needs to be broken down to another level, the original activity becomes known as a “summary” level. A summary activity does not have any work or hours specifically associated with it. It represents a logical roll-up of the activities that are under it. (Read more..)

There is not necessarily sequential order between defining (planning) the project and building the schedule and budget. That is, you do not have to completely define the work first and then build the schedule and budget second. Some of the sections of the Project Charter, such as the estimates for cost and duration, cannot be completed without starting to lay out the overall project schedule. (Read more..)

When you create a schedule you generally don’t know enough to enter all of the detailed activities the first time though. Instead, you identify large chunks of work first, and then break the larger chunks into smaller pieces. These smaller pieces are, in turn, broken down into still smaller and more discrete activities. This technique is referred to as creating a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). (Read more..)

In the Society of Construction Law Delay and Disruption Protocol, four retrospective delay analysis techniques are referred to, as follows:
1. As-Planned v As-Built.

2. Impacted As-Planned.

3. Collapsed As-Built.

4. Time Impact Analysis.

A brief analysis of each of these delay analysis techniques is given below.

(Read more..)

Construction Lifecycle Risk Management Conference

Date: 17^th & 18^th April 2011

Venue: Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel & Resort, Abu Dhabi, UAE

Welcome and Opening Remarks by the Chairperson, Samer H Skaik

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning.

I am delighted to join our speakers in welcoming you all and open this Conference on “Construction lifecycle Risk Management” in Abu Dhabi.

It gives me great pleasure and honor to chair this conference. I am so happy that we have in this hall, dedicated individuals from different backgrounds and expertise, from various industries across the GCC region. Those delegates who travelled for miles remind us how important this conference is. Thank you all for coming.

(Read more..)

Inherent risks are those that exist based on the general characteristics of the project. These are risks that can appear regardless of the specific nature of the project.

None of the inherent risks mean that the project is in trouble. Many of these risk factors will be rated as low or medium-level risks. Even if you identify an inherent risk as high, other project factors will come into play as well. For instance, the checklist below states that a large project is inherently more risky that a smaller project. This is generally true. However, an experienced project manager can mitigate many risks associated with large project size. Also remember, if your project falls into a high-risk category, it does not mean you will not be successful. It only means that you should put plans into place to manage the risks. (Read more..)