The Role Of A Construction Manager In Built Quality: An Argumentative Essay

Outline of the ‘Job of a Construction Manager’?

Write an Argumentative Essay on “The role of a Construction Manager in Built Quality”.

“Any fool can write a book and most of them are doing it; but it takes brains to build a house.” 
Charles F. Lummis

As truly stated by Lummis, construction is an engineering science. It is a professional programme seeked to become construction managers, architects or simply, to be part of construction field. It requires the pursuer to design, plan, act, and conduct infrastructural management and conduct administrative duties.

The topic of discussion is the role of a construction manager in built quality. As clear as it is, it is not only the construction manager’s contribution to a good quality end-product, he ensures proper functioning throughout stages in the construction project. Hence, his job encompasses many things more. The argument in topic stated above is flawed as the construction manager’s functions revolve around the ability to finish the job, manage budget as well as related costs and build an environment friendly and quality building.

Unlike mentioned, a construction manager’s functions are not just to accomplish the job at hand, some people would also argue that it also includes managing budget, overseeing the construction that it has a quality finish and see that construction is environment friendly. They are highly trained individuals with a problem-solving knack. Along with high exposure and educational background to science and mathematics, they are also said to have a good bend of mind towards critical thinking and analysis, efficient management of time, excellent people management skills and sound communication skills as well (Harris, Frank, and Ronald McCaffer, 2013). However, isn’t getting the job done with optimum finish quality not what is ultimately needed of him? To achieve a good built quality is what is needed by the owner at the end of the day. What and how the manager chooses to achieve the goal is not an outline provided by the owner to the manager- he hires to see that the task is done as per his satisfaction. In this aspect, the argument above ignores the fact that the manager is supposed to do what is in best interest of the owner and his reputation as good builder. Of course he is supposed to take care of certain things to achieve his target which may include planning project, manage costs, manage quality, manage contracts and its administration and manage safety at site.

Conclusion

The fact which cannot be ignored however, is that a construction manager gets involved with a project even before the construction starts. He takes it upon himself, the entire project from design phase to finish phase. His early involvement in designing process itself provides the design team with a lot of insights to enable making decisions in an informed manner. Not only that, the very construction team itself becomes capable to take down accurate price estimates. This goes a long way in saving the client a lot of time as well as money eventually (Schaufelberger, John E., and Len Holm 2017). The presence of a construction manager ensures efficient collaboration between architects, all the engineers, himself and the client, smoothening the project processes and making collaboration efficient, thus, concretizing their inter-relationship. The idea however is misguiding as because when a professional is hired, people expect that the end-result shall always be that of good quality, the processes that the stakeholder takes to achieve them are his personal. The very idea of hiring a site manager is that bit by bit the entire construction projects stands up to the expected built quality both in finish and operations involved.

The argument above, once again ignores the fact that, a construction manager essentially performs in shoes of a project manager in totality – right from documentation to people control to budget control, designing etc. So, why not give him his due credit? On a daily basis, typically; a project manager shall get labor, material, related equipments, plan, design, oversee cost, set project objectives, maintain and control the aims by checking progress. As per Ritz (1994), the construction manager needs to manage project planning (Walsh, Kevin P, 2017), quotation, supply management such as time division, employee supervision and all communiqué crucial during a project containing difference resolution (Thorpe, Brian, and Peter Sumner, 2017). The labour that the building manager is frenzied and demanding. It necessitates a lot of employability services, such as being planned, observant to facts and considerate of how a structure venture is supposed to advance (Ishengoma, Esther, and Razack Lokina, 2017). The project manager will frequently lead the consultations and have to derive strong objectives and purposes for the remaining of the affiliates of the design team or the construction crew (Tonnon, Susanne C., Rozan van der Veen, Marjan J. Westerman, Suzan JW Robroek, Hidde P. van der Ploeg, Allard J. van der Beek, and Karin I. Proper, 2017) and guarantee that these objectives are reached at the close of the gathering (von Wallpach, Sylvia, Andrea Hemetsberger and Peter Espersen, 2017).

