University of the Cordilleras

College of Teacher Education

Elementary Education Department
1st Trimester, 2020 - 2021

CE 423 – CONSTRUCTION METHODS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT

PROJECT PLANNING AND INITIATION

Planning Definitions
 Planning is a bridge between the experience of the past and the proposed
action that produces a favorable result in the future.
 Planning is a precaution by which we can reduce undesirable effects or
unexpected happenings and thereby eliminate confusion, waste, and loss of
efficiency.
 Planning is the prior determining and specifying of the factors, forces, effects,
and relationships necessary to reach the desired goals.

Types of Planning
The three major types of planning are:
1. Strategic planning, which involves the high-level selection of the project objectives

2. Operational planning, which involves the detailed planning required to meet the
strategic objectives

3. Scheduling, which puts the detailed operational plan on a time scale set by the
strategic objectives

The Construction Master Plan

The master plan must address how we will plan, organize, and control the major work
activities to meet our goals of finishing the work on time, within budget, and as
specified.
A major consideration in formulating the master plan is the contracting plan, which
helps us to answer a lot of questions:
> Are we going union or open shop?
> Are we going with a construction management format or self-perform?
> How much work is subcontracted?
Many other questions are not answered by the contracting plan:
> Do we need more resources for design or only for construction?
> What are the owner's policies or legal requirements in this regard?
> What government and social restraints come into play in the execution of this
project?
> How do the contractual requirements affect the master plan?
“Project-execution plans are subject to review and evaluation as the work progresses. Minor
variations are common, but you should consider major changes with extreme caution.”

A brief description of the major project operations should give a common

understanding of the actual work performed by each group in a large capital project
team. Many of the activities must happen before the construction phase starts. Starting
with the owner's conceptual phase and working through the project-execution phase
to the final turnover, we will encounter the following major areas of project execution:
1. Owner's conceptual phase
2. Proposal phase
3. Project design phase
a. Engineering
b. Procurement (major equipment)
c. Project control functions
d. Construction input
4. Procurement
5. Construction
6. Facility start-up and turnover
Proposal phase
Once the board has given its approval to proceed with the project, the owner is ready
to enter the proposal phase and select a contractor.
That phase involves the following activities:
 Preparing a contracting plan
 Prequalifying contractor slate
 Preparing a request for proposal
 Receiving and analyzing the proposals
 Selecting the best proposal
 Negotiating a contract
“Suffice it to say that the owner still has not committed a great deal of money to reach
this point”

Project execution phase

At this point, the owner's project manager is ready to execute the project in
accordance with the owner's contracting plan. The main decision affecting our
discussion is whether the project is to be let on a turnkey or separate design-and-
construct basis. Details of the design activities are not included here because of space.
The project life-cycle curve starts to slope upward with the initiation of the project
execution phase. That's the result of significant commitments of project financial
resources to the following work activities:
 Engineering design phase
 Equipment procurement activities
 Early construction activities
 Project control functions
The engineering design phase covers those activities required to generate the plans
and specifications for the procurement of the equipment and materials and the
construction of the facility. The various technical disciplines involved are:
 Process design
 Mechanical design
 Civil, architectural, and structural design
 Sanitary/Piping design
 Electrical design
 Instrumentation design
 General specifications
 Construction input

ACTIVITY:
As the Project Manager/Construction Manager of a simple Septic vault with three
chambers (1 Digestive and 2 Leaching – say total length of 3.1m width of 1.6m and
depth of 1.50m)project, make a list of the specific project initiation activities you feel
are necessary to properly kick off construction on your project. Make a priority list of the
critical activities.

Submit in your work by 11:30am TODAY – make a simple plan & detail of the septic vault
with a total discharge of 1125 gal/day (recall your sewerage engg),the plan and detail
is to be used ALSO in your CMM Lab.