A common issue in construction projects is the lack of accountability, which will result in a chain reaction of reduced efficiency and missed deadlines. You may think hiring a project manager and assigning specific tasks to every team member will eliminate this issue, but even with a project manager and sufficient resources, a construction project may still go haywire, and that could be because you’ve set unrealistic goals.
But how can you distinguish an unrealistic goal to the one that’s not? If you’re setting your goals without contingency plans and addressing accountability, then those are likely unrealistic. While still in the planning stage, potential issues should already be considered, with courses of action prepared for them.
There are other ways to ensure efficiency and accountability on your construction project.
1. Work With a Competent Team
Before embarking on your project, select a construction company with an outstanding reputation. If your project is located in Utah, you can work with experienced mechanical engineers in the area who will effectively ensure the timeliness of the project. With their expert assistance, you’ll be freed of the burden of handling administrative tasks.
2. Make Expectations Clear From the Get-Go
In the kickoff meeting, make your expectations about the project and the team clear. As the project sponsor, cite how you’ll hold the project manager accountable on certain issues. The project manager should, in turn, express how they’ll hold their team accountable.
The team members shall also inform the project manager on how or where they will hold them accountable. By the end of the meeting, everyone must completely understand what’s expected of them to avoid pointing fingers when issues arise.
3. Communicate Thoroughly
Communicate daily to track the progress of the project, and create a comfortable avenue for the team members to speak up or propose their ideas as well. Allowing team members to contribute ideas may help you in avoiding issues, or finish the project faster.
Use a collaborative work management software where you can share and sync the project files, such as calendars, receipts, and the like. This will ensure that no important record will be lost, even if the hard copies get misplaced.
4. Explain How Tasks Relate to One Another
Things occur in sequence in a construction project, but inevitably, there also things that are implemented concurrently. Either way, in the end, all tasks are interconnected. The team assigned on the subsequent task shall hold the team in the preceding task accountable.
For example, if a delay happens on a certain stage of construction, you can connect that delay to another delay that had occurred in one of the previous stages. The project manager must explain to the team before the construction commences how their tasks are going to be related to one another, so they can learn to depend on each other for the project’s timeliness, and establish accountability.
5. Monitor Budgets and Costs
Regularly check if the project is still running within the budget limitations. Store both hard and soft copies of receipts and invoices, and work with an accounting team to have professional records of all your transactions. This allows you to adjust your budget if there’s a need, without getting unpleasantly surprised.
6. Be Open to Plan Revisions
Even with your goals and timeline set, unforeseen issues may still occur. The benefit of holding an in-depth kickoff meeting and communicating daily is that you reduce the impact of these issues.
The contingency plan you have prepared will help you bounce back, but even so, make room for revisions. You can never fully predict how each stages of the project will unfold, so together with your project manager, develop a new plan that will bring the project to completion and success.
