Before editing short Article Writing by Cylvia Mutiara

 

Methods of Project Planning for Construction Projects

 

 

The objective of this research paper is to highlight and analyze the different types of planning methods for construction projects in order to determine which one is the best method to use before starting projects, such as multi-story buildings, houses, roads, highways, airports, and so on. There are many strategies for scheduling construction projects; they include critical path method, Gantt chart, Work Breakdown Structure, time-scaled arrow diagram, line of balance chart, S-curve, activity on node diagram, resource allocation chart, and so on.

Each of these methods is used for work schedules; they could be different in the way of giving less or more information, and selecting them would be based on the goal of our project and project requirements. After all, the Gantt Chart method seemed to be the best option for project scheduling of construction projects. In the Gantt Chart method, the cost estimates and the progress of the work can be calculated, and also most significantly, the planned and actual work can be realized on the chart clearly. Above all, the Gantt charts are usually easier to be read by everyone since every single information or number has a caption explaining it.

 

2 Introduction

 Project scheduling is a series of activities organized in a timetable diagram, and this structure will tell you exactly when, where, how, and what activities should proceed first. Project planning is arranged by project managers in order to find out the purpose, the cost, time duration, and the procedure of the total project. Although project planning is taking some time to create, it does worth it since it is going to save a lot of time later after starting the project. Due to the absence of planning, sometimes, lots of issues will happen, such as delaying the material delivery, machines, equipment, and project activities and as a result, wasting lots of time with losing a lot of money at the same time.

Obviously, there are notable benefits to create a simple schedule. Companies that are able to uccessfully finish projects on time according to the planned schedule, therefore, will get an advantage over the companies which fail in this regard. For better management, there are some strategies. First, required tasks or activities have to be revised; Next, the available strategies should be determined and analyzed to realize which one works best for a particular project; the deciding on the project goals will ease the method selection, and lastly, the project network could be develop (Gray, 102). In this stage, the engineer should have all the information about the project, including size, topography, time required to finish, cost, resource availability, and so on.

 

3 Methods of Project Planning

Project managers use different methods of project scheduling in order to estimate the time required for projects before starting. The period of working on a project can be divided into three parts, which are before, during, and after completion of construction. The first part, before planning, includes planning and estimation of the project duration, cost, materials, number of workers, and sequence of activities. Project scheduling is important because once everything is planned, everyone, including engineers, workers, contractors, and the owner of the project will get an idea about when they have to start and finish constructing, how much the project costs, what materials, machines, equipment are needed, how many workers and engineers are required, what type of skills from the workers and engineers are sought, and so on (Planning). So during the construction period, most of the issues and operations would be clear and understandable prior to happening.

Another advantage of project planning is that in case of needing a type of material, equipment, or any machine, which might be unavailable in the country, we can order them earlier, so it will be ready to use when needed for a particular activity of the project . Otherwise, it may delay the project for months or more. In the case of the unavailability of any type of machine or materials during the construction process, everyone has to wait and delay their job, including workers and engineers. So before starting any project, the project manager, engineers, and supervisors have to make sure of the material deliveries on time.