Project delays are inevitable in construction, but they can also be costly, stressful, and disruptive for construction management professionals. How can you cope with unexpected setbacks and keep your project on track? Here are some tips to help you adapt to project delays and maintain your productivity, quality, and reputation.
The first step to deal with project delays is to identify the root causes and assess their impact. Some common causes of project delays are weather, design changes, material shortages, labor issues, permit delays, and unforeseen site conditions. You need to analyze how these factors affect your schedule, budget, scope, and quality, and communicate them clearly to your stakeholders. You also need to document the causes and effects of project delays for future reference and dispute resolution.
Construction delays are inevitable, but good CM pros are like chameleons - they adapt! They assess the situation, adjust plans, and implement solutions to minimize impact on cost, schedule, and quality. Think clear thinking, quick decisions, and keeping everyone informed. They're the masters of making lemonade when life throws construction lemons.
In my experience a delay is a delay regardless of the reason. Typically the actual reason does not matter, for the project is expected to stay on schedule. What our industry has removed itself from is being transparent on the plan with everyone assigned to the project. When the build does not come out of the ground on time, it compresses all scopes. So the last subcontractor scheduled for their work now has to provide additional labor and or hours to complete in the allotted original time. So gathering all the team and a de-brief on the situation is the right thing to do. That way planning can take place for a recovery action plan.
Changes in a project are inevitable and site conditions are seldom ideal. We also need to be more realistic in our approach while squeezing and crashing the project schedule to mitigate impact of change and other issues.
Les aléas/risquesqui impactent les délais d'exécution des projets peuvent avoir être de natures internes, externes ou liés à des cas de force majeures En général on met en place des jalons intermédiaires de différents types qui permettent de voir venir les glissements et décider de correctifs. L'anticipation à l'aide de revue régulière du "risk assessment management plan" donne du bon result. Il est fondamental de mettre en action le contract management et le legal pour les analyses et les justificatifs d'ordre contractuels. Les impactent financiers et l'estimation des co?ts de rattrapage, conjugués avec les précédents points permettent d'établir une stratégie de communication avec le client. La négociation dans certains cas est à prévoir,
Need to understand ground condition in line with basic requirements in term of climate, geological datas and other key technical informations depends on the project more importantly local availability ground force & their skills and ESG compliances
The next step is to implement contingency plans to mitigate the risks and minimize the losses caused by project delays. Contingency plans are pre-defined actions that you take when a certain event or situation occurs. For example, you may have contingency plans for alternative suppliers, subcontractors, materials, methods, or equipment. You need to activate your contingency plans as soon as possible and monitor their effectiveness. You also need to update your project plan and adjust your resources, tasks, and milestones accordingly.
As a Construction Coordinator, one proactive way to address delays in projects is to put a thorough risk management strategy into action. This strategy calls for keeping lines of communication open with subcontractors to quickly resolve issues, interacting with local authorities early to speed permit applications, and including buffer times into project timelines to accommodate for unforeseen setbacks. By using a comprehensive strategy, the construction team may minimize the impact of delays on project timeframes and be better equipped to handle unanticipated challenges.
De acuerdo a conversaciones con profesionales de la industria, en muchas ocasiones es bueno implementar un plan de riesgo de la planificación de obra. Esto no tiene que ver con la salud de los trabajadores, sino que identificar cada actividad y el porcentaje de falla o que de no ocurrencia que tiene cada una. Con esta matriz identificamos las actividades con alta probabilidad de falla, y al menos, tenemos la opción de generar un plan B para aquellas actividades que creemos que tienen una alta probabilidad de fallar. Y de esta manera, poder reducir los retrasos en nuestro plan maestro.
Algo que aprendi ao longo dos projetos que acompanhei é que conduzir um projeto sem planejamento é como velejar sem destino e sem um mapa. Você n?o sabe se está indo bem, nem para onde está indo. E mesmo se preparando ao máximo, imprevistos acontecem! Ent?o é essencial ter o plano A, o B, o C, e ter a capacidade de criar novos planos conforme os problemas v?o surgindo.
Delays will happen if you take everyone's scopes of work and timelines at face value. People tend to over promise on timelines to sound good, and to sell more easily. Also there are unforeseen obstacles that will inevitably arise. Plan for this by adding time cushions throughout the project. Always tell your clients a longer timeline than the workers and subs give you. Build in redundancy by having plan B's and C's at typical chokepoints, complex situations, and unknown variables. Communicate to the client that there can be unexpected delays and expenses at these points, and tell them why, and how you expect as worse-case-scenarios to play out. And how you will deal with it if it comes to that. Trade transitions will require more planning.
Point out and prioritize the risks that may affect project, such as supply chain shortages, machinery breakdowns, weather delays, design changes, etc. For each risk, specifying the actions, resources, risk allocation required to deal with them if they occur. Plan B or even C are the best options to deal with contingencces based on contingency plans and alternative resources. You can use a project management tool or a resource management software to track and allocate resources, monitor progress, and communicate any changes to your stakeholders.
The third step is to communicate effectively with your project team and stakeholders about the project delays and the actions you are taking. Communication is essential to maintain trust, collaboration, and alignment among all parties involved in the project. You need to inform your clients, sponsors, contractors, suppliers, and consultants about the reasons, impacts, and solutions for project delays. You also need to listen to their feedback, concerns, and suggestions, and address them promptly and professionally.
The way we say things can have a dramatic impact on how we communicate. Think about the tone of your voice for instance and how easily the emphasis of one word makes a difference on this sentence: Example 1 - Did THE DOG bit his tail? Example 2 - Did the dog BIT his tail? Example 3 - Did the dog bit HIS tail? Example 4 - Did the dog bit his TAIL? Big difference what I emphasize on who I communicate to.
