Construction projects are challenging regardless of size. Even adding a sunroom to your home requires careful planning, thorough budgeting, and a persistent approach to communicating with contractors and material suppliers. These several project oversight responsibilities can be overwhelming for the ordinary person. Luckily, turn-key construction management firms like TRM are there to help relieve the stress.
Project oversight is a critical management function that ensures your project is progressing towards its goals while adhering to legal and industry construction standards, and staying within set deadlines and budgets. Its vital role in predevelopment planning ensures your construction project starts on the right track and helps prevent costly delays.
Although it may seem like a new concept to some, the truth is that project oversight has been a fundamental part of construction projects for decades.
Project oversight: Managing the bigger picture
Oversight of your project involves managing a holistic view of its performance, focusing on planning, budget management, resource allocation, and risk management. Due to its comprehensive nature, the project manager is often left with numerous project oversight responsibilities that require exceptional attention to detail, effective time management, and strong communication skills.
Since construction projects demands coordination between different teams of tradepeople and deadlines, specific knowledge about building codes and regulations, and, in some cases, collaboration with city regulators, most people opt to leave their project in the hands of management firms, even when they’re business owners theirselves and are familiar with project management.
What are the main construction project manager duties?
As shown above, project oversight encompasses a wide range of aspects that must be monitored simultaneously. As a result, several project oversight responsibilities must be planned, tracked, evaluated, and adjusted to ensure your project is carried out successfully.
1. Budget oversight
Budgeting plays a crucial role in predevelopment planning, helping to prevent setbacks and delays due to a lack of resources. Hence, experienced project managers must have a thorough understanding of market prices, risk management, and access to accurate databases to help them plan an accurate budget that ensures your project is what you dreamed of.
However, the construction project manager’s duties regarding financing don’t end with project budgeting. They must also track expenses and forecast future costs to ensure that the project stays within budget and avoid any sudden price rises that could negatively impact the project.
To achieve it, project managers often use the following techniques to ensure none of their financial project oversight responsibilities slip through their day:
Budget oversight common practices
Expense categorization: Breaking down project expenses into categories, such as materials, provides a clearer picture of where the money is going and identifies areas of over- or underspending.
Budget forecast: Create detailed forecasts and update them regularly to identify potential financial risks throughout the project’s life. Incorporate a buffer for any unexpected costs.
Regular financial reviews: Another of the construction project manager’s duties is to schedule regular meetings, according to the project’s timeline, to track the expenses and compare them against the set budget.
Resource management software can be beneficial for project managers in centralizing and accessing financial data. Hence, ensure your chosen company has state-of-the-art resource management tools.
2. Risk management
Risk management is a crucial aspect of project oversight responsibilities, as it helps identify potential challenges and mitigate their impact through effective contingency planning. Effective risk management ensures your project stays on track even when unforeseen situations arise; thus, it’s fundamental that your project manager does it accurately.
Best practices for project risk management
To achieve accurate risk mitigation, project managers perform:
Risk assessments: Assessing the risks before starting the project plays a fundamental role in predevelopment planning. Your project manager should identify potential risks across the entire project, from permit obtention to resource delivery, and even the weather conditions.
Response plans: Develop detailed response and contingency plans that outline preventive and corrective measures for all potential risks. Their project oversight responsibilities can also include delegating the monitoring and management of specific risks to other team members.
Regular risk audits: Scheduling and conducting regular risk audits to reassess existing risk and identify new ones throughout the project’s life, and updating the risk management plans to ensure that most potential challenges are covered.
3. Performance metrics
Another crucial aspect of a construction project manager’s duties is to measure and monitor the project’s progress, including not only deadline compliance but also the quality of the work and the client satisfaction throughout every stage of the project.
Techniques for monitoring performance metrics
KPIs setting: Project managers should define measurable KPIs at the start of their project, dividing it into milestones and including quality benchmarks and clients’ satisfaction scores.
Client feedback: Project oversight responsibilities regarding performance also include gathering feedback from clients regularly and integrating it into the performance metrics to ensure alignment with your expectations.
KPI reviewing: Holding periodic meetings to assess the project’s progress and KPI performance against the set goals.
4. Communication with all interested parties
Project managers must coordinate all teams involved in the construction project, from subcontractors to material suppliers. To ensure every party is making progress according to the initial plans and managing expectations, they must communicate effectively and regularly with all teams, owners, and on-site supervisors. Likewise, collaboration with city regulators is crucial to guarantee compliance with local building regulations and requirements.
Some techniques used by project managers to maintain open communication include:
Common communication practices
Regular updates: Among their project oversight responsibilities is to provide regular updates about the project’s progress with all involved parties via meetings or reports. Contractors and subcontractors should be informed about their progress and areas of improvement, as well as project owners.
Incorporating client feedback: You should have a direct line of communication with your project manager to receive important updates, such as milestones or changes that require your approval. Likewise, your project manager should incorporate your feedback into the project’s adjustments.
Scheduling and sharing important tasks: Another essential task among construction project managers’ duties includes coordinating material deliveries, conducting state inspections as required, and coordinating the start of various teams on the jobsite.
For example, suppose the electrical team requires 50 yards of wiring to begin work on your home. In that case, your project manager should coordinate the purchase and delivery to ensure it arrives at the jobsite before the electrical contractor arrives. If they fail to do so, the project will be delayed. Thus, effective communication is vital in project oversight responsibilities.
5. Problem solving
Although the main purpose of project oversight is to ensure that everything is on track and there aren’t situations that could negatively affect your construction project, challenges inevitably arise. Your contractors are human and can make mistakes.
The day-to-day responsibilities often give rise to unforeseen issues during operations, and one of the primary construction project manager duties is to address them to keep the project on track.
Best techniques for problem-solving in construction
Problem-solving requires quick thinking and adaptability, but that doesn’t mean your project manager should decide with a hot head. Instead, experienced managers will act promptly but use common problem-solving frameworks to analyze the issues, risks, and possible solutions.
Using frameworks and decision-making tools: The project oversight responsibilities also encompass implementing structured problem-solving frameworks, such as the PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle or the SCQA model, to address the issue systematically.
Identify the root of the issue: Conducting root cause analysis when problems arise to find the underlying reasons and prevent the issue from repeating.
For example, if the painters don’t start on the planned day because they weren’t informed that the drywall was ready, project managers will look for ways to ensure the project’s progress is shared among all team members.
Oversight your next project from A to Z with TRM Construction
TRM Construction Management is more than a commercial general contractor; it’s an experienced management firm with over 30 years of service across the Treasure Coast and the rest of the state. Our professional team of project managers and construction experts will handle all project oversight responsibilities to ensure your project is completed on time and within budget, and relieve the stress from your shoulders.
If you have a residential or commercial building project on mind, call us today! We serve the Treasure Coast and beyond.
- Saint Lucie County: Port St Lucie, Fort Pierce.
- Martin County: Vero Beach, Stuart, Jupiter, Jensen Beach, Hobe Sound, Palm City
- Palm Beach County: Palm Beach
- Okeechobee County: Okeechobee
- Indian River County.
