Best Practices to Handle High-Complexity Construction Projects

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There are numerous construction project classifications developed to help industry specialists manage plans and strategies: from designing a concept to conducting final inspections, the options are near endless. One (dare we say underrated) option is to categorize a project by the complexity of tasks. Why? Because it has such an immense effect on high-level decision-making and distribution of responsibilities. Following professional advice on how to handle complex projects will help you meet deadlines and expectations more efficiently. In this blog, we’re sharing our time-proven nuts and bolts of building complex project structures!

Complexity explained

First, what is a complex project in construction? Is it simply the size, stakeholders, location? In short, it is the amount of coordination required to successfully execute a project. While many factors contribute to “circumstantial” complexity (such as climate at the location), project type and size set a base level of complexity.

  • Let’s start with type and intended function: building a commercial project like a new hospital is intrinsically more complex than a residential single-family house. There’s a reason why so-called cookie-cutter houses come at a much lower price point and take less time to build than a comparable designer house.
  • In terms of size, planning and outlining safety and technological requirements for an airport involves substantial resources: more people who work on the site, more coordination, organization, project management – all adding layers upon layers of complexity. Larger projects also imply more delegation and distribution of responsibility from major construction industry clients to contractors, all of whom need coordination and create interdependencies.
  • Other complexity factors include location, procurement methods, availability of building materials, regulatory requirements, and even political planning considerations when a project must go through public consultations.

 

Keeping up with Complex Projects

It doesn’t take a fortune teller to see that every construction site has its own challenges, and as a construction manager or stakeholder on a big project, you can use all the tools at your disposal. Let’s walk through some tips that will help you beat this Goliath the smart way.

Staying Updated

They say that Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it sure started with the first bricks and beams – and some good old communication skills to regularly check in with the team working on site and track the schedule. The times of wax plates and stone chiselling like in ancient Rome are (thankfully) over, and we can rely on digital helpers for real-time updates – no need to worry that something might fall through the cracks.

While there are numerous tracking and documentation solutions for the construction industry, the most thorough and flexible one is to rely on a remote backup leveraging photo documentation. The flexibility of 360 Photo to choose how often you want your site to be documented gives you a chance to update schedules every week, biweekly, or following the time frame of your choice.

Document to Provide Visibility

Navigating complex challenges often leads to team members being buried under too much information at the same time. Bogged down in the project details, project managers can’t quickly zoom out to provide key stakeholders with a bird’s eye perspective and show progress. The option to offer a digital walkthrough of the job site takes this burden off their shoulders. 360 Photo makes project access easy from anywhere, anytime. You can grant access to as many people as you need since additional licensees are completely free.

Post-construction

The last step of a construction project is generating a final review. After all, the contractual agreements are over and inspections underway. In this phase, being able to review the entire project from the conception stage to the first time your client opens the doors of the finished building is extremely useful – for liability, proof of delivery, or to find ways for future improvement and optimization.

Even as your job is done, issues might arise weeks or months after completion. When you need to find a root cause and resolve issues quickly, it’s important to have not only a paper trail or reports but photos proving what was done when and where. With 360 Photo, you can rest assured that all photo documentation of your job site will be hosted online for a year after project completion.

Summing up, if you want to have a good grip on your project, you need to have professional documentation and visibility tools on your side before construction even begins.

Contact us today to learn how our 360 Photo experts can help you develop a plan to deliver high-quality results in time.