Methodology: Construction Manager at Risk, Essay Example

As a PhD candidate in this academic program, I am tasked with researching a thesis topic that will not only allow me to apply the skills I have learned during this program, but also to make a substantial contribution to the existing research in my field of study.  Throughout my studies at ___________ University, I have primarily pursued training in construction management.  In particular, I have focused my research efforts on construction management in public projects through various courses including project management, statistics, (insert other courses here).

As I draw upon my practical experience working in this field and my accumulated knowledge, I want to choose a thesis topic that will address new issues in the field that has both theoretical and practical implications. Overall, I took quite a long time in poring over the existing literature looking for a topic that would be compelling and withstand examination over a long period of time; I picked a number of topics that would be plausible for an initial thesis topic.

After much thought and contemplation, I have decided to pursue the idea of “construction manager at risk” for a number of reasons.  First, the idea is relatively new and unexplored; although substantial academic discussion has arisen since being proposed and discussed in industry circles in the early 2000s, the idea is still amenable to analysis along several lines.  Second, there are a number of potential issues to explore within the larger macro issue of “construction manager at risk”:  That is, issues related to procurement, financial management, and project management can be explored further through this project. Finally, enough sources exist in order to give a thorough examination to this topic. Although I have not conducted an extensive literature review on the subject, I was able to find a number of sources that indicate a critical mass around the subject.  Those sources can be classified into three main categories: 1) General project management literature- in this literature milieu, construction at risk is primarily dealt with as a competing project management method with other main project management methods such as such as design-build or design-bid-build. 2) Broad theoretical analysis of construction at risk, not only regarding different configurations but also in understanding how the existing structure may be improved upon; 3) More detailed application and analysis of construction at risk methods to projects in specific fields such as transportation projects or the building of schools (Gordon, 1994).

Overall, the concept of construction management at risk is a practical method of procurement that emphasizes a bidder’s particular qualifications for a project rather than a single focus on price (AIA, 1996).  That is, unlike a traditional project management scheme that focuses on a singular, unchanging role throughout the project, the role of the construction manager changes in construction at risk depending on the stage of the project.  In the initial stages, the construction manager serves as a consultant to the project’s owner; he provides consulting services during the development and design phases.  Once the “pre-construction” phase has finished, however, the construction manager changes back into the traditional role: the general contractor during the building phase of the project (AIA, 1996).  The flexibility of the construction manager during the project is one of the key advantages of this management method that allows for a number of advantages and disadvantages.

There are a number of advantages and disadvantages to this method of project delivery.  As the Transportation Research Board of the National Academies points out based on an existing literature search, there are five main advantages.  First, the constructor (or whichever entity controls the process) is able to have substantial decision making power throughout the process; this includes making substantive input to the design and implementation of the project (Transportation Research Board of the National Academies).  In addition, other potential advantages include: the enhanced ability to accelerate the delivery’s project schedule; enhanced cost certainty at an earlier point in the design process than design-bid-build; the ability to dampen volatility inherent in the project management process due to changing prices; the owner holds natural control over the pace and scheduling decisions of the project (National Transportation Board, 2010).  The four most commonly cited disadvantages  were: 1) Reconciling potential conflicts between the construction manager at risk and the designer;  2) The owner must administer two contracts- a design and a construction contract; 3) There is uncertainty regarding the final price until it is finished; 4) Related personnel must be trained to understand and properly implement elements of the CMR project delivery (Transportation Research Board of the National Academies, 2010)

Indeed, although this type of project management is new, it has already been used in a number of different settings: traffic project procurement, school building procurement, and general building procurement (Cunningham, 2005).  Indeed, the National Transportation Board (2010) states that numerous states and department of transportation’s across the country have either undertaken projects with or experimented with portions of projects that included CMR project delivery,

Overall, I believe the sources I have initially identified will serve as key resources not only in understanding more about construction at risk, but also in understanding potential applications of this new and emerging theory.   After reading these sources, I need to adopt a more systematic methodology in understanding what other literature (sources) may be out there to fill in the current lacuna in my bibliography.  In addition, I need to begin contemplation of how exactly I will approach this method from a theoretical perspective.  Since I am a PhD student, I will have to develop a robust theoretical framework in order to examine this topic- this will consist of a lot of reading and thinking about the subject.

References

AIA (1996).  Handbook on Project Delivery.

Cunningham, G. (2005).  Commissioning Large Public Projects Using Construction Manager at Risk.  National Conference on Building Commissioning.

Gordon, C.M. (1994). Choosing Appropriate Construction Contracting Method.  Journal of Construction Engineering.  ASCE, 120(1), 196-210.

Transportation Research Board of National Academies (2010).  Construction Manager-at risk Project Delivery for Highway Programs.  Policy Paper.  Available at: http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/nchrp/nchrp_syn_402.pdf.

Appendix 1: Graphical Depiction of Construction Manager at Risk