Dear Anoon,

It depends on what you are building. If it is complicated and conventional, then you are correct. You can start from bottom to top. But in some cases, if you are building a complicated structure, it is actually difficult to come up with the bottom up approach. Actually, you keep going top down until the last few activities.

So we can modify the statment as follows:

17) Complicated Jobs: start with a bottom-up approach for conventional construction. In case the details are not available, you can adopt a top-down approach by identifying the high level activities then proceed with more details.

Thank you for your remark, I hope that the information helps.

With kind regards,

Samer

Dear Dieter,

You are most welcomed. It would be great if you use it.

16) Production Rates: Use the information available to the project team at the start of the project, update it with the information of the actual supervisors working at site, and use the actual production rates that is reported in your daily reports. Contractors are very smart in increasing the productivitiy rates to achieve specific targets. Clear Incentive Plans to all team members can be used if necessary.

17) Complicated Jobs: It is definitely impossible to know all the activities related to construction at the start of the job. Start with a higher level schedule and keep updating it with more details as the project progresses and experts arrive at site to completed their jobs.

18) Interconnected Activities: If you have two contractors or more working on the same building, things can get complicated. The only thing that will help you is to have them sit together and explain their intended method of construction. Open communication will solve a lot of problems and unveil several gaps not shown on initial schedule.

19) One, Two, Three, Four weeks look ahead: use them wisely to have less paperwork in your hand. But you need to remember the remaining activities as well.

20) Milestones: This is a great way to complete your project. Having a milestone supported by a sponsor’s arrival (cutting the ribbon) will increase your productivity rates.

With kind regards,

Samer

Dear May,

You are most welcome. I am happy to be of service.

Dear Mike,
Thank you for your kind words, I hope that the information will benefit planners.

Allow me to add the following remarks as well,

11. Make sure that you allow for uncertainties in the schedule. This will benefit you later on when the project progresses and you have delays.

12. Make use of the repeated activities. The duration to complete the same works is usually reduced with repetition since the construction teams would have learnt to do the same task faster.

13. Critical Path. Watch it like a hawk in EVERY progress report. Make sure that you understand how it is behaving and why.

14. Changes at site. Make sure that your supervisors report every activity that they complete which is not shown on drawings or ask for in the BOQs. This is very important for cask flow on periodic period and to ask for extra time for the extra works completed on the Project.

15. Construction Methods. Always challenge your construction Managers to complete their works with better quality and faster ways of construction. i.e, if you are working on a high rise, and you are late, you can ask to change the design of the last few floors from cast in situ to precast concrete. Hence you save the curing time, and at the same time having better quality.

With kind regards,

Samer

Dear May,

You will have these type of reports usually;

1. Daily Progress Reports: you will need to update the information about the progress of activities at site. A section will be used for manpower and a 3rd section is dedicated for material.

2. Weekly and Monthly Progress Reports: Since you are on the client side, you will need to monitor the percentages completed (Actual vs Planned) in addition to any Issues the Contractor has still unanswered.

3. Site Visits: spend between 40-50% of your time on site. This is the only way you can monitor the activites and have a visual idea about what is ongoing at site.

4. Progress, Coordination, Special, Upper Management Meetings: You will need to keep your eyes focused on three items
a. Scope
b. Time
c. Money
Any issue that changes the contractually agreed upon data you need client approval at the earliest.

5. Read your Contract Documents; Specifications, drawings, and BOQs

6. Review your Approved Program of Works as often as possible.

7. Take pictures while you are at site.

8. Make sure that you know your team members on 1st name basis, in all disciplines. This is very much important when you need information from them. Communication is the most important activity for you to practice effectively.

9. Ask as many questions as you can.

10. Keep your eyes on the Long Lead items. Usually a program of works is divided into five sections;
a. Material submittals.
b. Shop drawings.
c. Procurement
d. Construction
e. Commissioning and Handing Over.
You will need to monitor these processes in sequence and make sure that you complete (a+b) for all disciplines at the earliest.

Hope the information helped. If you have any specific questions, please let us know.

With kind regards,

Samer