Labor Productivity

Project Professionals a blog by McLaughlin & McLaughlin Project and Dispute Consulting LLC   will be offering a few project tips regarding Project Management and Labor Productivity  over the next few weeks.

Labor Productivity – Productivity Factor (PF) according to #AACEI equals Actual Productivity divided by Baseline or Planned Productivity.

Labor Productivity – Performance Factor (PF), according to Schwartzkoff equals Estimated Unit Rate divided by Actual Rate.

Labor Productivity – A simple KPI is the ratio of Planned Man-Hours divided by Actual man-hours – “Earned over Burned.”

Labor Productivity – There are several KPI’s that can be used for project/construction management.

Labor Productivity – Use of labor productivity KPI facilitates proactive project management.

Labor Productivity – As a leading Indicator, Labor Productivity represents an excellent management tool.

 

It is important to note that McLaughlin and McLaughlin Project and Dispute Consulting LLC [M&M] is not a law firm and is not intending to provide legal advice.  M&M is a consulting firm providing (among other services) non-legal expertise in construction claims, dispute resolution and litigation support.   For further information on M&M services, please see www.McLaughlinandMcLaughlin.com.

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Labor Productivity Problem Recognition

Project Professionals a blog by McLaughlin & McLaughlin Project and Dispute Consulting LLC   will be offering a few project tips over the next few weeks.

Today’s focus lists a few key points to recognizing the problems associated with Labor Productivity issues. Problems from the issues may lead to owners and contractors achieving cost uncertainty and schedule uncertainty.

 

  •  Negative Cash Flow on Project/Contract/Job.
  •  Labor Force (Histogram) Peak Later Than Planned.
  •  Field Labor (Crew Size) Peak Greater than Planned.
  •  Low Quantities Installed Per Man-Hour Actual/Expended.
  •  Abnormally/Unexpectedly High Field Labor Turnover Rate.
  •  Billing less than Planned.
  •  High Number of New Revisions to Scope Documents.

 

It is important to note that McLaughlin and McLaughlin Project and Dispute Consulting LLC [M&M] is not a law firm and is not intending to provide legal advice.  M&M is a consulting firm providing (among other services) non-legal expertise in construction claims, dispute resolution and litigation support.   For further information on M&M services, please see www.McLaughlinandMcLaughlin.com.

https://twitter.com/McLaughProject

https://www.facebook.com/McLaughlin-McLaughlin-Project-and-Dispute-Consulting-LLC-134974839908446/

 

CONSTRUCTION CLAIMS and DISPUTES – Subject Series Summary – Update 11-Nov-2014

Just as the businesses and economies have cycles, capital projects (particularly engineering and construction) have recurring cycles.  The pendulum swings back and forth within the bounds of the capital project cycle.  In capital projects, the cycle can be three to five years, depending on the economy, size and complexity of the projects and other factors.

At this time, the market seems to be transitioning from project planning and early execution into middle to later-stage execution with emergence of disputes.  As the claims and disputes marketplace intensifies over the next several years, Construction Claims and Disputes will become an increasingly commonplace and a relevant topic for capital project management professionals.

Construction Claims and Disputes continues to be the most popular subject on Project Professionals.  Further, it is the most requested line of services provided by McLaughlin & McLaughlinM&M are project management practitioners (in the field) and, yes, we practice what we preach.  Further, our choice of topics for Project Professionals posts is driven by and reflective of practical and current issues.  This is not esoteric, academic or hypothetical “stuff”.

This summary update provides readers with an overview of prior posts and provides a baseline for future posts that will follow on a timely basis.  Initially, this Subject Series, Construction Claims and Disputes, was posted during January 2011 through July 2014.  During the past several years, greater than 25% of views by visitors have been to this Subject Series.

Ideally this Subject Series  provides a starting point to investigate best practice on many planning and execution features of construction claims and disputes. [Read more…]

CONSTRUCTION CLAIMS and DISPUTES – Subject Series Summary

Construction Claims and Disputes is the most popular subject on Project Professionals and has been for several years.  Further, it is the most requested line of services provided by McLaughlin & McLaughlin.    M&M are project management practitioners (in the field) and, yes, we practice what we preach.  Further, our choice of topics for Project Professionals posts is driven by and reflective of practical and current issues.  This is not esoteric, academic or hypothetical “stuff”.

This summary update provides readers with an overview of prior posts and provides a baseline for future posts that will follow on a timely basis.  Initially, this Subject Series, Construction Claims and Disputes, was posted during January 2011 through August 2013.  During the past several years, greater than 25% of views by visitors have been to this Subject Series.

Ideally this Subject Series  provides a starting point to investigate best practice on many planning and execution features of construction claims and disputes.

Construction Claims and Disputes (Part 0)  – This introduction formats the discussion with definitions, claim categories and key industry references.  This post is consistent with M&M experience in many years of professional services.

The Overview (Part 1)  –Part 1 updates Part 0, the introduction.

