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5 Common Reasons of Construction Project Failure

March 13, 2019 Last updated on August 7, 2024

In our previous article, we highlighted the facts about project management statistics. We were able to demonstrate that there is a high rate of failure within the industry. Today, we want to showcase the reasons for these failures and how they can be avoided in the future.

Project management is a quite new term, dating back only to the late 1950s. The job requires resources and time to manage finances, operations and accounting. According to PMI research, there are six requirement for a successful project:

1. Project is delivered on time

2. Project costs do not exceed the budget

3. Project work goes ahead as planned and estimated

4. People use it

5. Project investors are satisfied

6. Project meets its goal and targets

There are some articles that point to a high failure in project management and whether even discussing it is needed at all. However, we believe that if you manage your project with a reliable and efficient management tool, it will lend a remarkable advantage in comparison to construction competitors who do not use any management tool.

Why your project can fail

A project can fail in any construction company with any project if carried out poorly. There are numerous reasons for failure. Quite often project managers simply have no control over their projects, and quite often this is avoidable. Failed projects and people aligned with those projects have some common habits. Realizing their projects are going to overrun the budget, they try to fix it with some "fast solution" that ultimately leads to an even bigger cost and waste of energy.

The main role of project managers is to provide efficient service. However, projects frequently end in failure because of tasks that are poorly managed and whose details are not kept an eye on. There are numerous articles and research out there, but we would like to take a look at those reasons why so many projects may end in failure. Let’s go through these reasons more closely:

  1. Project starts before it is even approved

People may start with project processes too early, assuming these processes are already approved or can later be confirmed. However, there can be some aspects of any project that are changed or even rejected altogether, which impacts the project budget. To avoid this problem, there should be a detailed and confirmed project plan in place before any real work is begun. Not having a thoughtful plan set out first can be a main cause of cost and schedule overrun.

2. Members involved with the project are not connected

While many people may be working on the same project, they often have different ideas and methods to achieve the goal, leading to overall failure. All members of project should therefore be linked, reducing inadequate work and risk for the project.

Since many construction projects involve a lot of different parties that all need to be in sync with you, communication is key. It might even benefit to use a virtual assistant or a virtual receptionist service like smith.ai. Having someone take care of the first level of communication helps you focus on your critical tasks first without interruptions.

3. Unqualified workforce

People who have no proper qualifications or skills will always cause project overrun, as will not having enough people to complete the work for the project. It is better to hire people with the right and specialized skillset than people who need initial training before being able to achieve the desired results. These people should be properly motivated and managed, and have a clear idea of their roles on the project.

4. Bad management tools

Not having easy access to the project management system or tools needed to complete specific tasks will certainly lead to poor communication and collaboration, data delay, and project process mismatches. The project team must always be provided with an accessible and reliable management tool to complete the requisite project tasks.

5. Poor project management

Having a project plan is crucial, but only then is someone monitoring these processes. If things start to go wrong and are continue unchecked, it can be fatal for the project or even for the entire enterprise. Consistent project monitoring and updating helps mitigate the risks for any project.

Conclusion

These five reasons are not the only ones that could impact your project and cause success or failure, but in many cases are the top reasons. Preventing or recovering a failing project can be an extremely challenging task, and obtaining a reliable and efficient project management tool is a necessity to ensure that project management stays on top of monitoring the processes toward the desired project goals.

Planyard contractor software helps ambitious teams smash their targets and accelerate their growth.

  • No more spreadsheets
  • Saves project managers' and QSs' time
  • Easy to implement and use
  • Real-time and accurate financial forecasts
  • No more duplicate data entry

Just upload your starting project budget, and follow the financial progress in real-time

No credit card required. No sales or IT support needed.