Good construction project management techniques help keep a project on budget, on time, and they play a big role in jobsite safety. So why do so many people tackle a construction project without hiring a project manager? Here’s a list of seven reasons that a company may forego hiring a construction project manager:
- Upfront Investments: Project management in general requires an initial investment of time and effort. Many contractors prefer to tackle problems head on as they arise. This works great for a small project, but when you’re talking about a 6,000 hour project, it becomes much more difficult and dangerous.
- Lack of Commitment: The company must first value construction project management skills in order to see them as useful. Some contractors decide to go with the basics to avoid the lengthy planning process and they end up with a mediocre project at completion.
- Lack of Project Management Skills: The issue could simply boil down to the fact that no one in the organization has construction project management skills. This is when they need to take a step back and look at completed projects and see how a good project manager could have streamlined those projects.
- Bad Past Experiences: Project management and proper planning of projects often conjures thoughts of additional overhead, delays, paperwork, and other unfavorable or cumbersome issues.
- Objections from Senior Managers: Senior management may feel like the boss is trying to push some new tool for managing projects at them.
- Team Member Objections: General contractors and people who work in construction are generally creatively inclined. They enjoy working at their own pace and taking the opportunity to be creative when possible. They worry that a construction project manager will remove their ability to be creative while pushing for procedure over creative license.
- Management Objections: The project manager will immediately be above several other members of management including foremen and supervisors. This is for a very good functional reason, but many members of middle management won’t appreciate having to answer to someone else.
These are some of the issues that are faced by general contractors and other construction professionals throughout central Florida. Our goal is to create an atmosphere that promotes workplace harmony while keeping the project on budget and on schedule. We don’t want to take authority away from any member of middle or senior management, in fact we rely on their experience and unique talents to effectually manage the work. Read more about our Collaborative Approach to Construction Management and how we Align Partner Objectives.