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If you are heading a construction project, there are certain pitfalls and challenges that you will be facing while working on the project. There are project managers assigned for every project to complete the task smoothly and safely within the scheduled time and within a fixed budget. Project managers are bound to face certain risks and challenges. And sometimes, it becomes critical to manage them.

It has been found that more than 90% of construction projects come over budget. Also, most of them face delays in time. So, what should the project managers do to tackle these delays and the happenings? Here, we are going to talk about the challenges faced during construction projects and the ways to handle them.

Inadequate Risk Management

Often, project managers are found to put safeguards in place for long-term risks. Short-term risks are mostly not considered and are left out of the equation. However, these issues can begin to elevate very quickly and might have a significant impact on the bottom line of the project.

Whether it is the subcontractors who are unreliable or, the scheduling conflicts or the changing demands of the stakeholders, all these minor issues can change the actual path of the construction project. Therefore, as a project manager, you must have contingency plans apart from your routine daily work. You should make investments in safety training and make wiggle rooms into the schedule, which could avoid any of those harmful yet potential challenges.

Lack of a Project Structure

Without having a clear blueprint and goal, you cannot get things done efficiently and smoothly. A construction project can easily face delays or cross the actual budget of the plan if there is no proper planning or target to accomplish. Without clear defined  goals in all stages , you cannot even hold people accountable for the problems caused.

Therefore, every project manager must have a firm grip and understanding of performance management.  You must implement this and keep all the workers under a particular task, you need to assign specific tasks to them. The more significant projects must be broken down into smaller goals, and there must be daily targets for the individuals to achieve. If you are not able to complete the task in one day, then it gets compounded to the next day. This way, you can keep the entire project under your control and smoothly work.

Poor Communication

Communication is an essential aspect of every work, not just for construction. But, when the work is divided between different parties, it becomes crucial to communicate with each other often. If you cannot communicate with each other clearly, the essential tasks might slip out of your hands, and the team might be unaware of an issue that took place. Therefore, project managers are very much responsible for providing clear guidelines to every individual who is working on the construction site.

There should be proper communication between everyone such that they are aware of the progress as well as the obstacles faced every day while working. This helps in solving the problems proactively. You can also use different meeting software if you are not suitable for in-person meetings.

Bad Forecasting and Unrealistic Expectations

There are some clients and stakeholders who keep more considerable demands. Whether they want the project to be completed within a budget or at a faster pace, there are always challenges that come with their needs. Besides the things which are possible for the project managers to fulfil, some things are completely unacceptable. If you work towards an unachievable goal, there is no point working so hard after it. As it will not generate any positive results in the end. Be specific and set real time targets for each phase of the project.

And these expectations are mostly set due to false forecasting. Just like project management, this forecasting could be set for a long-term rather than a short-term goal. If you receive such forecasting, break them into monthly, weekly and daily goals and see if they are achievable. If you know that you need something to communicate, then talk with the stakeholders. Also, provide an alternate plan for the managers to think of achieving. If you can manage all the expectations from the beginning, you can complete the project on time.

Strategies to overcome the challenges Faced while constructing buildings

These are some challenges faced while working on a construction site. There are also solutions to all of them. Project managers play a crucial role in the execution of construction work. And if any issue occurs within the project, they are mostly held accountable for the problem caused. Therefore, before working on with a project, everything must be evaluated properly.

Every issue must be negotiated with the stakeholders through meetings. The project managers must ensure that every problem is communicated properly. Without proper communication, no construction project can be a success. Moreover, every worker on the site must work with a plan in their mind. Without having a dedicated blueprint, achieving the daily goals is also impossible.