Bidding mistakes and critical errors are the most common issues when reviewing proposals and bids. Estimators and project managers spend countless hours behind the desk, completing their assessment to fail in the simplest things during the bidding process. This article presents the most common bidding mistakes and how to avoid them from happening. I can’t bid for you but once you have read
Primavera P6 and Construction
Articles that focus on using Primavera P6 in the Construction industry.
7 Inspiring Construction Videos You Should Watch
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There is so much to go through and learn about construction, but it doesn’t always have to be concepts and schemes. There are many construction wonders around the world and equipment’s to know about. We’ve put together a list of 7 construction videos that you must see. You can either enhance your construction knowledge, get inspired or at least be entertained. Take some time out, unwind and
6 Construction Insurance Policies You Should Know About
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Construction insurances are one of the most important topics every construction professional needs to understand. There are many alternatives and insurance policies out there and missing one or two can be detrimental to your bidding opportunity. Construction firms or construction professionals acting as individuals are required to present evidence of their coverage's as it creates a better
What Is Greenfield And Brownfield Engineering?
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Greenfield engineering or greenfield construction is the process of developing a new building or structure over a piece of land that has never been developed. There are many advantages of developing over greenfield but not so much when you are talking about Brownfields. Brownfield engineering is related to developing or building over a property that was previously developed and requires additional
5 Tactics To Get Your P6 Project Taken Seriously
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The other day I spoke with a scheduler friend of mine by phone to see how his construction project was coming along. From the moment I asked question “So how is the project going?” I could hear that something was up. “Good…. It’s fine. Things are moving.” “Still making progress?” “Yeah, sure.” He answered. But I could hear the frustration in his voice. I dug a bit deeper to see just
New Stats: Global Construction Dispute Trends
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Update: [Arcadis Contract Solutions 2018 Report] Arcadis Contract Solutions released their Global Construction Disputes 2017 Report – Avoiding the same pitfalls. The 30-page report offers insight into the global construction contract landscape with recent stats and trends about constructions disputes. According to Arcadis, in 2014, the most common cause of disputes was a failure to properly
5 Reasons Construction Needs Real-Time Site Updates
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The construction industry is a huge bundle of complex processes. There is no straight forward structure that allows people to identify problems quickly and solve them. A simple method doesn’t exist. Any given project requires a lot of people to interact and a huge amount of information is generated. How can we make this situation better? Collaboration is the answer. I think, almost everyone
How Construction Companies Manage Communications Effectively
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93 out of 100 construction professionals agree that communication is the key to a successful project. Companies are looking to closing gaps in communication that are hindering their productivity, so they can minimize costly errors related to poor communication. The remaining 7% believes that communication is not a key factor in a project and oh boy they are so wrong. Photo When
How To Manage Changes in Your Construction Project
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How do you manage budget, scope and time? Which one should you prioritize? Many times, we have encountered this situation and it seems like no one has the right answer. Managing change orders in construction projects can be cumbersome and potentially derail the project success. Managing changes requires skills and knowledge to find the sweet spot balancing the triple constraint in project
17 Construction Mobile Apps Every Contractor Should Know About
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We’ve all become accustomed to using our smartphones for vital things like banking and email, but did you ever think you would be using it to track where you last left your tools? Mobile apps are helping to speed up business processes and make it easier to access and record information. And new innovative apps are helping construction professionals get results too. In 2014, 36% of construction
4 Things Construction Owners Don’t Know About Scheduling
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Construction owners include a wide range of individuals, corporations, and governments. Their knowledge in construction project management also differs vastly. Owners hire contractors to build projects for them obviously because the contractor possesses the knowledge and capability to do so. The question remains: what is the Owner’s role in monitoring the project, and how can he/she/they do it
Optimum Scheduling: Thinking Outside Of the Construction Schedule
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In the summer of 2008, I took a job as a project controls manager for a mega project in the Arabian/Persian Gulf. When looking at the CPM (Critical Path Method) schedule for the project, I saw huge excavation activities scheduled during that summer. Immediately, I thought of productivities under burning heat with temperature reaching and exceeding 50? Celsius (122 Fahrenheit). My first reaction
Concrete: 4 Innovations You’ve Never Heard Of
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Concrete -- a material that can trace its interactions with humans back to the Roman era more than 2,000 years ago -- is the most popular material used today. When tonnage is compared, the use of concrete outweighs plastic, wood, aluminum and steel combined. What's equally amazing about concrete is the material's ability to continuously be the center of innovation. Here are some of the more
Is Modular Construction The Future? [INFOGRAPHIC]
2 Comments![Is Modular Construction The Future? [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://www.planacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/27619871660_a0eef094f8_k-264x200.jpg)
Globally, the construction industry is adopting modular construction over site-built construction more and more. Modular Construction can have up to 50% time-savings overs traditional construction and an average construction time of 180 days. What Is Modular Construction? Modular construction is when independent sections of a structure are built in a controlled site, typically in a plant or
10 Reasons Why Construction Schedules Fail
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This post was originally published on the RepOne blog. CPM Schedules invariably become erroneous, despite best practices, when the rest of the team isn’t pulling their own weight. The integrity of the schedule may have nothing to do with why it became useless or meaningless, or as I like to say, a recorder more than a predictor of the critical path and progress. If the project is large and has
Ghost Schedules: An Overview for Project Controllers
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Any project controls professional knows that during the course of a project multiple versions of a project schedule will be created. Schedules are often created at different levels. It usually takes a few iterations to get to an agree-upon baseline. Then there are progress schedules, scenario schedules, mitigation schedules, and perhaps even a recovery schedule. But what about ghost schedules?
