Renovation Management Tips to Keep Your Project on Schedule

Renovation projects have a lot of moving parts that must work simultaneously. No wonder, large projects take 20% longer to finish than scheduled and are 80% over budget. From planning to budgeting to hiring to the actual remodeling, all processes have to be coordinated for the whole project to be completed.

Whether it’s the remodeling of government property, shopping mall, or residence, a typical renovation project involves architects, engineers, technicians, delivery drivers working closely on a site. This is why project managers need to effectively plan. They must determine estimates for material costs, hire the best labor, create workflows, and use timesheets that automatically track hours.

In this article, you’ll learn five time management tips for renovation project managers. Regardless of the kind of projects you manage, these tips will show you how building managers can improve productivity in the construction industry. These will help you complete projects in the most efficient way possible.

5 Phases of Renovation Projects

There are five popular phases that a renovation project is expected to go through before it becomes completed. It doesn’t matter if you’re working on the remodeling of a bridge, hospital, stadium, train station, or even your new home. All these phases must be structured and coordinated for your renovation project to be completed within estimated timelines.

Planning

The planning phase involves understanding the client’s requirements and choices. It also involves the labeling of features according to the level of importance and determining the style, size, and scale of the project. Remodeling projects can be as complex as new constructions. So, project managers must be willing to effectively plan and organize all the moving parts in order to avoid poor or delayed finishing.

Budgeting

After projecting the scale of a renovation, you have to work with other licensed engineers, architects, or contractors. You must work with them to determine estimates for materials and equipment that would be needed throughout the lifecycle of that renovation. Depending on the kind of project, you may require bulldozers for demolition, earth moving equipment, material delivery equipment, and even the workers to handle them. However, ensure that you’re not spending on equipment or labor that you don’t need.

Demolition

This phase involves removing parts of the building that have to be reconstructed to meet new requirements. Depending on the nature of the structure, you may have to deal with destroying walls, decks, floors, or even wiring. This stage can affect the estimated timeline of the project if attention isn’t given to proper measurements and new fittings that must be constructed.

Construction

This involves building new features and reconstructing existing ones to meet the new requirement and style. This can take the longest time depending on the size of the project. If you’re remodeling a granny flat, it shouldn’t be so complex and time-consuming like the renovation of an entire property.

Clearing

Cleaning up can be as labor-demanding as the other phases of renovation projects. It involves removing both demolition and construction debris that can almost take forever to be cleared.

5 Time Management Tips for Renovation Projects

Plan Early and Create Timelines

Planning is a critical phase that happens before work begins on the site. Oftentimes, it also needed across the lifecycle of the project. As you have seen before now, it involves determining the best construction methods, workers, and estimating timelines for different stages up till completion.

Planning also means ensuring that the required materials, equipment, and resources are available when needed. The timely delivery of construction materials affects the overall time that would be spent on the whole renovation project. Contingencies can likely occur at any phase of a renovation project. Even so, setting objectives and estimated timelines would help you stay in control of the entire process no matter what goes wrong. Moreover, an average of 35% of all construction projects will have a major change before it’s completed.

Develop Benchmarks

Construction project managers use benchmarks to determine and evaluate project performance. Without them, it’s hard to estimate timelines, budgets, and accurately track the progress of the project. Benchmarking is highly important for managers who want to monitor the status and progress of construction projects throughout the entire lifecycle.

Hire the Best and Adequate Number of Workers

It’s not enough to estimate timelines for a renovation project. Without the right contractors who can efficiently handle different tasks, your project will either be delivered poorly and/or late. Not all construction workers will be hired on a full-time basis, so you must properly identify who does what, why, when, and how.

Depending on the size of the project, some workers may need to act as group managers that report to the project manager. This will shorten the feedback chain, save time, and make communication easier.

Use Time Tracking Apps

Cloud-based time tracking solutions are helping managers to assign tasks, record timesheets, and manage billings for construction workers. With a time tracker, you can create and categorize projects, as well as set up and assign tasks. You can even monitor the number of hours each contractor has worked for per day while seeing the progress on each project. However, there is a ton of productivity and time tracking software in the market. So, you must carefully analyze app features and determine their benefits before you choose a time tracker for your renovation project.

Proper Delegation

It’s not enough to hire the best construction workers in their numbers. Without effective delegation, time is wasted and tasks will be left unattended. However, the distribution of tasks doesn’t mean that you have to micromanage workers.

It involves trusting them with new responsibilities that match their skills, ensuring they’re able to deliver. Although it’s hard to complete renovation projects without unforeseen changes, proper delegation makes it easier to handle challenges whenever they occur.

Conclusion

According to KPMG, only 25% of projects come within 10% of their original deadlines. That is why effective time management is required to complete renovation and/or construction projects. Of course, proper use of time is important in the construction industry. After all, the efficient use of energy and billable hours eventually lowers the actual overall cost of completing a project. Fore info about betting find on   

However, it also involves hiring the best workers, providing materials and equipment, and following the five stages of renovation that have been discussed in this article. By incorporating the five time-management tips that have been outlined in this article, your renovation project will be highly organized, efficient, and productive going forward.