Chapter 6

Introduction to
Construction Management

CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS

☞ Introduction ☞ Construction
☞ Conceptual and feasibility studies ☞ Commissioning
☞ Engineering design ☞ Utilization and maintenance
☞ Contracting and procurement ☞ Types of construction projects

Introduction The important points carried out in this phase to estab-

lish the viability of a project are:
The civil engineering projects begins with an idea to ful-
fill the required demands and to provide basic amenities to 1. Conceptual development of model and its studies
the citizens. Generally, a project ends with infrastructure 2. Technical and economic feasibility studies
of facilities, recreational amenities, and industrial plants in
3. Environmental impact assessment
operation, etc., in reality.
The various phases through which civil engineering pro- 4. Land and geological survey of location of the
jects have undergone are as follows: project
5. Enumeration of major problems in translating the
1. Conceptual and feasibility studies
project into reality
2. Engineering design
3. Contracting and procurement Outcome of this stage is a report, dealing with investigation
and studies concerning the problems to be encountered and
4. Construction
their solutions.
5. Commissioning
6. Utilization and maintenance
Even though, every civil engineering project is unique in Engineering Design
its character and varies with respect to types and degree of All the technical issues related to project are carried out and
detail; during the life cycle, it certainly passes through the the engineers come out with best possible alternatives.
phases mentioned above. This phase is generally carried out in two phases:
Conceptual and FeasiBility 1. Preliminary design
2. Detailed design
Studies
Lets us learn more about the designs.
Ideas generated by individuals or a group of people are
studied in this stage.

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Preliminary design: Primarily this stage involves studies Utilization and Maintenance
of various design alternatives, their architectural aspects,
Maintenance is an important stage of a project when the
and economic comparative studies.
life cycle costs are considered. The infrastructure facilities
Apart from this, detailed field investigation including
created should be fully utilized. Its maintenance should be
soil testing, geological, hydrological data collection, market
given proper emphasis to improve the level of service.
survey, etc., are also conducted.
Detailed design: In this stage, a project is broke down into
various components. Each of the components or elements Types of Construction Projects
are designated and separately analyzed. Civil engineering or construction projects can be broadly
The detailed drawings, design details and specifications classified as follows.
of various items of works are the outcome of this phase.
1. Building projects
2. Heavy engineering projects
Contracting and Procurement 3. Industrial projects
During this phase of a project, the bill of quantities is pre-
pared and final cost estimate is worked out. Several agree- Let us learn more about the types of construction projects.
ments and relationships exist between different parties or
persons involved in the project are defined and addressed Building Projects
in this stage. These can be further classified into:
The outcome of this stage is a contract document, which 1. Residential building
is an official and legal document describing the relationship
among the various parties involved and the terms and condi- 2. Commercial and other buildings:
tions to execute the construction of the project. (a) Residential buildings generally signify single,
double or multi-storied human habitats.
Commercial and other building includes
Construction hospitals, temples, cinema halls, government
Construction is considered to be an important phase of building, recreational facilities, offices, etc.
the project as huge amount of money is invested on this. (b) In this type of projects, generally the architect act
Various issues related to project management are involved as a group leader and he coordinates the person
in this phase. Those are: from different disciplines, such as structural
1. Methods of construction engineer, HVAC engineer, electrical engineer
2. Material, labour and equipment management during design phase of the project.
3. Construction planning and scheduling (c) The construction phase of project is coordinated
generally by the civil engineer.
4. Resource allocation
Building construction, especially in India is labour inten-
5. Quality check/quality conformation
sive. This part is governed by many local as well as general
6. Construction Safety laws, such as municipal laws, building laws, etc.
7. Organization management, subcontracting
8. Method of Reporting Heavy Engineering Projects
9. Methods to resolve various issues and arbitration, etc.
1. Heavy engineering projects include primary
Outcome of this phase of project is facilities or structures. infrastructural facilities, such as transportation
system, railways, road, bridges, hydraulic structures
(i.e., dams, barrages, irrigation system, hydroelectric
Commissioning power), water supply systems, waste water treatment
Commissioning of a project is meant to check whether the systems, power line transmissions, etc.
project has been carried following the contract document.
2. Generally, governments finance these projects as
The following are the activities generally carried out dur-
the primary intention is to help the public with
ing this stage.
infrastructure facilities.
•• Check the functioning of the entire system and each com- 3. These are equipment intensive and large volume of
ponent, such that they act as desired and compliance with materials are used.
design and specification.
4. Design and construction phases of projects are
•• To remove the defects identified, if any, during construc-
coordinated by civil engineers by considering the
tion phase.
inputs from the various departments or persons.

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Industrial Projects For example, in India the Central Public Works

Department (CPWD) describe, what to do, when to do and
1. These projects include power plants, petroleum how to do the projects with reference to construction.
refineries, petrochemical and fertilizer plants, heavy Similarly, state governments maintain their own rules
manufacturing plants, large steel plants, aircraft and manuals to contract and execute the works under them.
industry, etc. Contractors are generally selected based on competitive
2. These are highly specialized projects and, generally, bidding in public projects.
dominated by large construction firms. Low cost bidding system followed by technical and
3. Construction of this type of projects requires highest financial evaluation is preferred in most of the cases.
level of engineering expertise good number of skilled
labours. Private Projects
Construction projects can be further classified into 1. Depending on the type and nature of a project, the
two categories: owner or project manager selects and coordinates
(a) Public projects with the project team.
(b) Private projects 2. Whom to select, how to select and what kind of
information exchange systems will exist between
various project team members, etc., is decided by the
Public Projects project owner.
These are primarily infrastructure projects funded by 3. In private projects, based on work quality and
government. reputation the project owner selects the designer
Different departments set different rules and guide- or contractor. Here, another important criterion is
lines to carry out the construction projects under their negotiated money (or) competitive bidding.
supervision.

Exercises
1. Railway projects are treated as ______. 6. Construction team means ________.
(A) light construction (B) heavy construction (A) an Engineer (B) an Architect
(C) industrial construction (D) None of these (C) a Contractor (D) All of these
2. Power stations are generally treated as ______. 7. For the execution of a project, a contractor is ______.
(A) light construction (A) a person (B) a firm
(B) heavy construction (C) an agency (D) All of these
(C) industrial construction 8. The objective of technical planning, is ______.
(D) electrical construction (A) preparation of specifications and estimates
3. The first stage of a construction is ______. (B) initiating the procurement action of resources
(A) preparation of estimate (C) taking remedial action for likely bottle-neck in the
(B) initiation of proposal execution
(C) selection of site (D) All of these
(D) preparation of tender 9. A construction schedule is prepared, after collecting ____.
4. Pre-tender stage requires ______. (A) number of operations
(A) acquisition of land (B) output of labor and machinery
(B) finilisation of alignment of works (C) quantity of various items
(C) finilisation of designs and preparation of estimate (D) All of these
(D) All of these 10. Modular co-ordination of construction means, proper
5. The final selection of construction site, is done by ____. ______.
(A) local civil authority representative (A) planning
(B) representative of engineer authority (B) planning and designing
(C) representative of administration (C) planning and execution
(D) All of these (D) planning, designing and execution

Answer Keys
Exercises
1. B 2. C 3. B 4. D 5. D 6. D 7. D 8. D 9. D 10. D

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