Construction Project Management

Chapter- One
Introduction
Lecturer: Er. Suman Bhattarai
M.Sc. In Construction Management

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Contents:

➢Construction management as a discipline.

➢Context of construction management.
➢Characteristics of the construction industry.
➢Domestic and global construction market.

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Construction management as a discipline:

• Construction is a process of the building or assembling of

infrastructure.
• The construction project is related with the construction of
infrastructure within the budget, time and quality.
• Essential planning, design and execution is required for the
construction projects.
• There are various types of construction like building construction,
heavy construction and special trade construction.

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• As a discipline, construction project management developed from
different fields of application including construction, engineering and
defense.
• In the United States, the forefather of project management is Henry
Gantt, called the father of planning and control techniques, who is
famously known for his use of Gantt chart as a project management
tool, for being an associate of Frederick Winslow Taylor’s theories of
scientific management, and for his study of the work and management
of Navy ship building. His work is the forerunner to many modern
project management tools including the work breakdown structure
(WBS) and resource allocation.

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• The 1950s marked the beginning of the modern project management
era.
• Again, in the United States, prior to the 1950s, projects were managed
on an ad hoc basis using mostly Gantt Charts, and informal techniques
and tools. At that time, two mathematical project scheduling models
were developed:
➢The “Program Evaluation and Review Technique” or PERT,
developed by Booz Allen and Hamilton as part of the United States
Navy’s (in conjunction with the Lockheed Corporation) Polaris missile
submarine program; and
➢The “Critical Path Method” (CPM) developed in a joint venture by
both DuPont Corporation and Remington Rand Corporation for
managing plant maintenance projects. These mathematical techniques
quickly spread into many private enterprises.
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• At the same time, technology for project cost estimating, cost
management, and engineering economics was evolving, with
pioneering work by Hans Lang and others. In 1956, the American
Association of Cost Engineers (now AACE International; the
Association for the Advancement of Cost Engineering) was formed by
early practitioners of project management and the associated
specialties of planning and scheduling, cost estimating, and
cost/schedule control (project control).
• AACE has continued its pioneering work and in 2006 released the first
ever integrated process for portfolio, program and project management
(Total Cost Management Framework).

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• In general, construction management is a diverse discipline focused on
the delivery of projects that compose the world’s built environment.
Included are the determination of project requirements, management
of design, procurement of materials, and management of the
construction of the project within cost, time, and design parameters.
• In terms of money value output, the construction industry is the largest
single production activity in the most of developed countries.
• The construction industry is heterogenous and enormously complex.
• The major classifications of construction differ markedly from one
another: residential, commercial, industrial, and infrastructure, as well
as specialties such as electrical, mechanical, framing, excavation and
roofing.

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• Construction management is the study of how projects are conceived,
designed, and built; the types of materials and methods used;
techniques for estimating the cost of construction; design and contract
law; construction accounting; oral and written communications; safety
requirements; project planning and project management.

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Context of construction management:

• Construction management is the study and practice of managerial and

technological factors in the industry of construction.
• This includes construction, the science of construction, construction
management and technology in construction.
• Construction management also refers to a business representation
wherein a crew to a construction contract serves as a consultant to the
construct, hereby providing design and advice of the construction.

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Construction stakeholders/participants:
• The agencies supporting the construction industry include but are
not limited to the following:
➢Construction business promoters like government bodies, public and
private enterprises for real state and industrial development, and other
similar agencies.
➢Construction management consultant firms.
➢Architect-engineering associates.
➢Construction manpower recruitment and training agencies.
➢Construction materials developing, manufacturing, stocking,
transportation and trading firms.
➢Construction plant and machinery manufacturing, distributing and
repair and maintenance organizations.
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➢Banking and financing institutions.
➢Risk insurance and legal services companies.
➢Construction quality assurance research and development
establishment.
➢Contractors and contracting firms.

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Construction teams:

• In general, there are three groups involve in the industry of

construction; the owner, architect or engineer or more known as the
designer, and the builder or contractor.

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Client:
• Client is also an employer of the construction project.
• Client may be owner, occupier, developer, implementing agencies, etc.
• Client may be governmental department, ministry, a public
corporation, private limited, NGOs, INGOs, an individual, etc.
• Client possess following roles and responsibilities in construction
projects:
✓Offer the project through tender notice.
✓Signs the letter of acceptance.
✓Prepares the contract agreement.
✓Approves the performance security.

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✓Ensures insurance is in accordance with the laws.
✓The employer makes the advance payment (if any).
✓Authorizes the contractor to move on to the site.
✓Makes payments (as per running bills) of the contractor as certified.
✓The employer can terminate the contract in the event of the contractor
failing to perform or in certain other circumstances defined in, and
subject to, the law governing to the contract.
✓Should settle the disputes promptly in general if arises.

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Contractor:

• The contractor is one who carryout the construction works.

✓Executes the works taking full responsibility of quality, timely
completion and safety of the work.
✓He/she will set out the work, construct the work, carryout tests, care
of works, rectify the defects, insure for the workmen, work and
materials, insure the equipment, insure for third part liabilities, take
responsibility for the health and safety of the worker, maintain
specification, complete the work, conduct tests on work and hand over
the project.
✓After handing over, the contractor is also responsible for maintenance
of defects during defects liability period.

