Continuing on our Commercial Project Roadmap: Step 2

Nov 24, 2022 | Commercial and Industrial

Hopefully, some of our tips last month on good planning for commercial projects were of use to you.

This month, we’re moving on to Step 2 on our ‘Roadmap to success’ for commercial projects.

STEP 2: NOMINATE A PROJECT TEAM

As with many projects, questions and challenges will arise and decisions will need to be made along the way. To give yourself the best chance of working through these successfully, we recommend that you nominate a project team from the get-go to manage the project on behalf of the company.

What are the benefits of having a project team?

Nominating a project management team and giving project team members the capability to focus specifically on project works will ensure timeliness and efficiency. A suitably qualified project team enables fast decision-making without the need for time-consuming team meetings. It is important not to delay the works, because delays often lead to upset builders and inflated costs.

How many people should be in the project team?

Three may be a crowd, or so “they” say.

However, in our experience, a team membership of three works well. First of all, being an odd number, there can never be a deadlock in decision-making. It’s also a good number of people to share the load and enough to ensure that the project doesn’t come to a dead stop when one person falls ill or is away on holidays.

If more people are interested in being involved, don’t turn them away — there is plenty for all to do. Our recommendation of a 3-person team membership is a minimum, not a maximum.

Who should be in the project team?

In every company, there are construction-orientated people who like to be involved and others who will sit back and watch on from the sidelines. It makes sense to lean on those who are keen to jump in and get their hands dirty. The three or more team members should be interested and have the capacity to dedicate time to the project.

Anyone with direct experience in managing a project would be beneficial. However, the desire to be involved is far more important than experience. A project will go nowhere fast if a team member is unable to be found or slow to respond to queries.

How much responsibility should a project team have?

This is up to each company. The approval limits of the team should be agreed and documented before the project starts. When setting the limitations of the project team, it is important to remember their function. They should be able to make prompt decisions to allow for the day-to-day continuation of the project.

You may wish to consider making it a requirement to escalate information or decision-making to people outside the project team when one of the following incidents occurs. (You may be able to think of others.)

  • There is a significant change to the intended appearance of the subject works.
  • There is an item that will cost more than the originally approved amount.
  • Something arises that will extend the project timeline.
  • An issue occurs that will have a greater impact on daily operations than originally anticipated.

Most importantly, once a project team’s scope and powers has been established, the team should be authorised to act on behalf of the company and make decisions in the company’s best interests.

Now that you’ve identified your project team members and the team’s level of responsibility, you’ll need to work out whether you need a project team manager. Watch this space — we’ll bring you some tips on this next month in Step 3 of the ‘Roadmap to success’.

If you’re keen to get going before then but need some help to do so, or maybe just need a hand with general maintenance tasks, we’re here for you at Core4. You can find us at:

Head Office (AU)
7/121 Newmarket Road
Windsor QLD 4030
www.core4service.com.au
hello@core4service.com
1300 267 333

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