Pre-construction work is a preliminary planning and engineering process that helps contractors or project owners determine the feasibility of a construction project.
Based on the above description, ensuring the most efficient use of resources and money to ensure that construction projects are planned and engineered for the completion of a project, pre-construction work is your ally.
But, even with all the efforts put into pre-construction work, why does construction project still fail?
Why are they abandoned or not completed on time and on budget?
The answer to these questions is the essence of this post: to share with you 9 common pre-construction mistakes that causes construction project failures and how to fix them.
9 Common Pre-Construction Mistakes and How to Fix Them
As a building contractor, you are required to ensure that every pre-construction work is planned, engineered and completed on time and within budget.
While there is no success formula for a successful and an effective construction project, it is very important for you to be aware of common mistakes that may occur during pre-construction work and be able to fix them.
Below are the 9 common pre-construction mistakes and how you can fix them.
1. No Defined Project Scope
Defining the scope of work for any construction work is important. But, when the scope of work is not defined, objectives are not established and expected deliverables are also not identified. The effect of these is a construction project failure that leads to uncompleted or abandoned construction project.
Hence, as a building contractor and to avoid this mistake, it requires that you determine and document the list of specific project goals, tasks and deadlines. In fact, you need to ensure that the scope of work is defined, objectives are established and expected deliverables are identified. Once a project scope is defined, you’re sure of a successful construction project.
2. No Execution Plan
Having a defined scope of work for a construction project with a defined project strategy of how the project will be implemented is vital. But a mistake of not having an execution plan created will definitely have a negative impact on the completion of every construction project.
How do you avoid this mistake? You avoid it by creating an execution plan with a project strategy that describes and outline the resources [human and materials] needed for the implementation of the construction project. That is, defining the policies, procedures and priorities of the construction project. Once you create an execution plan, a successful and complete construction project is unavoidable.
3. No Calculated Risk
Most construction projects are often exposed to risks arising either from unforeseen circumstances or natural hazards. And when the mistake of not creating a risk analysis, i.e. were unexpected events are not calculated in the offer and programme of works, it will not only leave the project contractor with unforeseen costs and losses, it will also bring about uncompleted or abandoned construction project.
To fix this, you’ve got to do a risk analysis by creating calculated risks of unexpected events that may arise either from purely contractual and legal problems, unforeseen circumstances or natural hazards and document it in the programme of the project work. And it’s important to realize that creating risk analysis can help to evaluate and calculate certain risks that may occur during construction project.
4. No Project Schedule
Every construction project requires a listing of the project’s milestones, activities, and deliverables. But when there is no list that shows the intended start and finish dates of a construction project, then uncompleted or abandoned project is inevitable.
Therefore, as a building contractor, you have to create a project schedule that indicates the entire detailed task required to accomplish the work effort as described in the project scope. Fixing this mistake requires that you create a project schedule that reflects all of the pre-construction work associated with delivering the construction project on time.
5. No Proper Engineering Process
There is no effective construction project that has ever been implemented and completed without the application of engineering processes. Engineering provides the detailed process of designing, planning and executing a construction project. But when engineering processes are applied wrongly, it could lead to unsuccessful construction project.
To avoid this mistake, you’ve got to ensure that proper engineering processes are applied in every construction project. This will provide the designing, planning, construction and management details of the project.
6. No Procurement Plan
Procurement deals with the acquiring of the resource materials needed for the construction project. Not having a procurement plan that defines how to source for the right materials and from the right source can have a negative effect on the project. This can lead to an abandoned or uncompleted construction project.
Having an actual procurement plan that shows in detail what you have decided to buy for all the project materials and the source will correct this mistake.
7. No Site Evaluation Plan
Uncertainty can pose a risk of significant cost overruns and time delays for nearly every construction site project. Failure to have or create an evaluation plan to assess these uncertainties that may occur can be detrimental to the project.
How can this be avoided? The only option you have in fixing this mistake is by creating a site evaluation plan that document the details of every vital information on the assessment of the construction site project. Because the creation of such a plan can help prevent any possible conflict or crises that may arise during the project.
8. No Design Basis
Designing the construction project, set of conditions and requirements needs to be taken into account. And if these conditions and requirements are not taken into account when designing and constructing the project, the effect of these is an incomplete project.
So, how do you fix this mistake? At the pre-construction phase, you’ve got to state the basis of design for the project. That is, explaining the set of conditions, needs and requirements that will be taken into account in designing the construction project.
9. No Proper Project Management
In the construction industry, project management has been playing a significant role in helping professional contractors in using modern management techniques to manage and achieve the predetermined objectives of scope, cost, time, and quality of the construction project. But, when construction projects are not properly managed, predetermined objectives of the project cannot be achieved and completed on time.
To prevent this mistake, every construction project has to follow the principles of project management. Why? Because, the art of project management ensures that every detail about the construction project is sorted out before commencement. And the result, an effective and efficient completion of project on time and within budget.
Conclusion
As shown above, it is vital that the above mistakes are considered to ensure that less construction project mistakes are made. This will help to guarantee an effective completion of projects on time and on budget.
If you need help on your construction project in order to avoid these pre-construction mistakes,
[…] a previous post, we discussed about pre-construction mistakes often made by building contractors. The truth is that, no building construction project takes place without the presence of a building […]