Mastering Pre-Construction/Project Management

Explore project delivery methods (PDM) that define relationships, roles, and activity sequences, and compare separated vs combined contracting of design and construction, including design-build and IPD (integrated project delivery).

Explore the design bid build process, including schematic design, design development, and construction documents, with owner contracts for design and construction firms, and bids leading to the build.

The construction manager at risk acts as a design-phase consultant under separate design and construction contracts, then becomes the general contractor during construction, enabling early constructability review and value engineering.

Value engineering and constructability review unite designers, owners, and contractors to evaluate designs for safe, high quality and cost efficient construction, optimizing lifecycle costs.

design-build is a single-source project delivery method with one contract for design and construction, ensuring accountability and transparent communication, often via joint venture, contractor-led, or full-service firms.

Explore integrated project delivery (IPD): a collaborative, multi-party contract approach that aligns owner, designer, and contractor to maximize value, reduce waste, and boost efficiency across design, fabrication, and construction.

The agency construction manager acts as the owner's consultant, not a project delivery method, guiding selection of the project delivery method and coordinating multiple prime contracts.

Explain separated versus combined contracting, including design-build structures, construction manager at risk and construction manager agency roles, and how IPD and overlap influence procurement and contracting.

Explore procurement and contracting for public and private projects, and define contracts, roles, and enforceable agreements. Understand open bidding, bidder qualification, and how tax-funded public projects differ from private ventures.

Learn how prequalification streamlines procurement by shortlisting 3–7 qualified contractors and using no bid selection, qualification-based selection, and best-value selection to balance price, time, and risk via RFQ and RFP.

Explore pdm and selection methods for construction projects, including qualification-based selection, price, best value selection, rfq and rfp, and the role of agency construction manager and design-build approaches.

Learn the contracting process and key documents, including plans and specs, project manual, and general and supplemental conditions. Identify competent parties, clear scope, and offer, acceptance, and consideration.

Learn to read civil, structural, architectural, electrical, and mechanical drawings, from demolition plans to HVAC and fire protection, including finishing schedules and the roles of engineers and the construction manager.

Explore the project manual and bidding documents, including advertising, instructions to bidders, deliverables, addenda, bonds (bid, performance, payment, maintenance), and related insurance concepts for owner safeguards.

Mastering pre-construction general conditions explains contractor and owner responsibilities, change events and change orders, termination rules, and how insurance, supervision, and warranties govern contract work.

Explore how technical specifications complement drawings by detailing labor, materials, installation methods, and quality standards; cover specification types—descriptive, performance, proprietary, and reference standards—and the CSI MasterFormat framework.

Explore unit price contracts, lump-sum contracts, and cost plus fee with or without GMP; unit price adapts to uncertain quantities, transferring quantity risk to the owner.

Learn how a lump-sum contract fixes a project price for work defined by plans and specs, and manage change orders and project risks in design-build and repetitive projects.

Explore cost plus contracts with and without GMP, detailing reimbursable costs, overheads, scope uncertainty, and the owner and general contractor risk and profit tradeoffs.

Assess and manage environmental impact in pre-construction by identifying temporary, permanent, and cumulative effects. Apply design choices, mitigation, and monitoring to secure permits, informed by a New York case study.

Explore U.S. environmental law and regulations, covering federal and state statutes, case law, regulations on preventing and cleaning up contamination of ground, water, and air, emphasizing EPA and project processes.

Explore how the commerce clause enables environmental regulation, review common law nuisances like noise and negligence, and examine toxic torts, asbestos, and lead-based paint testing in construction.

Explore the public trust doctrine from Roman roots to modern practice, securing navigable waters, seashores, non-navigable waters, and natural resources by citizen standing to balance public and private interests.

Trace major milestones that shaped environmental regulations, from the 1969 Cuyahoga River fire and the Love Canal disaster to The Silent Spring, and show how laws expanded after 1970.

Explore how NEPA, the national environmental policy act, requires agencies to assess environmental effects of proposed actions and involve citizens before final decisions.

Learn the NEPA environmental review process for proposed actions, including significant impact determinations, scoping, public comments, environmental assessments, environmental impact statements, finding of no significant impacts, and final agency action.

Explore NEPA processes, including environmental impact statements, environmental assessments, and FONSI decisions, with examples like renovations and public lands trail projects.

Learn how to manage environmental permits via mitigation, such as dust suppression and site restoration, and navigate the environmental impact statement process from notice of intent to record of decision.

