How to Mitigate Project Delays During Construction Projects?
Construction processes include various aspects in addition to the primary concerns such as hiring, acquiring, and supervising. These include handling anomalies such as project delays which are caused by various reasons such as material damage (this can be assisted through construction takeoff services), legal obligations, labor issues, and many others. All of these need to be managed or mitigated to keep the process beneficial and complete it timely. This includes a number of different tactics and methods which this article will discuss.
What Are Project Delays and What They Do to the Construction Process?
The construction process includes a lot of concerns and requirements. These concerns include deciding and working on a set timeline. Resultantly, this includes a set completion time. This time needs to be managed and achieved properly but as some contractors or builders fail to achieve it, this is a project delay. This delay is caused by various reasons. Similarly, it leads to various unintended outcomes for the projects. some of the common outcomes of project delays include:
- Problems with managing budgets of the projects
- Legal problems, fines, and loss of reputation
- More wages for the hired labor force
- Unable to proceed to the next project
- Problems with the project owners
- Loss of the intended purpose of the project
And others. All of these are dangerous for contractors and thus should be avoided. Then remains the question of how to mitigate project delays for timely completion.
Ways to Mitigate Project Delays During Construction Projects
There can be various ways to avoid delay from ever happening but this article discusses mitigation which relates to existing delays. These too can be managed through various steps. These steps are:
Optimize work and break time
Once there is a delay, it can be due to the unavailability of an adequate labor force for the project. This problem can be mitigated to a great extent by managing work and break time. but be precise with this. Do not overburden your labor force as it can lead to quits which could worsen the situation. Manage optimization as gently as possible while keeping the labor force happy as well.
Reassign duties as per the need
Labor problems can also be managed through reassigning. Often you are not fully utilizing a person’s capacity because the person is assigned to the wrong job. when you are already in crisis, it may sound daring but it is time to assign individuals to the duties they have wanted but could not be able to get it. This will automatically motivate the individual to work more in their capacity and handle the problem to a great extent.
Make good use of the available materials
Often delays can be the result of material anomaly. This could be a shortage of the required materials in the market. This could mean a halt of progress until the set materials are not available. But as an attempt to mitigate the problem, you can make use of the available materials. This includes using most materials to manage work to a satisfactory outcome. Use this only if the material can be substituted properly otherwise do not risk the integrity of the project.
Negotiate the delay both legally and personally
Project delays can cause various problems for your work and reputation. While you cannot get back on track, an effective decision you can take is to go for negotiation with the concerned party to avert the adviser effects. This is not an easy task but it can save you from a lot of problems. This includes negotiating with project owners to avoid personal problems and negotiating with legal authorities to avoid legal problems.
Manage your labor force to work in parallel
If your work progress is lacking, you can look to operate construction activities parallel. This can be done by rearranging your labor force and sometimes could require hiring a new labor force. Working parallel can save you a lot of time to compensate for the valuable time lost in the project delay and put to back on track to manage your work progress.
Add a new shift with new laborers
A similar step to mitigate project delays is going for a new shift. This would require a new labor force surely. This new labor force will operate possibly at different working hours to manage the work lag to make it to the right space. This is often done with hiring labor for a small period of time and after the work is managed to the right pace, they are relieved from the job. But this should be declared before employment.
Outsource some of the lag in the work
If you are looking to hire a new labor force and start a new shift. You can outsource your work lag to meet the completion time. The outsourced contractor will manage the project delay in this way. Also, it will help you mitigate and possibly cover up the delay for the better. Furthermore, it will help you with continuing your progress as planned at the start.
Look for some means to bypass lengthy processes
This is a very rare possibility but if progress can be achieved some eliminate some tasks such as eliminating breaks. This too can help you mitigate the project delays and achieve the intended outcome without very little effort. But at the same time, make sure that the health of your labor force and the project are not damaged by this decision.
These are some of the common and easy ways to mitigate project delays.
Conclusion
Managing construction projects comes with various sorts of decisions and activities other than hiring and acquiring. These include managing project delays. This can be devasting and thus needs proper management. While these can also be averted from happening, once they happen their management is needed. In this regard, the article discusses some of the steps to mitigate them.
