Construction Project Managers
Plan, organise, direct, control and coordinate construction of engineering and building projects, and all resources involved in the construction process.
A Tuesday on a tower site
You are the construction project manager of a multi-storey commercial building, with about a hundred workers across several trades on site today. It is 6:30am. The pour of a floor slab is scheduled for today, a delivery of steel is running late and the client is walking the site at noon. The day will not go the way the plan says.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
The trucks are here, but the formwork crew say they are not quite finished checking the edges. If we wait, we lose the first trucks and probably the day. If we start, we are on the clock. What do you want?
Ask the formwork crew how long they really need, and decide with them whether to hold the trucks
They need twenty minutes. You ask the first truck to wait and the pour starts clean and on time. People who do the checking tell you the truth when they are asked first.
Start the pour, because the trucks are paid for and the crew will finish as it goes
A section of formwork is not properly checked, and the pour has to be slowed and partly redone. The cost of rushing is now greater than the cost of waiting would have been.
Cancel the pour and rebook for tomorrow to be completely safe
It is the safe choice, but you pay for the wasted trucks, lose a day of programme, and the crew who were nearly ready are frustrated. Twenty minutes would have saved most of that.
I had expected the steel to be here by now. This is the second delay this month. My board is asking me tough questions. Are you in control of this project or not?
Say everything is under control and the delay is minor, and the steel will arrive any day now
Carmel is calm for a few days. Then she discovers the next stage depends on that steel, and the delay is not minor. Reassurance that does not hold up costs you more trust than the problem itself.
Explain the cause and show her the revised schedule and your plan to avoid another delay
She is still concerned, but she has something to show her board. Clients can accept delays they understand, and they cannot accept surprises.
Blame the steel supplier and say it is out of your hands, as they have missed two dates
It may be true, but a project manager is responsible for managing suppliers. Carmel hears an excuse and starts to wonder who else is accountable on site.
I have just seen two workers on the edge of the third floor without proper protection. They said the crew above them was in a hurry. I stopped them, but the whole crew is behind schedule and under pressure. What now?
Support Sandeep, pause that work, and adjust the programme so the crew is not squeezed
The crew sees that you meant what you said. Adjusting the schedule removes the pressure that caused the shortcut, which is what keeps people safe in the long run.
Tell Sandeep you appreciate it, but he should handle it quietly so the client does not hear
The issue is hidden, not fixed. Two weeks later a near miss happens in the same spot, and this time it is reported. Covering up a safety problem makes it your problem.
Stop that work, bring the crew together for a short talk and look at why the rush happened
Safety is restored and the crew gets the message. But you have not yet looked at whether the schedule you set caused the rush, so the pressure remains.
How it went
By evening the slab is poured, the steel has a firm date and the third floor crew has a safer plan. Construction project managers balance time, money and safety, and are trusted by the people who work beneath them. Does running something that big, with that many people, appeal to you?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The crane that could not wait
A fictional case set in a large commercial building site run by a fictional construction company in a growing city.
The situation
Construction project manager Wei Jian Tan was running a six-storey office build for the fictional Ashgrove Developments. On a Thursday, the site's only crane was booked for a delicate concrete lift at 7am the next day, with a specialist crew arriving from interstate. At 4pm, the weather office issued a warning for strong winds overnight. Waiting would cost several days and a lot of money. Going ahead on a risky day would put people and the building at risk. The client was calling every hour.
What they did
Wei Jian did not make the call on his own. He asked the crane operator and the site safety lead for their view and checked the wind limits in the crane's own manual. The wind forecast was borderline. He decided to hold the lift until the conditions were confirmed at dawn, called the specialist crew so they could adjust their travel, and phoned the client himself to explain the plan and the likely cost of each outcome.
How it turned out
The wind was too strong at 7am, and the lift moved to Monday. The delay cost time and the client was not pleased. Two weeks later, a storm damaged a neighbouring site where a lift had gone ahead. Wei Jian's team added a standing rule: lift decisions are made at the site, with the operator's agreement, never by phone.
What would you do?
- Why was it important to include the crane operator and the safety lead in the decision?
- How would you explain a costly delay to a client who sees only the schedule?
- What do you think the difference is between pressure from a client and a real reason to stop?