Building and Construction Project Management: A Comprehensive Overview

This assignment delves into various facets of building and construction projects. It begins by addressing effective communication strategies on-site, including establishing communication chains and selecting appropriate communication methods. The document then explores methods for ensuring timely fee payments, followed by an examination of project plans, specifications, and contract documentation. It covers estimating and costing plant and equipment, progress payments, and on-site communication activities. Additionally, the assignment discusses unit costs, cost breakdowns, material ordering, and the role of bills of quantities. Contract documents, plant requirements, and trade orders are also analyzed. The assignment concludes with questions on cost and schedule variances, procurement management, and project performance measurement techniques.

Running Head: BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION
Building and Construction (Building)
Student’s Name
Institution

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Question 1: How would you establish clear lines of communication on a construction site?
 Create a communication chain that is formal by having specific points of accessing
relevant information and spreading it to the concerned individuals at a reasonable time.
 Have a suitable platform for messages; at times it may be difficult to convey information
in many paragraphs. Therefore, consider using one- on - one meetings or phone calls.
(Barrick, Thurgood, Smith, & Courtright, 2015)
 Be positive and transparent through trusting, motivating the crew members and showing
the willingness to dialogue openly.
 Use technology that is able to convey crucial information to the crew.
 Convey timely, concise and clear information.
Question 2: Discuss the methods of communication available to you and how to select the
best communication method.
a. Modes of communication
i. Formal briefings that are crucial to communicating to mass audiences.
ii. Newsletters which are suitable for public awareness thus must be colourful and
interesting.
iii. Face to face mode; while communicating face to face, the body language of a person
speak enough about them (Allen, Thallon, & Schreyer, 2017 ).
iv. Poster and notices are suitable for promotions and change of information.
v. Intranet websites are suitable where the culture of the organization promotes it and
where it is posted by appropriate individuals.

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b. Choosing the appropriate mode
A suitable mode must be able to resolve the following issues:
 Who has the responsibility of providing information?
 When is the information needed?
 The kind of project information that may circulate both externally and internally.
 The kind of individual and the type of information they require.
 What channel and format shall be used to convey information?
Question 3: List three points that will assist you in ensuring that fees are paid as due
1. Worker preferences; using a method of payment preferred by workers may probably lead
to them getting their salaries in a reasonable time.
2. Maintaining records; keeping proper invoices of workers may make sure that they are
paid in a reasonable time (Borycki & Kushniruk, 2019).
3. Establish the present risks and confidently put in place measure to prevent loss of money.
Question 3: what types of project plan and specifications may be read and interpreted
1. Plans
Contract drawings which are also known as plans refer to the pictorial summary of the suggested
construction. It is comprised of symbols, lines, levels, dimensions and various graphical
characteristics of the structure (Jefferis, Madsen, & Madsen, 2016).
Usually, professional architects who design buildings offer draughts-persons services of drawing
the project’s drawings. The draughts-persons makes sure that the architect's designs are
conveyed accurately and correctly to the builder (Sweet, Schneier, & Wentz, 2014). The

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architectural designs must also consist of required information with respect to the plan so as to
successfully finish building. Drawings for a single-storey construction should comprise of:
 Site plan
 The floor layout plan views
 Elevations
 Details
 The sewage plan schematic layout
 Sectional view
All the drawings must contain labels, notes and dimensions. Every detail needed in the
construction of houses must be provided to the builders including;
2. Specifications
The role of the specification to give a detailed description of the material type to be applied as
well as complement the drawing. Without specifications, builders cannot tell the grade or type of
material needed. Specifications consist of the quality of work and material quantity required
(Botchway & Kwofie, 2019).
i. The quality of work
It has a direct connection with the material type and it’s the major role of specifications. It offers
clear material description such as the kind of sand for making concrete should be graded well
river sand.

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ii. Quantity
There have never been two buildings that are identical. Therefore, material quantity differs.
Builders must know the material quantity required to finish the suggested structures before
completing the tender and doing costs. Such information is found in the bill of quantities that
comprise of an itemized list of required materials to finish the job (Allen, Thallon, & Schreyer,
2017 ).
iii. Documentation of contracts
It comprises of state of contracts and deals with issues in respect with:
 The extent of the job to be performed
 Site access
 The contract’s completion and start dates
 The worker’s safety and health as well as the public generally
 Arrangements for material storage
 Temporary site services in terms of toilets, electricity and connection of water
iv. Payment of Contractors
Building contractors are not paid in advance but for the services rendered. The payments are
called interim payments. Contractors should be paid monthly in case of big projects while
payments in small projects are rendered at various stages of construction progress.

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Question 4: What types of plant and equipment may be estimated and costed for a
building/Construction project?
Types of construction equipment and plant commonly used are (Schaufelberger & Migliaccio,
2019 ):
 Bulldozers
 Air compressed plant
 Breakers
 Concreting plants
 Bituminous laying and mixing plants
 Cherry pickers
 Construction skip
 Dumpers
 Excavator
Question 4: What are progress payments?
Progress billing helps contractors in billing their clients as the project goes on. In order for the
progress billing to be successful, contractors and clients need to agree on a payment schedule
upon the submission of invoices for payment (Flood, 2015). Payments are done on a percentage
that is verified for the completion of the project. Payments are divided in the course of the
project depending on a specific set milestone of either or both parties. The remaining balance is
paid to the contractor upon the client’s satisfaction and on completion of the project.
Question 5: What are examples of on-site communications activities and processes?

