PLANNING, SCHEDULING IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

Planning, scheduling is an important part of the construction management. Planning and scheduling of construction activities helps engineers to complete the project in time and within the budget.

The term ‘Construction’ does not only denotes physical activities involving men, materials and machinery but also covers the entire gamut of activities from conception to realization of a construction project. Thus, management of resources such as men, materials, machinery requires effective planning and scheduling of each activity.

What is Construction Management?

Management is the science and art of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the work of organization members and of using all available organization resources to reach stated organizational goals.

Construction management deals with economical consumption of the resources available in the least possible time for successful completion of construction project. ‘Men’, ‘materials’, ‘machinery’ and ‘money’ are termed as resources in construction Management.

Objectives of Construction Management:

The main objectives of construction management are,

• Completing the work within estimated budget and specified time.
• Maintaining a reputation for high quality workmanship
• Taking sound decisions and delegation of authority
• Developing an organization that works as a team.

Functions of Construction Management:

The functions of construction Management are

(a) Planning

(b) Scheduling

(c) Organizing

(d) Staffing

(e) Directing

(f) Controlling

(g) Coordinating

(a) Planning in Construction Management:

It is the process of selecting a particular method and the order of work to be adopted for a project from all the possible ways and sequences in which it could be done. It essentially covers the aspects of ‘What to do’ and ‘How to do it’.

 

Importance of construction project planning:

• Planning helps to minimize the cost by optimum utilization of available resources.
• Planning reduces irrational approaches, duplication of works and inter departmental conflicts.
• Planning encourages innovation and creativity among the construction managers.
• Planning imparts competitive strength to the enterprise.

b) Scheduling in Construction Management:

Scheduling is the fitting of the final work plan to a time scale. It shows the duration and order of various construction activities. It deals with the aspect of ‘when to do it’.

 

Importance of construction project scheduling:

Scheduling of the programming, planning and construction process is a vital tool in both the daily management and reporting of the project progress.

c) Organizing:

Organizing is concerned with decision of the total construction work into manageable departments/sections and systematically managing various operations by delegating specific tasks to individuals.

d) Staffing:

Staffing is the provision of right people to each section / department created for successful completion of a construction project.

e) Directing:

It is concerned with training sub ordinates to carryout assigned tasks, supervising their work and guiding their efforts. It also involves motivating staff to achieve desired results.

f) Controlling:

It involves a constant review of the work plan to check on actual achievements and to discover and rectify deviation through appropriate corrective measures.

g) Coordinating:

It involves bringing together and coordinating the work of various departments and sections so as to have good communication. It is necessary for each section to aware of its role and the assistance to be expected from others.

 

Importance of Construction Management:

• Construction management practices invariably lead to “maximum production at least cost”. A good construction management, results in completion of a construction project with in the stipulated budget.
• Construction management provides importance for optimum utilization of resources. In other words, it results in completion of a construction project with judicious use of available resources.
• Construction management provides necessary leadership, motivates employees to complete the difficult tasks well in time and extracts potential talents of its employees.
• Construction management is beneficial to society as the effective and efficient management of construction projects will avoid, escalation of costs, time overrun, wastage of resources, unlawful exploitation of labor and pollution of environment.