Project Management

Project Management in building design and construction is the process in which a building project is visualized, conceptualized, designed, reviewed, coordinated, constructed, and commissioned. Therefore, it involves skills in:

people/team management
motivation
delegation
design
scheduling
coordination
diplomacy
negotiation
conflict resolution
construction
value engineering
contractual obligations

Thus, those in Project Management positions must have the ability and capacity to work closely with Architects, Owners, Owner’s Representatives, Engineers (mechanical/HVAC, electrical, plumbing, fire protection, civil, structural), contractors, sub-contractors, suppliers, building officials, building inspectors, the general public, and government officials (local, county, state, federal). Similarly, inter-governmental agencies, such as HUD, FEMA, EPA, could be involved.

In addition, Project Managers must have the experience and training to communicate clearly and effectively in initial project meetings to accurately convey the design and construction aspects of the proposed project. After that, the Project Manager must be able to supervise the design process, supervise coordination between the different disciplines, negotiate with the Architect, Owner, and Contractor when discrepancies arise, and get the project into construction as smoothly as possible.

Once the project is in construction, the Project Manager must be able to attend to the daily requirements a construction project demands. In fact, a few examples of the daily or weekly requirements that will consume time and therefore, the project fee are:

Contractor questions
Architectural coordination
Pay requests
RFIs (Requests for Information)
ASIs (Architectural Supplemental Instructions)
Change orders
Site visits
Construction meetings
Job observation reports

Project Fee

In all honesty, the Project Fee is the driving force behind almost every design and construction project. It determines:

what the building looks like – size, shape, structure, building materials, air conditioning and heating systems, lighting, landscaping, etc.
how much time the design professionals can devote to the project
how many design professionals will need to be allocated to the project and for how long
what amount of time and how many trips the design team can make to the project site
how much profit each participant is going to realize at the end of the project

Project Management Resources

We designed the Project Fee Calculation Worksheet to help the Project Manager, or the Team, assemble an accurate project fee estimation. The worksheet allows the Project Manager to manipulate multiple variables associated with any given project to arrive at the project fee estimate.

Get the Project Fee Calculation Worksheet

Project Management Cost Estimate Worksheet

The Project Management Planning Tool breaks down your project into phases and tasks to more precisely allocate time and fee. Moreover, it is a three-page document that includes the Project Fee Calculation Worksheet.

Get the Project Management Planning Tool