Engineering Management Institute

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Best Practices for Resolving and Preventing Construction Project Issues

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Preventing Construction Project Issues

Best Practices for Resolving and Preventing Construction Project Issues

Nearly every project experiences some level of impact during its design and construction lifecycle. Many books (and even more court documents) have been written on the topic of change management in construction. This article presents a brief overview and best practices for civil engineers who find themselves serving in roles for owners, agencies, or leading project design or construction teams.

All members of a project team, including the owner, designer, construction manager, and builder, should endeavor to anticipate issues before they occur and prevent them from happening, or to mitigate issues as quickly as possible to minimize impact and maintain positive relations among all project stakeholders.

Contributing Factors

Construction is unique among industries in that every project is a prototype — no two are ever exactly the same. Even seemingly similar projects, such as chain stores and residential communities, are all built on different parcels of land that can contain any number of surprises below the surface. The nature of this work leads to the reality that the final product is never a perfect match to what was envisioned or designed.

The common causes of changes on construction projects include:

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Scope Creep: A Common Project Management Pitfall That Can Be Reduced by Taking Three Actions

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Project scope creep is defined as an unwanted event when the original project scope expands with additional features and functionality without the corresponding adjustments to time, budget, or other project resources.

In providing coaching and training services to many engineering companies, I have found that project scope creep is not only one of the biggest project management pitfalls, but it is the leading cause of projects going over budget, and subsequently a key driver of reducing company profitability.  Now for some good news: you can take some simple actions to greatly reduce scope creep on your engineering projects.

Here Are Three Steps That You Can Take To Reduce Project Scope Creep:

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TCEP 103: A Field Trip to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Conference

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Port Authority

In episode 103 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I am bringing you with me to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Conference where I will be talking with several guests to get their view on the state of Infrastructure, but also tools and strategies you can use on your projects.   From smart landscaping features that serves as safe barriers to things you should know about disaster recovery when designing your projects, and even a software that will help you ensure that all parties on your projects are looking at the latest version of the project plans.  The conference was presented by Engineering News-Record (ENR).

Here are some of the question I asked our guests at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Conference:

  • What should engineers be aware of in terms of new landscaping products for infrastructure projects?
  • Tell us what disaster recovery means for designers in the A/E/C industry?
  • What are some of the things you can do to alleviate the challenges behind project document coordination?
  • How can civil engineers and project managers work on their people skills?
  • What is your opinion of the importance people-management in project management?

Here are some key points discussed in this episode at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Conference:

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