From Blueprint to Build: Applying PM Principles to Home Construction

Home construction is a multifaceted field that includes a whole lot of distinct moving parts.

Coordinating logistics among suppliers of raw materials, construction sites and construction site managers, construction workers, builders, architects, homeowners, and engineers (not to mention complex timelines and expectations) can be an overwhelming prospect for even the most experienced construction project manager at times.

Luckily, guiding principles and a project management tool can be used to help shape and establish a strong foundation within the context of every home construction project.

These project management principles provide a tried and true map of behavior and underlying rules that can help address potential areas of conflict or stress that will emerge during the enactment of a home construction project.

In this article, we will explore what project management principles are and eight specific ways that project management principles can be applied to home construction.

We will investigate specific case studies and examples to reveal how architects, homeowners, contractors, and project managers in the home construction industry can best use project management principles to improve the workplace atmosphere.

What are project management principles?

To fully understand how best to apply project management principles to home construction, it is important to delve into which project management principles are more widely applicable. Project management principles are general guidelines project managers can enact to help a project run more smoothly, depending on the project management methodology of choice.

Project management principles help to establish a clear protocol for solving problems, making decisions, and honing strategies.

Here are some principles:

• building a great project plan
• managing risk in the field
• scheduling for success
• managing the project team
• defining project goals
• managing risks
• understanding the project scope
• building real-time budget accountability

Good project management principles can promote better communication and a smoother working process between project managers, team leaders, collaborators, and colleagues in any field.

Project management principles can contribute to a healthy workplace environment, creating an atmosphere of respect, responsibility, fairness, and honesty for all employees and others involved in the project.

8 Ways to Apply Project Management Principles to Home Construction

Now that we have a clear understanding of what project management principles are in general, it is time to take a more in-depth look at how they can be applied to home construction.

Which project management principles can help employees and project managers create a healthy working environment in construction? Below, let’s look at eight ways to apply project management principles to home construction.

1. Clear Communication

Communication is key in any industry. In the construction industry, that may be even more accurate; with so many different areas to coordinate, clear communication is essential.

Craft a robust communication plan that provides a direct, specific structure for disseminating information throughout the various teams, contractors, clients, and colleagues involved in the project.

Appoint a communications lead responsible for enacting this communication plan. And determine in advance which methods of communication should be used for which types of content.

For example, short-term urgent messages may be best relayed through phone calls and a company-wide digital messaging platform.

At the same time, proposals, contracts, and longer-term queries can be communicated via email or in-person appointments and meetings.

2. Achievable Deadlines

One of the most common sources of tension and causes of conflicts in the construction industry is deadline management. Use the guiding principles of responsibility and respect to make sure in advance that deadlines and milestones are feasible.

You can use digital task management software that will allow you to organize tasks and manage timelines, thus easily ensuring that every proposed milestone will be met by the agreed-upon deadline.

You can easily keep track of when specific employees have marked a task as complete and communicate with contractors and employees who may be falling behind schedule.

3. Effective Risk Management

Project management principles can help you to navigate complex, unexpected situations, managing and mitigating the damages of risks. For example, during the height of the global coronavirus pandemic lockdown period, supply chain disruptions and rolling lockdowns meant that construction projects were put on hold, sometimes indefinitely.

Some project managers in the home construction industry were able to enact successful risk management strategies by utilizing sophisticated tools. By transferring in-person tasks to digital counterparts, contractors have continued operating while complying with mandatory social distancing orders.

Data analytics tools have allowed construction project managers to understand crises more in-depth. By taking into account current data and future predictions, project managers have been able to plan for worst-case scenarios and guide construction projects toward future-oriented developments.

4. Better Budgeting

Creating a detailed budget in advance of a project may take time. Still, it is essential to establish a clear foundation for interacting with employees and providing quality (and respect) to employers.

A good rule of thumb for establishing a dynamic and realistic budget is to divide costs into three primary categories: hard expenses, soft expenses, and profits. Hard expenses are direct, unavoidable expenses. These can include anything from the cost of labor and equipment to the raw materials needed to build the project.

Soft expenses are more indirect and usually refer to the more intangible aspects of your construction project. The soft expenses category includes insurance fees, legal coverage, accounting services, and project design.