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1. Communication activities
Generally, there exists 3 communication forms namely:
 Written form such as reports, emails, legal documents, letters and plans
 Oral form such as meeting, telephone, presentations and face to face
 Non-verbal form such as gestures
2. Processes of communication
Processes of communication are very critical in offering relevant data so as to transmit messages
clearly and understanding among different stakeholders performing the project. Essential
communication processes involved in the course the project's tendering stages include
presentation, formal letters, calculations and contracts so as contractors can secure bids to
perform a particular project (Pedersen, Chalmers, & Broenink, 2019).
Question 5: What unit cost may be determined and applied to the estimated projected cost?
Beyond the wide classes of indirect and direct costs, expenses towards the project are among the
specific costs (Hares, Taher, & Budayan, 2019). The following list consists of common
expenses:
 Costs of maintaining and buying equipment
 Costs of labour
 Costs of resources and materials required to produce products
 Hardware costs
 Contingency expenses to deal with certain risks
 Software costs
 Costs for rendered services

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 Costs of using or renting facilities and services
Question 6: How many toilets must be provided on-site during construction?
Separate toilets must be generally provided at work sites in cases of both female and male
employees. On the contrary, a single unisex toilet should be offered in at work sites consisting of
both female and male employees given that:
 The total population of workers at the site are 10 or below
 Workers of a single gender are two or one
Unisex toilets must contain a single washbasin, a closet pan and sanitary disposal bin.
employees urinals Closet pans
Females N\A One for 5 females
Males One for 25 males One for 20 males
Table 1 above shows the ratios for separate toilets at sites (Hacker, Kaminsky, & Faust, 2019).
Question 6: What breakdown of costs may be included in the completed estimated
projected cost?
 Assessment of the labour requirements
It is important to establish the salaries of the workers putting into account salary inflations and
raises.
 Budget for travel

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It is essential to account for parking costs, travel transport and hotel costs used by workers for
meetings for purposes of presenting findings. Apply balanced travel options that are practical
with rates that are reasonable.
 Consider the costs of various supports
In most cases, external support is useful in the completion of the project (González-Vallejo,
Muñoz-Sanguinetti, & Marrero, 2019). The additional notes for every contractual cost in the
direct costs budget is important.
Question 7: Outline how you would order materials for your construction project
 Take advantage of wholesale gains
Wholesale buying allows one to purchase huge volumes of products from producers and sell in
very small amounts to customers. Therefore, purchasing of materials in huge amounts saves
money compared to retail (Pheng & Hou, 2019).
 Select materials to be purchased wholesale
It is vital to make a list of construction materials to be bought wholesale since wholesale offers
huge amounts of materials at a cost-effective price. The retail price of construction materials
required must be estimated because not all materials may be found at wholesale costs
(Sfakianaki, 2019).
 Wholesale goods Selection and finding

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Online sourcing of construction materials at wholesale is most the convenient method. Engaging
online building wholesalers enable an individual to order a variety of materials from numerous
vendors at convenient costs.
Question 7: what is a bill of quantities?
The cost consultant prepares the billing quantities document that outlines the specific measured
amounts of the project’s work items provided by the specifications and drawings in the tender
document (Liu, Liu, Zhao, & Li, 2019). Quantities are measured in area, weight, length, time and
volume.
Tenderers prepare and calculate the costs for performing the works with the help of the bill of
quantities. Contractors set prices for every item by tendering the bill of quantities. The bill of
quantities with prices is the offer by the tenderer (Ikuabe & Oke, 2019). It is easy to compare the
individual and overall prices of items with offers by tenderers, hence, a comprehensive
assessment leading to tender negotiations.
Question 8: What do contract documents include?
Contract documents outline the responsibilities and obligations of a party to a contract. A
building project designed fully, the contract documentation for suppliers consist of (Roshnavand,
Nik-Bakht, & Han, 2019):
 Conditions of the contract and Articles of the agreement for the completion of the
contract
 Work schedules
 Working drawing
 Specifications

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 A tender adjustment schedule
 Bill of quantities
 Provisions for contractors to offer performance bonds and acquire collateral warranty
from suppliers or sub-contractors.
Question 8: How do you plan the plant requirements?
Management and planning requirements should be undertaken in 3 stages namely: during the
tender stages, assigning of the contract and the period of construction.
In the course of the tender stages, the requirements for the plant project are prepared in the tender
program. After the contract has been assigned, managers of the project come up with a second
program need, that is, the contract program (Aziz & Hashim, 2019). It is more comprehensive
compared to the tender program. The contract program outlines the project owner and architect’s
inputs, hence, offering a basis for monitoring the project.
The contract program is implemented during the construction stage. The construction program
provides guidelines on the needed work at the site. The program can also be renegotiated upon
changes in the project (Li, Peng, Huang, & Qin, 2019).
Question 9: The contract administration function includes:
The answer is (D)
Question 9: What would a general accepted Trade Order for compiling a Builder’s Take
Off would be?
 preliminaries

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 Concretor
 Drainer
 Plasterer
 Labourer and excavator
 Woodworker
 Bricklayer
 Glazier
 Plumber
 Roofer
 Electrician
 Painter
 Wall tiller
 Metalworker
 Provisional items
 Groundworks
 Gasfitter
 Internal linings
Question 10: If the cost variance is positive and the schedule variance is also positive, then
it indicates that…
The answer is (A)