In construction projects, whether large or small, on-site construction delays are common and can affect project timelines and costs. For a project manager, it is essential to understand how to handle delays since it is always important to revive the undertaking while incurring the least consequences. Some of the best ways to tackle construction delays are outlined in this article to help your Construction Estimating Service project run as smoothly as possible.
The article explains the most common causes of construction delays and how they can be avoided.
The First Step Identifying Why Construction Delays
Some of the top reasons include:
- Transportation Concerns – Traffic problems such as traffic congestion, hail, heavy rains, storms, extreme heat or cold affect the proceedings and timings.
- Equipment Malfunction – Due to failure to maintain or neglect of equipment, they develop faults and break down.
- Time Constraints – Availability of materials is another major hindrance in construction projects since sometimes vendors take time to supply materials to the construction site.
- Changes in Design – Sometimes there are changes in the design plan of a structure and it affects the construction plans.
- Work Executions – Civil works, excavations, and structures may be delayed due to slow approval of permits from government offices.
- Subcontractor performance – Delay by subcontractors in their work tends to slow down the complete process.
Understanding the types and reasons for delays will assist you in avoiding such incidents or at least preparing adequately for them.
Implement Preventive Measures
With knowledge of common delay triggers in place, implement measures to avoid or minimize them proactively:
- Provide buffer days for weather by scheduling around the HQ’s historical weather patterns to mitigate against bad weather.
- In the case of machinery and tools, ensure that they are checked for general wear and tear and have backup options for replacement in case of a breakdown.
- Wendabay has backup vendors and extra materials to prevent shortages.
- Freezes should be designed early and some time should be given for the approval processes so that there can be no changes at the final stages.
- Submit the file permit applications early in the course of a project and ensure that you follow up from time to time to ensure that the approval processes are not dragged out.
- Whenever possible, choose and award subcontractors contracts based on the likelihood that they will perform satisfactorily.
This is why preplanning is crucial to minimize some of these time-wasting methods. Let me reiterate here that it is always better to be proactive rather than reactive when it comes to managing projects.
Improve Communication Channels
Specifically, it is crucial to notify stakeholders as soon as possible when delays happen; this must be done clearly. There is a very thin line that separates understanding from disagreement and quarrel, whereby miscommunication is capable of worsening issues within a short period. So, open communication channels with Construction Estimators to ensure everyone is on the same page and any potential issues are addressed promptly:
- Internal Teams – Organize daily huddles with your field teams so that you can immediately pick off any problems.
- Clients – it is important to keep them informed of any progress made as well as the inevitable postponements.
- Vendors – Customer relations should be established by making frequent visits to the vendors for additional materials and equipment repairs.
- Government Bodies – Understandably, permits or approvals might be held up, but one should keep communication links with the authorities open so that they can hasten up the process.
Effective Communication
Once a delay occurs, look at make-up strategies to catch up such as:
- Crew Overtime – Making additional working hours to help crews accomplish more tasks in one day.
- Supervisors – Employing more people to work in sub-teams to reduce congestion and uneven distribution of workloads.
- Other types of flexibility include Task Resequencing – Flexibility in arranging work sequences by setting priority to non-impacted work.
Determine which of these tactics is effective depending on the delay times and the cost of the exercise.
Shorter delays can result in resequencing, while longer ones require overtime or additional crews. It is important to consider carefully before implementing the make-up strategies when it comes to choosing an option.
Better Schedule Management Practices
With solid schedule management techniques, delays can be managed more efficiently using:
- Resources – This should consider the resource capability and capacity to deliver the activities in the timelines provided.
- Resource Leveling – This is another technique that aims at equalizing resources to ensure that no specific resource is used to the fullest within a given period.
- Multiple Timeline Scenarios – Develop many “what-if” schedule contingency plans to simulate different options available.
- Daily planning and reporting on timings – track actual progress daily over the timings planned for the day.
Having a clear understanding of schedules and closely monitoring them reduces cases of ad hoc decisions when problems arise. Staying on plan gets easier.
New ideas may arise during the project planning or execution phase, based on the need to reduce costs or meet time constraints, for example, that lead to changes in the scope of the construction estimation company project schedule.
Conclusion
Few Construction Estimating Services projects run as perfectly as they have been planned and envisioned by the architects and engineers. It is important to note that while there are always delays they determine whether they become serious barriers or not depending on how the project teams manage them. There are several positive strategies to address the issue of delay: The first and foremost of these is that the managers must incorporate proactive practices along with efficient management of the schedules and more communication. Setting goals, objectives, priorities, and time frames flexibly and focusing on the solutions can help get projects back on track even when the original plan is disrupted. By designing and implementing sound late management tools, successful delivery of a project remains a possibility.