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#11: Use Professional Technical CPM Schedulers To Supercharge Your Construction Management Career
CPM scheduling is a trade in and of itself.
If you’re a contractor and you’re expecting PM’s, CM’s or Superintendent’s to create and maintain project CPM schedules, you will be let down and disappointed. And it won’t be their fault. I know you have been doing it for years. But what have been the results? Not [...]
#10: Does Partnership Trump Leadership?
Does leadership really require leadership? Can’t we partner our way around it? Not if we’re looking for results that exceed mediocre…
I can’t tell you how many owner-side construction managers I have met recently that have told me that they partner with their construction managers, therefore do not require any help with schedule review services.
I realize [...]
#9: 7 CPM Tips: Supers/PM’s/CM’s This One’s For You
CPM tip #1: Hire a scheduler with Construction Management experience
The ideal career path for a scheduler is:
Superintendent->Project Manager-> Construction Scheduler.
It is the career path less traveled; but if you can find even one such scheduler, you will have really found something.
A scheduler without construction experience can’t build a schedule without the help from a CM [...]
#8:What a Construction Manager / Project Manager can Learn from a Race Car Driver
I have spent most of my career working in the Phoenix market. While living there I met a race car driver/driving instructor named Ty. He worked at the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and he told me a story about car racing that applies to construction management /project management too.
First let me say that [...]
#7: Here is a Silver Bullet that can be Used by Contractors and Owners Too
Could you be overlooking a fundamental construction management process?
Remember, we’re not looking for exciting strategies here; we are looking for profound strategies that make on-time on-budget outcomes routine, and even automatic, for our PM/CM teams, vendors, subcontractors and clients. And that is exactly what this process does.
I’m talking about leading smooth projects, retaining employees, and building strong subcontractor/vendor [...]
#6: Sync or Sink
If the schedule doesn’t match what’s happening on-site, it is not used to manage the job. When a schedule does not get used to manage the day-to-day operations on-site, the CM team is forced into a reactive mode of operation. Once that happens, the project is sinking.
Strive to keep the contract, the schedule, and the [...]
#5: Construction Management Beyond Reproach [on the job]
Your projects seem very interesting. I would like to talk with you more about how to use a rigorous schedule update review process to optimize construction management. I call it; construction management beyond reproach (CMBR).
I am not talking about nitpicking the minor aspects of the schedule. I agree with you, that is futile. What I am [...]
#4: Too Green – Too Few
I have seen a lot written recently about project failures and there seems to be a few popular opinions circulating that are polar opposite to what I have learned over the last 22 years in the trenches.
I am often called in to build recovery schedules. I have seen my fair share of project failures – [...]
#3: Is The Fox Guarding The Hen House? [on the job]
I heard a top executive for a 500m GC say to a large state client: Having the CM team manage the CPM Schedule was like letting the fox guard the hen house!
That got my attention…
He continued: Even my own construction managers will spin the project to highlight owner-side delays and hide builder-side delays. In the [...]
I realized years ago, as a superintendent, that successful construction management boiled down to 3 steps:
#12: Engage a PSP with extensive CM experience if you can