Construction Management and Economics: Importance of Project Planning

Running head: CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS
Construction Management and Economics: Importance of Project Planning
Name of Student
Name of University’
Author Note

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CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS
Introduction
Development of a property is an intensive task that requires a lot of research and
specification analysis in order to reach a successful completion. There are different factors that
are significant in the successful project completion and the factors that are evaluated at the
beginning of implementation of the project life cycle has the highest influence of the project and
its related outcomes (Kerzner 2013). In any project, the client is the key decision maker and
therefore, presence of proper feedback path is necessary throughout the implementation of the
project. Proper decision-making plays a key role in proper development of any project and
largely affects the viability of any project. Therefore, it can certainly be said that there are
certain factors that influences the proper implementation of the project. These factors can be
termed as the project success criteria or variables that measure the success of a project. These
criteria mainly affect and evaluate the size, complexity, duration, type and requirement of the
stakeholders associated with the project. The success criteria of the project refer to some
measurable and non-measurable items. The essay discusses the different factors that contribute to
the successful development of the project (Sears et al. 2015). Project inception or the planning
phase is an important phase of any project development life cycle. The primary goal of a project
is to gain the stakeholder’s consensus and evaluate the different requirements and objectives of
the project. This project is undertaken in order to develop a property. The property is to be
constructed by properly evaluating the different criteria specified by the client (Walker 2015).
This project scope phase of the construction project management is responsible for setting up of
realistic project goals that the entire project team will adhere to throughout the project
implementation phase (Fageha and Aibinu 2013). The essay discusses the overall viability of the

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project that is associated with the construction of Salamander resort and Spa, by analyzing the
overall viability of the project.
Client Brief Details
The project is based on a company that is formed in the 2005. The client for this project
is Salamander Development, LLC. The main major goal of the client is to develop a project that
will provide its clients unforgettable experiences. The company mainly specializes on
management of the luxury hotels and resorts and this project aims at developing similar resort.
The main focus of the client is to gain customer satisfaction thorough the project. The major
funding of this project comes from the company Salamander Hospitality. Since the project size is
considerably large, the company is aiming to develop the project in such a manner that will
minimize the cost impact of the changes on the overall project.
The owner of this project expects a high quality product that will serve the needs of its
clients. Therefore, a contractor is hired for the project that will look after the entire
constructional work associated with the project. For this, the cost and schedule of the project is
needed to be estimated before the initiation of the project in order to implement the project
successfully. General estimate of the costs are used for iteration in the later phases of the project.
The cost and schedule of the project is estimated by evaluating the requirements that is gathered
in the requirement analysis phase of the project life cycle (Pritchard 2013).
However, considering the size of this project, it is not always possible to schedule the
entire project at the project initiation phase. The schedule of the project must be accurate in order
to reduce the number of errors in the execution or implementation stage of the project life cycle.
The client expects a proper cost estimation and feasibility analysis of the project in order to

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eliminate the risk of change in project scope and delay in the project at the later stages of the
project life cycle. For this, certain techniques of cost estimation are applied. These techniques
include parametric estimation where the statistical modeling is used to develop the cost estimate
of the project (Fewings 2013). This method mainly uses historical data of key cost drivers that
helps in proper estimation of the project cost. Bottom up estimation is another technique
employed for proper cost estimation of a project. It uses the estimates of the individual work
packages, which are summarized in order to estimate the cost of the project accurately. Three-
point estimate on the other hand uses the concept of program evaluation and review technique in
order to define an approximate cost of the project. Other techniques include the cost of quality
technique, different project management software and vendor bid analysis. Use of these tools and
techniques is prevalent in project management. The type of contract that the project is likely to
follow is determined in this step. This is essential for planning the project and setting up the
schedule of the project by consulting with the contractor appointed for the project (Burke 2013).
Key Objectives of the selected Project
The objectives of this project are to design and develop a proper constructional project
that meets the requirement of the client. The planning phase of the project is important in
ensuring the success of the project. The key objectives of the project include development of 168
guestrooms, restaurants, conference facilities, a ball room and so on in order to provide effective
services to its customers. The project management process for this project has given a proper
emphasis on the project planning stage in order to eliminate the chances of project failure or the
project facing delays. An architect is appointed for the project in order to plan and design the
project according to the specification of the client. The construction site is located at Middleburg,