What Is Construction Planning?

As the old saying goes “failing to prepare is preparing to fail”, and this is certainly true when it comes to the construction industry. Whatever the scale of the project, detailed planning is crucial to ensuring success and safety. You may be wondering exactly, what is construction planning and what does it involve?

Construction planning is the process of identifying how a construction project will be managed from design through to completion. This includes defining the scope of work, setting timelines, allocating resources and establishing communication protocols. In other words, it defines how each part of the construction phase will be executed. 

What Is Construction Planning Important For?

A well-crafted construction plan is essential for ensuring that a project runs on time and meets its deadlines, as well as ensuring that it stays within budget. A well thought out plan will prevent delays and inefficiencies, helping to ensure that the whole process runs more smoothly. Thorough construction planning is also essential for ensuring that the project meets quality and safety standards. A poorly planned project is more likely to result in accidents and mishaps. 

The Stages Of Construction Planning

So, we’ve answered the question of ‘what is construction planning’, but what exactly does it involve in practice? The needs of every individual project will of course vary, however, every project will involve a similar process, with the following planning phases:

Initiation Phase

The first phase of planning a building  project involves laying out its feasibility in a business case. This includes identifying the goals of the project and the space that it will require. A schematic design will be drawn up showing how the space will be used during the design development to research the equipment and materials required. Contract documents containing the final drawings and specifications will be used to place bids to work on the project. 

Pre-Construction Phase

The pre-construction phase involves getting everything ready for the physical work to begin. Once a contractor has been chosen via the bidding process, the management team including engineers and health and safety managers will examine the site. This includes checking for any environmental issues. Once the strategic plan has been created with the budget, design and timeline finalised, the project team will start to gather the labour and resources required. 

Procurement Phase

When discussing ‘what is construction planning’, it’s important to emphasise that a large part of this involves sourcing the necessary materials and labour. During the procurement phase, the project team will be focussed on ordering, purchasing and renting all the materials that are required to complete the build. The length of time this takes will depend on the scope of the build and the availability of the resources that are required. 

Construction & Post-Construction

When work begins, this is when all the plans are put into action. The contractor and subcontractors will be in charge of the construction phase, however the planning team will still need to be on hand to deal with any delays, and review progress. After the project is complete, the management team will usually carry out a review to help improve planning in the future. 

If you need help sourcing materials for a construction project, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our experienced team at Al Manaratain. We have a range of concrete products to suit both large scale and small scale projects.