The quality of project management determines how well a project is managed and how successful it will be.
But how do you measure the quality of project management? In fact, what is construction project management?
Construction project management means organizing and directing every part of the construction life cycle, from planning and ideation to completion. It’s the very basis of a project, as it dictates the timeline, resources, and budget used.
In this guide, we discuss how you can measure the quality of construction project management. We also talk about a few key performance indicators you can measure.
What is quality measurement in construction project management?
Quality measurement involves analyzing, assessing, evaluating, and monitoring a construction project throughout its life cycle. The goal is to identify potential issues before they can cause problems or disruptions.
The value of new private construction in the US is $1,429 billion. With such a large investment in the space, effective project management is mandatory.
What is a quality incident?
To understand quality measurement in detail, it’s essential to understand what a quality incident is. It is a single predictive quality metric that captures whether quality processes were implemented properly or not. There are four primary categories of quality incidents:
- Water Infiltration – It encompasses any water event, such as site, system, or weather, that resulted in damage to the existing construction structure or required cleanup efforts.
- Missed Key Project Activity – A project activity is any task the construction workers have to complete in a project. Some examples of project activities include welding, painting, and electrical work. If the project team was unable to complete an activity in the predetermined and planned time, this is a missed key project activity.
- Major Rework – Did the project require any major rework of a value of more than a certain limit, such as $2,500? Did this rework impact the design partners, contractors, project owner, or project schedule?
- Failed Test – It includes any test the project team failed that they expected to pass.
Which information should you capture for quality incidents?
When using quality incidents to measure the quality of construction project management, it’s crucial to track several key metrics. These include:
- Work category (water infiltration, missed key project activity, major rework, or failed test)
- Time it took to resolve the issue
- Cost of resolution
- Whether the problem was fixed completely
These metrics will help you understand how well the project team managed a particular incident. You can also use some additional information, such as the primary cause of the incident, implications to schedule, category, etc.
How to measure the quality of construction project management?
You can measure the quality of construction project management quantitatively or qualitatively. Both approaches have their merits and drawbacks.
Qualitative Measurement
There are many factors that affect the quality of a project. Some of them are:
- Clear communication with all stakeholders
- Setting and adhering to project milestones and deadlines
- Achieving budget goals
- Having a clear and organized work plan
- Making sure all personnel involved are properly trained
- Ensuring any required permits or licenses are obtained
You can measure these factors qualitatively by assigning them a score on a scale from 0-10. It will give you an indication of how well the project managers have done in each respect.
Quantitative Measurement
Most project teams opt for quantitative measurement of project management quality since it’s easier to track, analyze, and compare. The quantitative metrics may be process or product.
Process Metrics
Process metrics measure how well processes are conducted in the construction project. These indicators include:
- Process Loops – A process loop determines if the process allows you to achieve the desired outputs. Your process is in a loop if you have to return to a previous step or activity, repeating the process path once or multiple times.
- Process Change – In this metric, you assess the performance of construction processes against the targets you had defined for them during planning. By understanding this, you can determine if there’s room for improvement or if you’re on the right track.
- Process Improvements – It assesses the changes in the process that have been made over time to improve its performance.
Product Metrics
Product metrics look at the tangible outcomes of the project. These metrics can include the following:
Usability – Is the outcome of the construction project (a building or structure) easy to use? Does it serve the purpose it was made for?
- Durability – Does the product meet the industry standards for longevity and resistance against wear and tear? Ideally, you should have the highest possible score in this metric.
- Quality – How well-made is the structure? Is it constructed using quality materials? Does it look aesthetically pleasing?
- Conformance – If the construction project involved creating something specific, like a building with custom dimensions, does the outcome conform to your plans? The same applies to buildings built with specific area restrictions and weather conditions in mind.
The response to construction project management quality measurement
So, you’ve measured construction project management quality using different metrics. How do you respond to this data?
The most important way to respond to the data collected from quality measurement metrics is to use it as a means of improvement. Suppose your process metrics show that processes are taking longer than expected. Here’s what you should do:
- Identify the cause of delays. Are you short on labor? Is there a lack of resources? Or are there communication breakdowns?
- Once the cause is identified, develop solutions to address it. For instance, if you’re short on labor, consider outsourcing tasks or hiring more team members.
- Create a timeline for implementing the solutions and document it for accountability.
The key is to not merely measure construction project management quality for the sake of it but to use the data for improvement. Review your metrics regularly and use them as a baseline for success.
When to measure construction project management quality
The ideal time to measure construction project management quality is toward the middle of the project when a substantial part of the project has been completed. It’s a perfect time – not too soon and not too late. You still have time to make improvements and prevent disruptions.
CONCLUSION
Measuring construction project management quality is imperative as it allows you to gauge whether the project is progressing as expected. You can measure construction project management quality quantitatively or qualitatively, depending on your preference and the structure of your project.
After you’ve collected the data, use it as a source for improvement and review it regularly to ensure you’re meeting all your goals.