Again, the argument above only presents a typical day in life of a construction manager and covers his day to day roles and responsibilities, what about the performance? What a student achieved in his result portrays what he studied or how much he studied in a year. His personal methods or tactics are just aspects to him achieving that one good result at the end of the academic year. Giving a good built quality at the construction completion cannot be said to be equivalent of a project management skills (Nguyen, huong thanh, and Bonavetura HW Hadikusumo, 2017) of the construction manager. Even the Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) defines building management as a specialised exercise useful to construction projects from project commencement to conclusion for monitoring time, cost, capacity and excellence.” A manager exclusively practising the management skills is specifically hired to apply the skills of management and work towards an identified result

Conclusion

In conclusion to the topic provided that the role of a construction manager in built quality where the construction managers job role is said to present a good final built quality, regarding the arguments provided, it is safe to say that not only that- a site manager does so much more. He gets involved in the designing process, ensures proper budget adherence, ensures that a good project is executed through all construction stages, does people management, record keeping, maintains safety standards, does practical inspection at every stage, takes care of officials at inspection on site- all in all is a proper project manager as he ensures that built quality, project maintenance, cost maintenance, overseeing that the project is environment friendly everything is taken care of. Yes, all for the sake of good end quality which is his stated role.

By the finish of the day, the project manager must do whatsoever it takes to get the work complete. On a distinctive day, he would trust the software to retain their agenda up to date, other specialists in the construction business to guarantee a levelled continuance of the project as well as deliver patrons with response as well as comment on the development of their structures. The project manager goes through a lot of gatherings on any day and must give exact directions continuously to guarantee the feasibility of the mission. Communiqué plays a very imperative position in the day of the construction project management, united with a solid employment ethos for brilliance.

Finally, it would not be fair to decrease the credit due to a construction manager and it would be good to rate him as a panacea in big construction jobs where they truly stay as eyes and ears for the owner and ensure that everything stays to schedule and as expected. Construction management is no longer a preventative degree of sorts, construction managers no longer are just there for ensuring a good build quality and limit financial and related risks for owners- they have much more potential and their job roles have spread extensively to many more things. As and when the project methods of deliveries have altered through change of times, expectations of clients, stake owners etc. everything have swelled and hence it is necessary for the construction manager to also change the way people view his job role in entirety.

Reference List

Books

Harris, Frank, and Ronald McCaffer. Modern construction management. John Wiley & Sons, 2013.

Schaufelberger, John E., and Len Holm. Management of construction projects: a constructor’s perspective. Taylor & Francis, 2017.

Thorpe, Brian, and Peter Sumner. Quality assurance in construction. Routledge, 2017.

Journals

Gouglidis, Antonios, Vincent C. Hu, Jeremy S. Busby, and David Hutchison. “Verification of Resilience Policies that Assist Attribute Based Access Control.” In Proceedings of the 2nd ACM Workshop on Attribute-Based Access Control, pp. 43-52. ACM, 2017.

Von Wallpach, Sylvia, Andrea Hemetsberger, and Peter Espersen. “Performing identities: Processes of brand and stakeholder identity co-construction.” Journal of Business Research 70 (2017): 443-452.

Tonnon, Susanne C., Rozan van der Veen, Marjan J. Westerman, Suzan JW Robroek, Hidde P. van der Ploeg, Allard J. van der Beek, and Karin I. Proper. “The Employer Perspective on Sustainable Employability in the Construction Industry.” Journal of occupational and environmental medicine 59, no. 1 (2017): 85-91.

Walsh, Kevin P. “Identifying and Mitigating the Risks Created by Problematic Clauses in Construction Contracts.” Journal of Legal Affairs and Dispute Resolution in Engineering and Construction 9, no. 3 (2017): 03717001.

Nguyen, huong thanh, and Bonavetura HW Hadikusumo. “Human resource related factors and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) project success.” Journal of Financial Management of Property and Construction 22, no. 1 (2017).

Shahtaheri, Yasaman, Christopher Rausch, Jeffrey West, Carl Haas, and Mohammad Nahangi. “Managing risk in modular construction using dimensional and geometric tolerance strategies.” Automation in Construction(2017).

Corvello, Vincenzo, Amy Javernick-Will, and Anna Maria La Ratta. “Routine project scope management in small construction enterprises.” International Journal of Project Organisation and Management 9, no. 1 (2017): 18-30.

Nguyen, Huong Thanh, Huong Thanh Nguyen, Bonaventura Hadikusumo, and Bonaventura Hadikusumo. “Impacts of human resource development on engineering, procurement, and construction project success.” Built Environment Project and Asset Management 7, no. 1 (2017): 73-85.

Ishengoma, Esther, and Razack Lokina. “The Role of Linkages in Determining Informal and Small Firms’ Performance: The Case of the Construction Industry in Tanzania.” Tanzania Economic Review 3, no. 1-2 (2017).