Project Manager's Playbook for Construction - Part 3 of 6

Examine breach of contract by identifying enforceable criteria—offer, acceptance, meeting of minds, consideration, and legal capacity—and navigate grey areas and varying severities through practical examples.

Explore the spectrum of breaches in construction contracts, detailing material, minor, implied, and anticipatory breaches, plus practical tests like hindsight and contract clarity to assess defaults.

Gain insight into how to classify breaches in construction contracts, from schedule delays and improper changes to payment failures and subcontractor performance.

Explore remedies for breach in construction contracts, including repair or replacement of defective work, corrections by the breaching party, damages (including liquidated and actual), and termination options.

Conclude with the essentials of breach of contract: have a clear contract, conform to its terms, communicate breaches, manage timing, and maintain precise documentation.

Spot owner changes, like co-locating a trailer, and map costs from mobilization to electrical and water; apply contractual approaches and best practices to manage changes and handle claims or disputes.

Identify common drivers of change in construction contracts, including design evolution and design packages, owner needs, market conditions, unforeseen conditions, constructability, and schedule changes.

Learn the formal process to incorporate construction changes, from informal triggers like emails and RFIs to CLB and CCD change orders, with forward pricing, retrospective pricing, or force account amendments.

Examine common issues in change processes, including cost disputes, unauthorized work, and apparent authority. Learn how formal change orders prevent disputes and ensure constructive changes are properly managed.

Expect frequent changes and implement a formal change management process involving subcontractors, suppliers, design team, and owner to approve, price, and schedule changes swiftly while ensuring payments.

Recognize that a baseline schedule with thousands of activities will never stay exact; the lesson emphasizes timely schedule updates and distributing them to the right people.

The baseline schedule, established after award, outlines feasible sequence, durations, logic, and critical path, guiding progress while acknowledging potential changes and delays.

Explore common schedule risks in construction, from planning fallacy and unforeseen conditions to subcontractor delays, weather, rework, and design issues, illustrated by a home project.

Learn the monthly schedule update process, from subcontractor input and GC review to owner sign-off, updating actuals and remaining durations, and generating an as-built schedule.

Update the schedule monthly to keep it realistic and useful. Tie subcontractors to the updated schedule with change orders and compare month-to-month to anticipate impacts.

Explore how earned value reduces a complex construction project to two indicators describing schedule and budget, highlighting the owners' perspective and using it as a communication tool to prompt questions.

Explore earned value definitions to judge project health by comparing planned value, actual cost, and earned value, and communicate status using EVMS indicators like SPI and CPI.

Establish BCWS, ACWP, and BCWP by aligning the baseline schedule with the budget. Spread lump-sum budgets across activities and compare linear versus ramped costs, and early versus late starts.

Apply earned value analysis to a construction project by comparing planned value, earned value, and actual cost, interpreting schedule and cost variance and identifying delays and owner factors.

Earned value serves as a communication tool to gauge project health, but requires accurate cost-loaded schedules, baselines, and timely incorporation of changes and delays.

Summarizes block three and previews block four, covering differing or unforeseen side conditions as contract terms, then time-related issues like delays, damages for delay, extensions, and acceleration.