Top 4 Tech Trends In Construction And Engineering
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Technology is taking over the world. Technology that we never thought would dominate has become a staple when it comes to planning and executing a project in construction and engineering. According to a 2016 survey by PwC, 74% of respondents stated that technological advances are the top global trends that will transform stakeholders' expectations over the next 5 years. Coming in second place
Big Data For Construction: How It Can Help You Deliver Your Project On Time
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Big Data for construction is here - the question is are you ready? But first, what is Big Data? At the AACE Conference last month in Toronto, the keynote speaker was Paul Zikopoulos, a trends expert and VP of Big Data Analytics at IBM. Big Data is a ubiquitous term that refers to the immense amount of data we capturing about all of our interactions online or with devices. Every click online
5 Things I Learned At The AACE Project Controls Conference
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Admittedly, it took us weeks to prepare for. I really wasn't sure we would make it. There was so much to do. Brochures were designed & drawn up, backdrops architected and printed, boxes of business cards were ordered arrived by courier and a myriad of other essentials were procured. We were running our very first tradeshow booth. Being primarily an online company, I didn't realize until this
Construction Scheduling Software – How To Get The Most Out Of Your Solution
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As a leader in your organization, one of the biggest mistakes that you can make in terms of construction scheduling software is focusing on a tool as JUST a time management solution. While having the right solution at your side can certainly help you make sure that a project finishes on time and on budget, the overall functionality of today's construction scheduling software runs a great deal
Construction Project Management Certification – Is It For You?
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According to Payscale.com, over 4,900 construction project managers report making between $48,400 and $105,698 per year. Pay depends on experience and skill set, but construction project managers are often able to find work in most cities across the country and around the world once they obtain the appropriate work history and education, and often a construction project
Location Based Management System: Better Than CPM?
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A location based management system (LBMS) might not be something that is on your radar as a project planner or scheduler -- but it likely will be soon. The concept has deep roots in the United States. The Empire State Building is one of the most well-known examples of using a LBMS, and its use is considered a key factor in the building's rapid completion. While this method of tracking construction
Delay Claim: Lessons From A Primavera P6 Planner
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A few years ago, I worked on a project where I was asked to document a delay claim. I was working as a Primavera P6 planning for an electrical supplier who had subcontracted out the construction of a number of electrical buildings to a fabrication yard. The main design engineer made a number of fundamental design changes in the first year of the project. Communication and contract issues between
6 MEGA Construction TV Shows You May Not Have Known About
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We all need a break sometime, and what better way to unwind than watching and learning about some of the most top-notch modern day builds in the world! Curious about the inner workings of the Panama Canal, or how deep sea drilling is really done, or how engineers constructed the Dubai Race Course among many other superhuman builds? If you're in construction here are some interesting TV shows
Construction Project Acceleration Won Them Millions: How They Did It
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341,000 vehicles a day traveled that section of the Santa Monica Freeway, making it amongst the busiest stretches of freeway in the Unites States of 1994. When the Northridge earthquake struck in January, 2 bridges fell from the I-10 causing death and devastation and leaving the Calfornia Department of Transportation (CalTrans) in a major pickle. The closure of the highway was estimated to have
CSI MasterFormat: What Does It Mean For Construction
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The Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) is the organization that publishes the MasterFormat. This publication is the specifications-writing standard for most of today’s construction and commercial building design projects in North America. Basically, the MasterFormat is an indexing system for the organization of construction data. The information is organized in title divisions, such as
BIM – What Does It Mean For Construction Professionals?
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The acronym BIM stands for building information modeling. It’s a 3D digital representation of physical and functional characteristics of a building. BIM is also a coordinated set of processes that allow for the creation, management and sharing of the properties throughout the entire lifecycle – before, during and after construction. Its models incorporate operational, graphic, environmental,
Just Like The Real Thing – Construction Simulator 2015
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Whether you are in construction or not, you've probably wondered what it would be like to operate a LIEBHERR 81k fast-erecting crane, right? The Construction Simulator is a fun way to experience what its like to be onsite and what it takes to execute simple and complex construction contracts. So what’s all the hype about the Construction Simulator 2015 for Windows? Published by German games
11 Killer Interview Questions For Hiring A Project Controller
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Hiring for any position is always risky business. There are no guarantees once the interview is over that the winning candidate can actually walk the talk and perform up to your needs. From a project controls standpoint, are you hiring people that can walk-in and get up and running quickly? Do they know the software inside and out? Are you certain they have the skills and procedural project
A Basic Overview Of Construction Submittals
Strolled into your office today to a desk buried under a stack of reports? Chances are they’re Construction submittals – samples of designs, shop drawings, diagrams, schedules, and material data that are delivered to an Architect, an Engineer or your client in general. Submittals are used as a tool to track the progress and materials being used, as well as making sure that everything is in
12 Worldwide MEGA Builds – BILLIONS Over Budget [INFOGRAPHIC]
![12 Worldwide MEGA Builds – BILLIONS Over Budget [INFOGRAPHIC]](https://www.planacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/over-budget-e1419350535444-264x200.jpg)
What if you were given a construction project budget of $15 billion and your project ended up costing 3 times that amount once everything was said and done? It might seem outrageous, but it's quite common for major construction builds to double or even be 5 times over budget. So what happens next? Some serious payment plans of course! Was it due to poor cost estimations, unforeseen market
7 Ways to Grow Your Project Management Smarts
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Nov 7th is the 9th annual International Project Management Day. International Project Management Day is a day to be proud of working in project management and to recognize what project managers contribute to the world, one in which so much innovation and progress is due to projects. I just listened to an interview with Frank Saladis, the founder of International Project Management