Construction Claims Management Planning (Part 2) – This is the most popular post in this (most popular) Subject Series.  Construction claims (or the risk of claims) can and should be professionally managed.  View this process as a piece of project (execution) planning [link].  This post outlines elements of a Construction Claims Management Plan.  Further, it addresses elements of defining a Claim Strategy.  Stakeholders include Owners, Prime Contractors and Subcontractors.  Do not miss this post.

Current Project Professionals Posts (Part 3) – Claims are organized into four general categories.  These categories are consistent with the frequency of occurrence, methods of management and other key managerial considerations.  The categories are

  • Scope of Work, Changed Work or Variations
  • Delay and Acceleration, Time-Related
  • Disruption / Productivity (usually labor/labour)
  • Terms and Conditions.

Pricing Construction Claims (Part 4) – This post addresses the…  Think you know how to price your (or other’s) claims?   Andrew (Andy) Ness, 2012-13 Chair, ABA Forum on the Construction Industry probably disagrees with your answer.  Read this post and consider Andy’s position as well as other considerations regarding claim pricing/damages.  The content of the recent ABA book on the subject is covered.

Pricing Construction Claims (continued) (Part 5) – Are construction claims and disputes “all about the money?”  Some believe this to be the case.  This post (Part 5) expands on Part 4 by addressing pricing and citing additional references.

Scope of Work – Baseline (Part 6) – It is widely believed and accepted that Scope of Work and/or Changed Work is the single largest source of claims and disputes in engineering and construction (as well as many other contracted services).  In order to establish departures from the baseline scope of work, you must be able to define the applicable baseline.  This post cites various sources for baseline definition,

Scope of Work Plans and Specifications (Part 7) – Several industry sources (publications) are used to elaborate on execution and contracting strategies that rely on plans and specifications as a major component of scope or work definition.  This discussion includes typical contract documents and contract provisions wherein scope of work, services, supply and / or facilities is / are defined.  Suggestions for configuration and change management in the field are included.

Other Subject Series that are both relevant and popular include:

Going forward, we will post other features of CONSTRUCTION CLAIMS and DISPUTES.

My we wish you the best of luck and let us all attempt to confront and deal with these and other project management challenges.  It is crucial that recognition and anticipation of these issues occur during initiation and planning.  However, the recognition and management should continue through execution, controlling and closeout.

Please note that McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] is not a law firm and is not intending to provide legal advice.  M&M is a consulting firm providing (among other services) non-legal expertise in dispute resolution and litigation support.  The Resource Center is for the convenience of blog visitors and M&M does not offer this for commercial purposes.  For further information on M&M services, please see www.McLaughlinandMcLaughlin.com.

 

 

PROJECT PROFESSIONALS POSTING RESUMPTION

McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] is pleased to announce that they will resume postings at their blog, Project Professionals.  Since mid-2013, M&M has been heavily involved with several large assignments [Construction claims regarding several power plant projects].  Now that workload permits, new blog postings will be offered.

M&M wishes to remind followers (new and ongoing) that there are many offerings at the Project Professional site.  They are organized by what we call Subject Series.

These Subject Series  are:

M&M will resume with additional posts in the Subject Series Construction Claims and Disputes.  This Subject Series focuses on methodologies, process, reference resources, techniques and other practical advice regarding the preparation, evaluating and managing construction claims and disputes.

We hope that you will find these existing and new posts informative and relevant.

We wish you the best of luck in this New Year.

 

Please note that McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] is not a law firm and is not intending to provide legal advice.  M&M is a consulting firm providing (among other services) non-legal expertise in dispute resolution and litigation support.  The Resource Center is for the convenience of blog visitors and M&M does not offer this for commercial purposes.  For further information on M&M services, please see www.McLaughlinandMcLaughlin.com.

MANAGING RISK OF DELAY – Managing Contractor Schedules (Part 13)

This McLaughlin & McLaughlin post is the thirteenth (13th) in a series  of discussions regarding various aspects of time management as it relates to the risk of delay.  This post addresses managerial considerations for dealing with schedules prepared by contractors and submitted to owners or their agents (construction managers, managing contractors, advisors, etc.).

Recently, Mr. Chris Carson authored an excellent article titledDealing with Contractors Schedules That Cannot be Approved.  This fine article was published in COST Engineering(September/October 2013).

This article contains excellent advice for project teams regarding schedule management.

Mr. Carson’s article is, in reality two articles in one.  While Mr. Carson’s article presents a methodology for problematic situations (which he calls DSAB), the preamble and initial discussion for this article is highly useful and applicable to project management teams as they address the frontend of project planning and execution.  This post summarizes the sage advice provided by Mr. Carson regarding frontend project management challenges as they relate to scheduling and time management. [Read more…]

A View from the Field Project Execution / Contracting Strategies Large and Complex Industrial Projects

This article from the Division 1 of the ABA Forum on the Construction Industry Newsletter “The Dispute Resolver” represents George T. McLaughlin’s “View from the Field” formed throughout the course of his 30+ year career in the industrial marketplace.[1]   His article is broken into four parts.  Part 1, below, describes the evolution of the delivery systems in large and complex industrial projects[2]. The remaining sections, which we will publish in our next three newsletters, will discuss the legal implications (Part 2), impact on claims, disputes, and resolutions (Part 3), and prevention and corrective processes (Part 4).

