Project Control for Construction

The success of a construction project is largely dependent upon the quality of the project controls system and staff assigned as the eyes and ears of management. There must be integrated project control. Cost control is not cost accounting. The Cost Breakdown Structure is designed to catalog budgeted and actual expenditures to identify cost problems, establishing cost trends, and provide cost data for future projects. Since the major cost variable on a construction project is labor productivity, a main component of the cost control subsystem is the tracking of work-hours with quantity tracking. Schedule control requires a Control Schedule at the outset of construction. If it’s too detailed, it loses its usefulness. Arbitrary or false logic causes field personnel to lose confidence in it. A sure sign of schedule planning failure is when project control engineers are found updating schedules while the field personnel are planning their work as best they know how and reporting the results. Materials control is included in the Materials Management Program. Since materials deliveries directly affect the ability to schedule work, materials tracking should be a subsystem within the project controls system and tied to the scheduling system. The source of materials tracking information will come from procurement and expediting personnel. Positive coordination and cooperation with those personnel must be established and maintained throughout the project’s life.