Construction Contractor Planning for Fixed-Price Construction
Suggested planning process includes:
- Establish set of goals
- Formulate alternative plans
- Establish criteria
- Selecting alternative
- Implement alternative
- Develop feedback loop
Planning Guidance: Since limited time is available for planning and it would be very costly to plan each project from scratch, a company must maintain a family of data bases, policy documents, standard procedures, model plans and checklists to standardize and streamline the planning process. (SD-20, p. 6)
Fluor’s study indicates two influencers of project success: (SD-20, p. 16)
- Quality and depth of early planning by the PM group
- Execution by a strong PM group
Subcontract success includes (SD-20, p. 37):
- Requesting quotations only from qualified, experienced, financially capable contractors
- Defining the scope of work in sufficient detail so that subcontractor rights and duties are clearly understood
- Requirements (specs, flow downs)
- Milestone dates for start and completion of work
- Deliverables, payment, definitions, insurance, guarantees
A major component of the planning process is the Project Execution Plan, whose many parts include the following: (SD-20, p. 47)
- Project organizational structure
- Work breakdown structure
- Subcontract plan
- Procurement plan
- Site development plan
Source Document 20, Construction Contractor Planning for Fixed-Price Construction
This source document includes many useful tools and checklists including:
- Pre-Bid Site Investigation Checklist (Appendix A)
- Subcontractor/Vendor Checklist (Appendix B)
- Materials Management Checklist (Appendix C)
- Contractor Facilities and Services Checklist (Appendix D)
- Project Controls Checklist (Appendix E)
- Checklist for Evaluating Risk for Fixed-Price Contracts (Appendix F)
- Quality Control Plan (Appendix G)
- Loss Control Plan (Appendix H)
- Project Responsibility Matrix (p. 43)
- Project Execution Plan (p. 47)