Author: Andrew Gorok

If you’re a construction project manager, you know the nature of your work can be vastly different from site to site much less company to company.

Any project manager regardless of the industry can relate.

A construction PM has many more responsibilities than most other PMs in different industries, construction is demanding and unique. Extensive knowledge about the industry can often be the difference between a successful project completion and delays.

Here a few tips that will be specifically useful for construction project management success.

Effective Communication

We know communication is very important for the success of pretty much any type of project out there, but it’s one of the most essential elements for construction projects in particular.

The thing is, it’s something that’s required in every single phase of the implementation of the plan. A project manager needs to ensure that there’s a constant flow of communication, both on the ground and with the stakeholders and suppliers.

This will make the process much smoother, and prevent the problems from getting more challenging to deal with when they arise. On the other hand, if there’s a lack of effective communication, you would find yourself spending hours spending hours on phone calls and emails when the project encounters a roadblock.

Perhaps a great way of maintaining this flow of communication is by using a good collaborative work management (CWM) tool. It syncs all your comments, calendars, attachments and more, as well as allows you to easily monitor important information that may affect your project such as budgets, news and scheduling changes. Furthermore, it also lets you “share” these changes in real time with everyone you want to, including other managers and accounting offices.

Continuous Planning

Most times, for a project to be successful, you would need to flexible and make changes on the fly as aspects of the project unfold.

In fact, you will also have to refine, revise and keep developing new plans through the life of the project. Every single stage of the project would require this type of planning, including design, pre-planning as well as procurement.

Also keep in mind that even slight changes may make a big impact on the overall outcome, so do not ignore them and take them into consideration to refine the plan.

Getting Involved

Apparently, there’s no industry out there where PMs don’t have to get actively involved in the work. And the construction industry being even more demanding, a PM usually must literally work alongside other workers.

A construction PM must understand the workers working under them better, as well as get familiar with the site. Many times, they will have to see an issue in person to resolve it.

To become a good PM, you will have to put in the required effort to make sure you become an integral part of the process.