Project management : The programme
Robert Merry is an independent Stone Consultant and Project Manger who also runs training courses on project management. In this series he sets out some guiding principles for successful estimating and project management. This issue he discusses: Programmes
Last time we discussed the documents related directly to tendering a project. To summarise: bill of quantity + drawings + specification + finishes schedule = The tender / estimate.
Now you have costed the basics – stone + man power (fixers) + manufacture + adhesives / fixings + profit – you need to work out how long the project is going to take from order to handover.
Consider the following: sample approval, testing stone, stone procurement, drawings and / or templates, delivery, distribution on-site installation, protection, grouting, clean and seal and handover.
Also check the documents for the site hours, weekend working and any restrictions on delivery. These will all effect your programme and costs. Then, and only then, will you be able to understand the size of the project and how many personnel it will involve. This will be your draft programme.
At this point, I usually have to sit down and take some deep breaths, a drink of sweet tea and consume a large packet of chocolate biscuits. This is not only due to the realisation of the gap between current resources and those required to complete the project, but also a ridiculously sweet tooth. But I am sure you are made of sterner stuff than I am.
If you have been provided with a programme by the builder in the tender documents, check to see how far your programme and the builder’s are adrift. It may be that the stone chosen is difficult to procure and the builders programme is not realistic. If so, tell them.
The builder and the project team will be more appreciative of your honesty at this stage than if you let them know too late, when it could effect the rest of the project programme. They want to employ a contractor they can trust and who has knowledge. Be the expert.
Interrogate your supplier and extract fact from sales-pitch fiction. I took an architect and a builder to a Portoro Marble Quarry in the hillside above La Spezia, Northern Italy. The visit was cloaked in mystery as the quarryman didn’t want anyone to see his method of extraction – or, I suspected later, his disregard for health & safety. No cameras allowed. My Italian supplier drove us all there after a seaside restaurant lunch.
The entrance to the quarry was a long narrow tunnel cut into the side of the hill. At the end of the tunnel we descended a treacherous slope to the quarry face. After viewing beds of Portoro in a deep cavern by a dim light, the architect made his selection.
Returning to the entrance we noticed a perfect block of Portoro. My supplier assured me our selection would be exactly the same, but this particular block was sold. The architect took out a video camera (OK outside the quarry) and started filming the block.
After the architect had spent 20 minutes capturing every detail of the block to show his client, my supplier took me to one side. The quarryman had just told him this block was not the same as the architect’s selection. If we wanted a block to match this one it would take twice as long to extract from a different part of the quarry.
I took a deep breath and explained this to the builder and the architect. I figured the truth would be sweeter in the Italian sunshine. The result was a thank you for my honesty and expertise. If the stone had arrived in London and been different from the video footage, it would have been a disaster for the programme… not to mention the finances! The video footage was taped over and a sample accepted instead.