In a period where communication is at its easiest, industry appears even less able or willing to communicate effectively. Why is that? The importance of respecting the requirements and expectations of stakeholders, the project team and the supply chain, to be kept aware of what is occurring allows others the opportunity to support key decisions in the outcome of the project. Not being clear or upfront with information and those who need to be made aware, can impact project team unity, unnecessarily delay projects and increase costs.
Effective communication is a very important process when we face delays in our project. The root causes of the delays should be identified, communicated effectively and explained to the stakeholders. Moreover, the corrective actions that will be taken in order to recover from the delays should be addressed along with the related plan that will be implemented. Delays can happen for many reasons during the project execution. If so, we need to ensure that the proper communication plan is there, all sides and stakeholders are informed properly and are in the same page. All opinions and ideas should be expressed for the resolution of the delay issues and it should be ensured that the actions that are taken, are agreed between the stakeholders.
Communication is key in every project. Sharing information and alignment of expectations is paramount for the Project success. When the information is honestly and correctly shared, all the stakeholders have the chance to adapt and work together in the effort to bring the project back to tracks.
é necessário definir como a comunica??o será realizada (forma, conteúdo, meios, frequência) e quem ser?o os interlocutores (responsáveis por elaborar e aprovar a comunica??o, de um lado, e, de outro lado, responsáveis por receber, avaliar e divulgar a comunica??o). Além disso, é necessário definir por quem e como a comunica??o será armazenada e disponibilizada, por quanto tempo e qual público terá acesso ao conteúdo. Alinhadas as expectativas sobre como a comunica??o será realizada, é necessário seguir o plano, realizando o devido monitoramento da eficácia junto às partes interessadas, para realizar os devidos ajustes sempre que alguma altera??o se mostre necessária.
The final step is to learn from your experience and improve your project management skills and processes. Project delays can be valuable learning opportunities if you reflect on what went wrong, what went well, and what you can do better next time. You need to conduct a post-project review and identify the lessons learned, best practices, and areas for improvement. You also need to apply your learnings to your current and future projects and share them with your peers and colleagues.
Project delays are challenging, but they are not insurmountable. By following these tips, you can adapt to project delays and deliver successful construction projects.
The only projects that finish ahead of time are those that allowed for a pessimistic time risk contingency or overestimated the initial duration. If you learnt about the delay on your previous project then you have the experience that you could have done nothing about it. Your next project will give you a totally different challenge with the same inevitable result. You have to solve the problem of delays at the very start of the project, not at the end.
Le meilleur moyen d'éviter les retards dans les projets de construction c'est de ne les commencer que quand les plans sont coordonnées et BPE. Sans ca, les retards sont quasi inévitables. Un chantier doit être une chaine de montage, si tout est bien con?u / imaginé, les retards sont plus que limités. Trop souvent les projets ne sont pas aboutis et l'entrepreneur doit jongler entre les erreurs et imprécisions et ne peut donc avancer a pleine vitesse. Quand on commence un légo, on a un mode de montage clair, c'est pour ca que ca va vite ;)
Realizar revisiones periódicas de lecciones aprendidas junto con el equipo de trabajo, entender que una no conformidad es una herramienta de aprendizaje y no una búsqueda de culpables
Reallocate resources, such as labor, equipment, and materials, to optimize their utilization during the delay period. Ensure that resources are efficiently deployed to expedite the completion of delayed tasks without compromising quality. Identify potential risks associated with the delay and develop mitigation strategies. This may involve adjusting project plans, implementing alternative solutions, or seeking additional resources. Regularly monitor and reassess risks to proactively address any emerging issues.
An example of learning from experience that a lesson learned register ( well formatted ) and agreed with all disciplines to be updated regularly and a meeting led by Quality team for this register will be fruitful to keep lesson learned as a backup and data base for the project.
The mantra for a successful project implementation is "Plan! Plan!! Plan!!!" As the old adage goes "Failure to plan is to plan for failure". To add to this, your inability to plan effectively or ineffective planning is also planning for failure. Construction is one of the oldest industries and we can rely on the plethora of information available. Make sure your Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is accurate and encompasses all activities. Build meaningful contingencies into your schedules. And, lo and behold, your project schedule becomes achievable!
Need to slow down and understand the cause, have a contingency plan from early in planning with the entire project team, communicate with all parties on how they can help, improve, adjust schedule, and use experience to make decisions. It’s all not just one. I believe planning and thinking of all possible risks early helps be prepared and having a team that can come together and find a direction forward is key. So many times it’s in silos and the effects are not fully seen.
In my opinion and experience, effective construction planning relies on tools such as Building Information Modeling (BIM) streamlining tasks and resource management to reduce delays and control costs. However I believe the key to success lies in collaboration, which plays a crucial role in avoiding delays, mitigating risks, and ensuring positive outcomes. Collaborative planning tools facilitate real-time communication (Sharepoint, MS Tasks to name a few), enabling proactive decision-making and issue resolution. Embracing technology and fostering a collaborative mindset are essential in the construction industry to achieve shared goals and ensure successful project completion.
One time i ask my senior Satish sir( consider him as my own elder brother) we make plan A and plan B even after both plan not working we make plan C. So why we need to make plan for work just do it on the present scenario basis. He said we make plan for failing but we need to make plan continuously and fail continuously untill we achive the result. ??? ??? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????? ???????? ?? ??? ???
As construction project delays are inevitable due to many factors, the most important thing to be considered and applied for better risk management is proper planning of these risk and implementation of their respective plans.