Explore the Clean Water Act, its EPA-driven wastewater standards, and permit requirements for discharges; distinguish point source from nonpoint source pollution, citizen suits, and penalties.

Learn how the Oil Pollution Act defines harmful spills and triggers reporting with thresholds like under five gallons and contained, two-hour cleanups, and vessel discharge exceptions.

Explore how the Endangered Species Act conserves endangered and threatened species and their habitats, restricts habitat disturbance during preconstruction, and guides managers through federal and state procedures in New York.

Understand how the National Historic Preservation Act creates federal, state, and tribal partnerships to preserve our nation's heritage and enforce reporting of finds during excavation, including landmarks and cemeteries.

The Tappan Zee Bridge case study highlights environmental performance commitments, permits from 2012–2013, and innovative noise reduction and ecological monitoring during phased construction.

Learn the end-to-end cost estimating process, from rough architect estimates to detailed bids, align design changes with the owner's budget, and see how bid prices set the project budget.

Discover three types of estimates in pre-construction: conceptual estimates provide rough costs from experience, preliminary estimates use early designs for budgeting, and final estimates detail quantities and costs.

Identify and distinguish direct costs, including materials, labor, equipment, and subcontractors, from indirect costs like job-site and home-office overhead. Explore markups—profit, insurance, and contingency—and their impact on project budgets.

Initiate the pre-estimate process by reviewing plans and specifications, gathering management inputs from the pmc to the owner, and compiling questions before the pre-bid meeting and site visits.

Review plans and specs thoroughly, develop questions, and understand scope before contractor involvement; assess special conditions and liquidated damages to anticipate budget and schedule impacts during the pre-bid process.

In step two of the pre-estimate process, senior management provides early input on construction methods, sequencing, equipment, costs, and subcontracting to balance risk and speed for major projects.

Attend the private pre-estimate meeting, as it is crucial for reviewing contract documents and formulating questions. Miss a private meeting and you lose eligibility to bid.

Conduct a site visit to capture conditions, access, soil character, environmental risks, and logistics shaping the estimating phase. Assess market prices, utilities, parking, and storage to manage risk and cost.

Identify factors that impact construction cost, including site location, procurement and delivery, remote areas, project size, complexity, shape, height, and market conditions.

Learn the first step of estimation using the work breakdown structure, breaking projects into meaningful tasks and work packages from product level to final package with toy and building examples.

Explore step two in estimation: craft a general time schedule and preliminary plan to improve estimates, account for overhead and salaries, and align sequencing with the project calendar.

Quantify material costs in step three by deriving lengths, areas, and volumes from plans, applying vendor prices and stock materials data, and factoring in delivery, storage, safety, and tax exclusions.

Estimate labor costs by balancing direct and indirect costs, using historical data and site observations to determine production rates and cycle times, then apply cost accounting reports for accuracy.

Estimate equipment and labor costs, noting accuracy is hard due to human factors; use historical data and production rates to decide buy, rent, or lease, considering overhead and operating costs.

Learn the sixth step of estimation: subcontracting, bid solicitation, and contract management, with the general contractor coordinating subcontractors, suppliers, and job-site services from bid to signed contracts.

The lecture explains overhead as a percentage and lists items like salaries, taxes, training, insurances, office rent, utilities, travel, repairs, and maintenance. It defines home office overhead as 2–8 percent.

Explains markups from five to twenty percent, including profit and contingency, and contingency funding for emergencies; defines profit as ROI after costs, influenced by accounts receivable, risk, and complexity.

Learn how to estimate a single span bridge by breaking down labor, equipment, materials, and overhead into unit prices and bid totals for pre-construction planning.

Estimate the labor burden by calculating wages, payroll taxes, insurance, and fringe benefits, while applying FLSA overtime rules and Davis-Bacon rates across states.

Identify white-collar exemptions for salaried workers earning above 915 per week. Include 47,000 annual threshold and executive, administrative, or professional duties while calculating payroll taxes.

Understand how state and federal unemployment costs, workers' compensation, retirement benefits, NCCI classifications, and general liability drive labor burden, with experience modifiers and premiums based on payroll.

Calculate and analyze labor burden costs by detailing union payments, benefits, overtime, payroll taxes, and health insurance to determine annual and hourly costs for project estimation.

Master pre-construction and project management by planning and scheduling, controlling time and costs, ensuring quality and safety, managing risk, and closing projects effectively.