Construction Project Planning : The Essentials

Construction project planning is an essential element in the management and execution of

construction projects. A good construction plan is the basis for developing the budget and the
schedule for work. It involves the definition of work tasks and their interactions, as well as the
assessment of required resources (plant, material and labour) and expected activity durations.
The use of technology is also an important consideration in construction project planning, and it
is important to select the right tools for the job. The extent to which the project planning process
will be used within the context of the intended project control process should also be considered
at the project outset. All project plans should be contractually compliant.

Historically there has often been a distinction between time and cost planning as the figure
illustrates. In terms of project expenditure a distinction is normally made between costs incurred
in the undertaking of an activity and indirect costs not being specific to a construction activity
but required for the overall achievement of the project (such as borrowing expenses and
overhead items). However on other less predictable projects, the scheduling of work activities
over time has been an important part of the construction planning process. Construction planning
techniques like the Critical Path Method (CPM) and Programme Evaluation & Review
Technique (PERT) have since the 1960s been used to undertake scheduling functions.
It is now the norm for construction project planning to consider and integrate both cost and
scheduling over time, so that planning, monitoring and record keeping must consider both
dimensions.

The main components in establishing a project plan are as follows:

1. Set the required project start date

2. Set the required project completion date

3. Select appropriate project methodology or project life cycle

4. Determine the scope of the project in terms of the phases

5. Select the project review methods to be used

6. Identifying any required milestones

7. List tasks, by project phase

8. Estimate the resource necessary to accomplish each task

9. Estimate the resource available to accomplish each task

10. Determining task dependencies

Which tasks can be done in parallel

Which tasks require the completion of other tasks

11. Establish project control or review points

12. Perform project cost estimation and cost-benefit analysis

Costs for each activity can be attributed to each resource, which provides a total project cost. The
project plan should be optimized to achieve an efficient balance between resource usage and
project duration. Once the plan has been developed and agreed, the plan becomes what is known
as the baseline against which progress will be measured throughout the project. Analyzing
progress compared to the baseline is known as earned value analysis. The baseline will be
updated on a regular basis to account for project changes such as additional works and variations
and to develop mitigation strategies if delay or disruption has occurred. This is commonly known
as change management.
With the continued development of computer applications to help undertake the complex
calculations required to accurately determine completion dates and key milestones and with their
ability to incorporate resource and costs quantities within their calculations, scheduling has now
become an important part of the project control system. Leading Project Planning systems such
as Primavera now enable robust and dynamic models to be developed which can be used for
change management, project monitoring, delay analysis and project forecasting.