Construction Project Management--Are You On Top of It?

There's no doubt, really. If you have good project management skills, your job runs smoother, you experience fewer scheduling conflicts and you save money. But project management is more than something you learn in college, it's an intuition. If you can't sense growing problems before they become too large to handle, you'll lose time and money.

The basic steps in project management include:

• Listing the project goals.
• Charting the project by phase.
• Determine a chronological order.
• Solicit the experts (subs).
• Create and schedule the time line.
• Tie the project together in a synopsis.

To successfully layout a project management plan, you must start with a  well defined goal and make it fit your budget. If the numbers don't crunch, either you must raise more capital, or revise your project management plan to suit your budget.