5 Benefits of Hiring Construction Managers

In construction, completing a project successfully is possible through effective management. However, completing a quality project on time and within the budget is not an easy feat. This requires strategic time and resource planning, monitoring of progress, and effective collaboration among all teams involved.

The construction of small to large infrastructure is becoming increasingly complex. In addition to the arduous end-to-end project management, there are also contractual and regulatory requirements that need to be handled. With all these complicated processes, construction know-how is critical to ensure that the project will run smoothly. Without it, the pitfalls associated with construction may be more costly.

Now, let us look at the ins and outs of construction management and why hiring a construction manager can save you time and money.

A quick guide to construction management

Construction management is a professional service that ensures effective management of a project through optimizing the project management triangle—scope, cost, and quality, which determine the overall project quality. Construction management uses specialized techniques to oversee the planning, design, and construction of a project.

A project manager acts as your consultant and representative throughout the entire project. They manage the day-to-day requirements of your build-out. This includes creating the work schedules, delegating tasks, overseeing the logistics and manpower, setting budgets, providing progress updates to the client, and mitigating construction risks.

Hiring a construction manager is more cost-effective than proceeding with a project without professional guidance. A construction manager has your best interest in mind, keeping projects secure from potential risks in the long run and ensuring that the entire process is beneficial for construction owners.

Advantages of hiring a construction manager

Let’s talk about why it’s advantageous to hire a construction manager for your next project.

1. Provides objective and expert recommendations

Construction managers’ key role includes providing objective management and technical expertise. Well-versed project managers can envision the destination and plot the best route to get there.

Construction managers fluently use specialized methods and techniques to efficiently manage the planning, design, construction, and assessment processes of a project. They interpret contracts and technical drawings, coordinate the bidding process for all team members, advise the client on the most appropriate undertakings, coordinate required disciplines, and ensure that the project is running as imagined.

2. Helps reduce capital outlay

When a detailed work scope has been laid out and the total budget for the project has been identified during the early pre-construction phase, savings opportunities are determined. In this area, construction managers help by providing budgeting techniques, cost estimating services, and professional feedback on the project plan. This early budgeting and scheduling approach can help the client avoid potential budget spike-ups caused by change orders done at a later stage. In addition, construction managers maintain strict cost control of the process, so the client won’t have to worry about shelling out for additional project expenditures.

3. Ensures projects run on schedule

Among construction managers’ scope of work include creating and managing the project, managing construction workers, and deciding their schedules. Alongside ensuring that target schedules are met, they also make sure everything is moving towards the right direction or the goal of construction.

Scheduling outlines the pace of work, list of tasks, start and end dates, and working schedules of construction workers. When done effectively, teams involved in the project can clearly see the progress of a project, have a clear vista of the next steps, and meet deadlines. This also allows the client to expect results and see what has been accomplished. Without scheduling, time may be aimlessly spent on activities that don’t help with project completion.

4. Streamlines a project while minimizing risks

As the project moves forward, construction managers continue to scout for ways to optimize the process and ameliorate the expected final construction result. They make it a goal to also fast-track a project to reduce completion time.

Construction managers usually divide projects into phases to reduce completion time. They also consider fast-track construction, a technique that decreases the overall duration of a project by overlapping tasks that would not be commenced on a traditional contract until a previous task was completed.

Stamping out project scope creep and reducing change orders can result in significant time and cost savings.

5. Uses the principles of value engineering

Value engineering, also referred to as value analysis, is the systematic method of increasing a product's value. It ensures improved functionality while keeping costs low.

Construction managers use the principles of value engineering to solve construction issues, identify and quash unwanted costs, and improve the function and quality of the overall project output. They essentially help optimize the client’s initial and long-term investments.

Though value engineering's methodology can be applied during any part of the design phase, applying the process early will save costs down the line, ensuring a better return on investment (ROI).

The bottom line

While hiring a construction manager will still depend on your overall budget and plan, it may be a worthwhile investment in the long run.

Skillful construction managers will efficiently manage the overall project from pre-construction to post-construction and supervise all the tedious tasks, allowing you to focus on the bigger picture of the plan and have peace of mind. With their expertise, they can help you find innovative solutions to reduce costs and shorten completion time while keeping your budget and schedule followed.