Construction Project : Time Cost Trade Off

Critical path analysis identifies the most efficient and cost effective way of completing a complex project. The various activities which together will make up the project are identified, and the order of these activities are identified. Then, the duration of each activity is estimated and these factors are then arranged as a network or graph, showing the whole project from start to finish, and showing which tasks can happen at the same time. The sequence of tasks which have to be done one after another with no gaps in between is called the Critical Path.

Management of construction projects needs skills and knowledge in modern management and comprehension of construction and design process. In construction projects, the relevant technology processes, and arrangements differ, but common sequence of events apply. Construction projects generally require a specification of the project plans and objectives that entail budgeting, scope, setting of performance requirements, scheduling, and project participants (Rojas, 2009). It also requires project management specifics like the resource utilization by procurement of materials, labor, and equipment to project plan and schedule. In addition, it leads to implementation of several operations by effective control, estimation, design, construction, and contracting (Mincks & Johnston, 2010). The sequence of events occurring in the construction phase is categorized into three broad areas including foundation, structural, and finishes sequence.

Over the past few years, the construction industry has been changing dramatically. One of the most important stages in the construction management and business management is the planning phase. They share similar two main levels of planning which are the strategic and operational planning. However, business management planning to decide in advance what should be done, and how to do it, when you do and you are done. On the other hand, Construction management strategic planning is to deal with selection on a high level of overall objective of the project, including the scope, procurement methods, schedules and financing options but the planning of operations, including the

Traditionally, cost, quality, scope and time are the main parameters within which projects have been managed. In the Construction sector, workplace accidents rates are very high compared to other sectors. The costs associated with these accidents are both human and financial, for companies and also for the society as a whole. Other costs will also arise

In estimating timeframes the Critical Path Method (CPM) will be used. The Critical Path is the chain of activities that links the start to the finish of the project, and for which any delay will cause the project to be delayed by the same amount of time.

This research paper is focused on one of the biggest concern of the construction industry in today’s world, which is “Construction Delay Claims”. A construction project consists different individual or interdependent activities. There is a higher possibility that some sort of delay might occur in any of the involved activities. In order to mitigate issue of delays and make delay claim resolving process easier, researcher and engineers came with an idea which is know as “Critical Path Method (CPM)”. CPM would have different activity paths but among them the longest path (based on time duration) is known as critical path. Critical path is also known as “Zero Float Path”. Float is a certain extra amount of time allotted to activities which can be utilized before or during that activity. It can be understood that any delay in the activities that are on critical path could cause overall project to be delayed. Though delays are quiet common in construction projects, it is necessary to determine whether the delay is critical or not. Once the criticality of the delay is decided then the responsible party for the delay is determined. This is the basic logic behind all the construction delay claims assessment methodologies. Key tools in the assessment procedure are As- planned schedule and As- build schedule for the project. As- planned scheduled is the schedule submitted by the contractor to the owner prior to the construction work starts. As- build schedule is the schedule which

In field of project management, there are a plethora of mechanisms under perpetual reevaluation. One specific segmentation of project management under such scrutiny pertains to cost duration, which is the time and monetary costs of completing individual tasks within the project’s critical path (IBM Knowledge Center, 2016). The process of monitoring and evaluating the time and financial impacts of each task is referred to as cost duration analysis (IBM Knowledge Center, 2016). A chief concern of cost duration analysis is identifying tasks within the project’s critical path which can reduce project duration (PMI, 2013). A common approach to reducing a project’s duration is task “crashing” (PMI, p.181). According to The Project Management Institute (2013) crashing refers to the process of methodical determining the financial value of increasing a critical path task’s resources in order to decrease project duration (p.181).

Most scholars have accepted generally the triple constraints as key elements of project success. If one of these three constraints get reduces it will have an impact on the other one, balancing between them is crucial for project managers. It is said that “To create a successful project, a project manager must consider scope time and cost and balance these three often-competing goals”.

Construction projects are always unique and risks raise from a number of the different sources. Construction projects are inherently complex and dynamic, and involving multiple feedback processes. A lot of participants – individuals and organizations are actively involved in the construction project, and they interests may be positively or negatively affected as a result of the project execution or project completion. Different participants with different experience and skills usually have different expectations and interests. This naturally creates problems and confusion for even the most experienced project managers and contractors.

Along with this challenge comes many difficulties. This includes estimating, planning, budgeting, and scheduling, to name a few. However, the most important factor of managing a construction project is jobsite safety. Unseen by many people, jobsite safety is determinate to the completion of the construction project, while delivering the highest satisfaction to the owner, and doing so all under budget. Modern day projects brings multiple risks to owners and contractors when they face new construction. Owner’s must be concerned with potential risks to their employees, tenants, and property while also being concerned with the risk carried by the construction manager.

There are numerous challenges facing today’s construction manager. Some are new to the industry, and some are centuries old. Many of these challenges are a direct result of construction operations, while others a result of indirect, peripheral activities. A surprising number of challenges are not construction issues but must be addressed and managed by the construction manager (CM) to ensure project success. Some of the construction issues include workforce considerations, safety, time constraints, and

In the world of project management, utilizing the three-point technique can prove to be an invaluable tool. In addition to the three-point technique applying the earliest-start (ES), earliest-finish (EF), latest-start (LS), and latest-finish (LF) procedure to identify the critical path, the project completion time, and the slack for each task can prove to be set of invaluable data that will assist the project manager in accurately determining task duration estimates for the entire scope of work for the project. In this week’s assignment we will explore a construction company and the associated time estimates for each task as it relates to their entire project.

Evaluating cost baselines and developing and refining stable and flexible cost schedules can be tricky especially in the cases where complicated project based activities are involved. This is because each project may involve a number of factors, each having its own dynamics that have a potential to implicate on the overall cost structure and thus each of these variables and their possible implications have to be taken into account in order ensure the efficiency of the project in terms of both cost and time.

Reducing the duration a project can be managed by reducing the duration of an activity/activities almost always results in higher direct cost. When the duration of a critical activity is reduced, the project’s critical path can be change with other activities and that new path will determine the new project completion date. Following are three options to reducing project duration.

Purpose – The purpose of this literature survey is to know more about the project cost management and how the project cost management will affects the process in the project management.