Centered on Solutions: Winning More Claims with Strategic Project Management (Part 1)
Part one of a series discussing best practices to address the claims process, starting with two of the five essentials to strategic project management: Scope and Resource.
In a perfect world, every job runs smoothly; there are never delays, everything is done in sequence, and contractors make the profit (or better) identified on bid day. Unfortunately, construction projects are rarely perfect. Material shipments are late, incomplete or just wrong. Other trades fall behind in their work and that causes delays for the crew. Even the weather can affect the project. Contractors might be asked to jump around and work out of sequence and as a result, overtime may be forced on the crew.
When the economy was better, an important strategy was to pick the territory wisely, hand pick the clients, choose the kind of work that was in the sweet spot and negotiate a project rather than hard bid it. In a stronger economy, contractors think in terms of relationships. In a down economy, like now, contractors find themselves hard-bidding jobs against 30 competitors, bidding on jobs out of town, working for clients that are difficult and for whom they would not typically work. Contractors find themselves fighting tooth and nail for every dollar and focusing on every change order. Projects naturally start from a place of stress. Managing the project each and every day is the foundation to maintaining profits and winning claims.