Part 1 of 4 – Framing the Issue 

When the earth’s tectonic plates shift, unless there is a resulting earthquake, it goes unnoticed.  The movement is not perceptible.  Nevertheless, major changes are occurring.  In large and complex projects, with three to five (or longer) year schedules, industry shifts may not be perceptible.  Nevertheless, major changes and related impacts may be in progress.  Trends and changes in project execution and contracting strategies are similar.  These trends, however gradual and unnoticed on a daily or monthly basis, cause major impacts on existing and future projects.  While industry experts cite or drive these changes, the impact on the field may be delayed or go unrecognized by many, if not all stakeholders.  The business motivations driving the trends discussed below are varied and complex.  Perhaps, the central theme is risk tolerance or management.  The large worldwide prime contractors (typically Engineer Procure Construct) migrated toward limiting major risks by limiting scope of work, insisting on reimbursable cost (as opposed to fixed price) commercial  terms, or both.  Owners chose to limit or compartmentalize risks by breaking scope of work into smaller packages and seeking fixed price on these smaller packages.  Construction Contractors retained a willingness to work on fixed price commercial terms; but, increased their tendency toward claims and disputes processes in order to manage their risks.  Collectively, we see a myriad of fixed price scope of work packages being pieced together to form a complete project.  Formerly, this mosaic of work scopes was under one Prime Contract. [Read more…]

PROJECT PLANNING (Part 4)

Summary of Posts

This summary update provides readers with an overview of prior posts regarding Project Planning and provides a baseline for future posts that will follow on a timely basis.

There are two applicable Subject Series.  One Subject Series, PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES  was posted during June through September 2011.  Since that time, blog readership has increased very significantly.

The other Subject Series, PROJECT PLANNING  was started in late 2012.  This Subject Series is ongoing and new posts will occur in the upcoming weeks and months.  Readers are encouraged to subscribe to automatic update notification.

This summary is very brief and simply serves as an index for readers to follow.  Of course, detailed descriptions are contained in the individual posts.

Ideally these Subject Series  provide a starting point to investigate best practice on many planning and execution features of project management. [Read more…]

PROJECT PROFESSIONALS POSTING RESUMPTION

McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] is pleased to announce that they will resume postings at their blog, Project Professionals.  Since March 2012, M&M has been heavily involved with several large assignments [Canadian Oilsands program management support and construction claim regarding an international power plant project].  Now that workload permits, new blog postings will be offered.

M&M wishes to remind followers (new and ongoing) that there are many offerings at the Project Professional site.  They are organized by what we call Subject Series.

These Subject Series are:

  • Managing Risk of Delay [15 posts]
  • Contract Notice and Recognition [4 posts]
  • Productivity [18 posts]
  • Schedule Validation and Audits [3 posts]
  • Staffing Your Project Management Team [8 posts]
  • Project Management Challenges [11 posts]
  • Time Management – Schedule Specification Implementation [6 posts]
  • Ways of Working [1 post]

M&M will resume new posts with a Subject Series titled Success through Project Planning.  This Subject Series will focus on methodologies, process, sequencing, synchronization and other managerial considerations.

We hope that you will find these existing and new posts informative and relevant.

May we wish you the best of luck and let us all attempt to confront and deal with Project Management Challenges.  It is crucial that recognition and anticipation of these issues occur during initiation and planning.  However, the recognition and management should continue through execution, controlling and closeout.

Please note that McLaughlin and McLaughlin [M&M] is not a law firm and is not intending to provide legal advice.  M&M is a consulting firm providing (among other services) non-legal expertise in dispute resolution and litigation support.  The Resource Center is for the convenience of blog visitors and M&M does not offer this for commercial purposes.  For further information on M&M services, please see www.McLaughlinandMcLaughlin.com.

Labor/Labour Productivity – Cumulative Impact (Part 14)

This is McLaughlin and McLaughlins Project Professional’s fourteenth posting regarding labor/labour productivity and disruption.  This contribution provides an overview of process alternatives that are extremely helpful and valuable for all stakeholders concerned with labor productivity and management.

The Subject Series regarding Labor/Labour Productivity and Disruption can be viewed here.

It is widely recognized that changed work (sometimes called change orders – assuming that the contract is changed as a result) may have a negative impact on field labor productivity (lower productivity).  The impact of multiple changes may be recognized or sensed.  The challenges are both timely recognition and demonstration of cause and effect.  The publications listed below are some of the more useful and valuable references related to this cause and effect dynamic.

An article and related study published recently in Construction Lawyer has some valuable information and analytical process guidance that is very useful when considering potential impact to labor productivity resulting from changed work. [Read more…]