Construction project managers use modern management techniques to achieve construction objectives. At a high-level, a construction project manager must track the planning, coordination, and execution of the construction projects they are assigned to. Construction projects include many complicated tasks that require strong skills in communication and knowledge of the construction process. Tracking construction projects typically includes cost management, time management, safety management, quality control, contracts, equipment management and much more.
For construction cost management, the project manager must keep track of all costs including labor, equipment, vendors, material, and all other costs. Construction companies will typically have an internal job number to track cost of sales, profit and loss.
Time management tracking is important to ensure proper classification and pay. Typically, hours are divided by time of day or day of week, for example premium time, straight time, overtime. Construction workers may receive a per-diem. Workers are required to be paid the correct amount on time, so construction time management is vital to ensure a construction companies’ workers can pay their bills on time.
Safety management includes ensuring employees have proper PPE, equipment with current calibration dates, and access to important documents and manuals. For this reason, tracking safety data can be extremely valuable for a construction company’s employees’ well-being.
Tracking quality control inspections, items or inspections, any corrected items, is also very important to the construction company so that they can get paid for the work that was completed.
Construction often requires heavy equipment and machinery, much of this must be certified quarterly or yearly. Duties such as BIT inspection, annual dialectic testing, and safety inspections are important to get right. Tracking construction equipment allows easy reporting on the current condition of a fleet department.
Construction projects will be tracked by a customer job number and an internal job number. Work may be divided out by internal department or customers’ department. There may be further fragmentation within a customer’s major departments such as north or south, whereas north contains another set of departments.
Work type is often tracked to indicate material needed and estimated completion date. Location is important to track when dealing with infrastructure because it is all over the map, instead of a single controlled construction environment. Keeping tools secure can prevent your job from being shut down due to a missing tool. If you’re interested in RFID tool tracking scenarios, try this free 13-page ebook.
Tracking construction projects will often also include status, project manager, the foreman who completed the project, clerical information, schedule information, and supporting construction project documents.