Your profits will be the amount that remains when you subtract the expenses you will pay to complete the project from the total amount you are paid to complete the project.

Use a project management coordination tool to help you manage expenses and keep track of invoices, ensuring that each specific fee is accounted for and that your entire budget remains in order throughout the whole project period, from inception to construction and through to completion.

Keeping track of invoices is also vital to ensure that employees’ finances are respected and that the amount requested in each invoice meets your expectations and fulfills the terms you have agreed upon in advance.

5. Coordinate Schedules

Accommodating the complex individual schedules of homeowners, contractors, sub-contractors, and suppliers is one of the key responsibilities of managing a construction project. Use tools that will help you consolidate and manage all the scheduling data from each of these sources.

Project management software can allow you to easily coordinate your team’s schedule, view possible conflicts, smoothly make necessary adjustments, and instantly update all affected parties, including clients and colleagues.

6. Measure Project Performance

The best way to ensure that you provide quality service to every client is to keep track of specific metrics that allow you to measure your progress and success. Performance and profitability metrics provide valuable insight into how well you achieve goals and meet concrete targets within a specific project and throughout your construction career.

Track how your success shifts from project to project, and be sure to include customizable client feedback. Measuring specific project performance points helps to hold you (and your team) accountable. It verifies whether or not the intended figures you initially proposed ended up being in line with the ultimate project results.

Use project performance analytics and reporting to keep track of individual employee performance as well, treating this type of assessment as an opportunity for growth. Where employees fall below the preferred standards, there may be an opportunity for better training and enhanced learning situations.

For employees who deliver above and beyond the expected results, this is a great reminder to acknowledge and reward their dedication and excellence.

7. Define Clear Roles and Responsibilities

To create a workplace culture of respect, you should provide clear and definitive structures for each employee, contractor, sub-contractor, and supplier. Establishing the specific and measurable responsibilities and expectations associated with each role will provide the necessary boundaries to ensure that work gets done and projects progress clearly.

When a team is unsure of who is meant to be responsible for what, then confusion and chaos abound, and projects can stall simply due to the lack of clear rules, roles, and structuring.

Set expectations for each role in your initial contracts, and update these as necessary. This provides space for employees or contractors to communicate doubts, clear up confusion, and ask questions before a workplace situation.

8. Flexibility and Resiliency

One aspect of project management is navigating and adapting to changes. If, for example, a supplier cannot provide the quantity of wood needed to complete a specific aspect of the construction project, the entire project could collapse.

Using excellent project management skills, each team member will understand how to adjust to the situation, where to report the issue, and how to find a workable solution.

Adaptability in the construction workplace is necessary to meet the frequent changes that will inevitably occur throughout a project. Adaptability extends beyond the boundaries of just an individual project, however.

Construction firms must also work service adaptability into their long-term plans and goals. Project managers should seek ways to expand the reach and scope of a construction firm’s offerings, providing more possible routes of connection and business with new customer bases. And construction firms should be able to adapt to new and evolving technology.

This is why contractors should search for specific customer relationship management (CRM) tools tailored to specific sectors within the construction industry. For example, a roofing repair contractor should look for a roofing CRM tool versus a generalized home construction CRM tool, with features like in-app digital signatures on contracts and proposals, integrated measurements, and sales automation.

Adopting tailored CRM software is one strong start in that direction. This will allow project managers to oversee and learn from data about the company over time, coordinate with customers and clients directly, and review automated progress reports and smart analyses.

Tools and equipment in the construction industry are on a fast track to change these days, with more and more programs being developed that connect cutting-edge tech, such as AI and drones, with practical utilitarian applications in the construction workplace.

Conclusion

Project management principles provide necessary and helpful guidelines to ensure that each contractor, sub-contractor, architect, designer, builder, supplier, and homeowner is being treated with respect.

Each of these people should clearly understand their roles and responsibilities within the project context and know who to contact and when a message needs to be communicated.

Creating a workplace culture based on respect and accountability means that each person participating in a project will strive to provide high-value outcomes that contribute to the project’s overall success.

Project management software can allow you to coordinate schedules, payroll and HR needs, budgets, tasks, and timelines. And construction data analysis tools can provide deep insight into ways to move forward, so the company can continue to grow and thrive over time.

First published on July 4, 2023.