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Consultant/Engineer:

• An individual engineer/architect, an independent professional

organization, practicing consulting firm, a government entity.
✓Design, research and investigation for design.
✓Prepare cost estimates at different stages.
✓Help client in preparation of bid documents.
✓Help client in contractor selection procedures.
✓Quality, cost and time controlling.
✓Supervise the works of contractor.
✓Reporting to the client.
✓Work as a client’s representative.
✓Approval for the bills and guide the client for payment.
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Components of construction management:

• Construction management is multifaceted task composed of

different components as follows:
➢Physical space
➢Construction materials
➢Machines, equipment and tools
➢Human resources
➢Technology
➢finance

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Necessity of construction management:
• Construction management is essential to have proper coordination
between agencies engaged on the work and to check the following
activities:
➢To effect economy in the cost of construction by adopting new
techniques of construction and supervision (to reduce construction
cost).
➢To check the wastage of materials and labors.
➢To arrange the completion of the work in the minimum possible time
duration.
➢To improve the quality and speed of work by adopting modern
equipment and machineries.
➢To have proper coordination between different agencies (stakeholders)
involved in construction project.
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Characteristics of construction industry:
• Construction industry refers to the industrial branch of manufacturing
and trade related to building, repairing, renovating, and maintaining
infrastructures.
• In a construction industry, on a major project, many business and
agencies of varying size come together for one project.
• The construction industry greatly contributes to social and economic
development of most countries and hence regarded as one of the most
important industries.
• The construction industry has registered an enormous growth world-
wide during the last few decades.
• The developing countries have been engaged in infrastructure
development necessary for their economic growth and social
betterment.
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➢Based on the CIC’s (Construction Intelligence Center), the size of the
world construction market is around US$ 10.3 trillion.
➢It means that this industry is providing the greater employment
opportunity compared to any other industry.
➢Nepalese construction industry- contributed around 10-11 % to GDP.
➢Nepalese construction industry- uses around 35% of government
budget.

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• The major considerations to be made in construction industry are:
✓Time and money pressure.
✓Labor-contractor and subcontractor.
✓Health and safety management legislation.
✓Procurement methods and the influence of major clients.
✓Public sector procurement legislation.

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Classification of construction industry:

➢Building construction industry.

✓All general contractors and operative builders primarily engaged in
the construction of residential, farm, industrial, commercial, or other
buildings.
➢Heavy construction industry.
✓All general contractors primarily engaged in heavy construction other
than building, such as highways and streets, brides, sewers, railroads,
irrigation projects, and flood control projects.

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➢Special trade construction industry.
✓Contractors undertake activities of a type that are specialized either to
building construction, including work on mobile homes, or to both
building and non-building projects such as painting, electrical work,
plumbing.

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Domestic and global construction market:

• The first engineering structure to be built in Nepal was an iron bridge

over river Bagmati in 1850 A.D.
• The first public water supply system was laid in Kathmandu valley
during 1888-1895 A.D.
• The royal palace, the clock tower and the suspension bridge on the
river in Kathmandu were built during these years.
• The first hydro-electric project at Pharping was completed in 1911
A.D.
• The Raxaul-Amlekhgunj Railway line by M/s Martin and Co. Ltd of
Calcutta and Dhursingh-Matatirtha Ropeway by M/s Keyner Son and
Co. of London, were constructed in 1926-1927 A.D.
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• The new age of the Nepalese construction industry started only after
1951.
• The First Five Years Development Plan was started in 1956.
• After that, construction activities in the country boost up
automatically.
• The Industrial Resolution, 1957 adopted by the government of Nepal
declared construction as the “Priority Sector” industry.
• The first act which defined ‘Contractor’ was The Industrial Enterprises
Act 1974, which made provision for the classification and registration
of contractors.

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• Some construction projects like ‘Siddhartha Highway’, ‘Trishuli
hydropower’, and ‘East-West Highway’, etc. were started in Nepal
which were handled by Nepalese contractors for the first time.
• After the completion of these projects, Nepalese contractors began to
appear all over the country and started to take part in the development
work.
• They developed their capital, managerial skill and equipment
simultaneously. Till then construction act had not come into existence
so Nepalese construction industry could not develop so much as it
should have been in the period of Panchayat system.
• After the restoration of the parliamentary democracy in 1989,
Nepalese contractors got some favorable condition to develop their
capacity and got opportunities to take part in several construction
projects. Nepalese contractors then came in position to do all kinds of
national construction works as roads, buildings, dams, etc. except
mega projects.
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Construction’s future outlooks:

• Drinking water supply schemes (less than 80% have access to safer
water).
• Public buildings- newer construction (almost most of them are non-
functioning).
• Different modes of transportation- (railways, waterways, airports).
• Construction of sewer network- under the verge of either collapse or
completely absent).
• Irrigation project- only around 35% of flat land of Terai region
facilitated with).
• Flood control project- (not practiced adequately-technically poor).

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THE END

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