• Planning is a bridge between the experiences of the past projects and the proposed actions that produces favorable results in the future.

• It can also be said that it is a precaution by which we can reduce undesirable effects or unexpected happenings and thereby eliminating confusion, waste, and loss of efficiency.

• Planning involves prior determination, specification of factors, forces, effects and relationships necessary to reach the desired goals.

Objectives of construction planning:

• Planning of each activity:

• Construction Methods:

• Planning for Construction Equipments and Machinery:

• Procurement of materials:

• Planning for employee skills:

• Planning for required documents and drawings:

• Financial Planning:

1. Planning of each activity:

• The construction project planning should identify and include every activity of the project in a sequential order. Every activity should be scheduled in a timeline for tracking of construction project.

• Construction Methods:

• Plans should include construction methods to be adopted for different construction activities and tools and planning for tools and tackles for each activity so that they can be made available whenever required.

3. Planning         for        Construction            Equipments               and Machinery:

• Cost of a construction varies greatly with the use of construction equipments and heavy machinery as their renting cost could be very high per day.

• So, planning and scheduling for such equipments and machinery should be done in advance so that project activities goes on smoothly without keeping these equipments in waiting.

• Project should be planned in such a way that the use of these machinery can be made to maximum during the given period to make it cost effective.

• Procurement of materials:

• Project planning should also include procurement planning for materials.

• It is not advisable to keep the material unused for site for long time.

• This can degrade the material as well as much of the cost is spent on such materials.

• So, proper planning of material procurement also helps to complete the project within budget.

• Planning for employee skills:

• Some of the construction activities requires availability of skilled person to execute that work.

• It is not necessary to employ such person throughout the project, so proper planning of such work can reducethe cost of operation for that activity.

• Planning for required documents and drawings:

• Construction projects are executed based on the drawings and specifications.

• It is necessary to track and make available these drawings at site on time so that the construction activities are not stopped. Thus construction project planning should also include the schedules of drawings, specifications and other documents to be made available at site for review and execution without delaying the project.

• 7.     Financial Planning:

• Financial planning of construction is the most important aspects.

• Different amounts are required at different stages of construction project. Proper planning of funds forconstruction helps the project proceed smoothly. There is no point in investing all the budgeted amount on the construction project during start of the project. This can be done in phases as and when required.

Principles of planning:

• should be easily understandable

• should not be an optimistic

• should be flexible

• should be comprehensive

·    incorporates     the         system of           monitoring         and controlling

STEPS OF PLANNING

1. Goal setting:

• Developing the planning premises:

• Reviewing Limitations:

• Deciding the planning period:

• Formulation of policies and strategies:

• Preparing operating plans:

• Integration of plans:

8.

reasonably anticipated, time required to receive  capital investments,  expected

future availability

raw materials, lead time in development and commercialization of a product, etc.

1. Goal setting:

• Plans are the means to achieve certain ends or objec-tives.

• They should be verifiable i.e., they should as far as possible be specified in clear and measurable terms.

• Objectives provide the guidelines (what to do) for the preparation of strategic and procedural plans.

• The objectives must be clear, specific and informative.

• Developing the planning premise:

• Before plans are prepared, the assumptions and conditions underlying them must be clearly defined these assumptions are called planning premises and they can be identified through accurate forecasting of likely future events.

• Reviewing Limitations:

• In practice, several constraints or limitations affect the ability of an organization to achieve its objectives.

• The key areas of Imitations are finance,” human resources, materials, power and machinery. The strong and weak points of the enterprise should be correctly assessed.

• Deciding the planning period:

• The planning period should be long enough to permit the fulfillment of the commitments involved in a decision.

• This is known as the principle of commitment. The planning period depends on several factors e.g., future that can be

of new

• Formulation of policies and strategies:

• The res-ponsibility for laying down policies and strategies lies usually with management. But, the subordinates should be consulted as they are to implement the policies and strategies.

• Alternative plans of action should be developed and evaluated carefully so as to select the most appropriate policy for the organization. Imagination, foresight, experience and quantitative techniques are very useful in the developmentand evalua-tion of alternatives.

6. Preparing operating plans:

• Several medium range and short-range plans are required to implement policies and strategies.

·     These plans consist of procedures, programmers, sche-dules, budgets and rules. Such plans are required for the implementation of basic plans.

• Integration of plans:

• Different plans must be properly balanced so that they support one another. Review and revision may be necessary before the plan is put into operation. Moreover, the various plans must be communicated and explained to those responsible for putting them into practice.

STAGES OF PLANNING

1. Preplanning

• objective are clearly spelt out

• general frame work is formulated

• B/C analysis of alternative sites

• Detail planning

• detail design and drawings are carried out

• specification is prepared

• quantity estimation

• scheduling of activities

• Monitoring and controlling

• progress of construction is monitored

• updating of schedule

2.3. PLANNING BY CONTRACTOR & CLIENTS IN DIFFERENT STAGES

PLANNING BY CONTRACTOR

1. Pre- tender stage

• Contract stage

Pre tender stage

• Contractor prepare realistic programme for carrying out the work. This stage enables the contractor to make a proper bid and prepares him for completing the work in the stipulated time.

• Contractor’s visit to site and prepare report describing the complete circumstances of the work and the conditionsunder which the work is likely to be carried out.

Pre-tender planning includes the following steps

• Examining drawing and specifications to identify various item of work.

• Carrying out site investigation and market survey to assess the availability of manpower, materials, machinery and other facilities.

• Estimating the quantities of different items of work and time required for their completion.

• Preparing a tentative construction schedule with reference to estimated completion time.

• Deciding the overheads and margin of profit and finalizing the tender price for completing the work within the stipulated time.

Contract stage:

• Post tender stage or construction stage

• Begins with acceptance of the tender and extend till completion of contract

• Post tender planning is used for checks of specific details for execution of the project.

• Inadequate planning at this stage may result in delay leading to heavier expenditure than originally estimated.

Contract stage involves following steps.

• Establishing a good communication system between construction team for smooth running of project.

• Evaluating alternative construction methods identified during pre-tender stage to select the most economical andefficient method.

• Studying inter-relationships of various items of works and finalization of proper sequences operation.

• Calculating the phase-wise requirement of construction materials ( like aggregate, sand, cement, steel etc.)

• Determining phased requirement of plant and machinery including repair and maintenance factor.

• Preparing details of manpower requirement for various stages of works.

PLANNING BY CLIENT

• Define the scope of work to be performed

• Identifying the activities involved, and assessing the approximate quantities of physical resources needed activity-wise.

• Preparing the logic or network diagram to establish a relationship among the activities and integrating these diagramsto develop the project network or model.

• Analyzing the project network or model to determine project duration and identifying critical and noncritical activities.

• Exploring trade- off between time and cost to arrive at the optimal time and costs for completing the project.

• Exploring work options within specified time and resources constraints and deciding on the project work schedule.

• Establishing standards for planning and controlling men, materials, equipment, costs and income of each work package.

• Forecasting input resources, production costs and the value of the work done.

• Assigning physical resources like men, materials and equipment activity-wise and allocating these to theorganizational units earmarked for execution.

• Forecasting the project budget and budget allocations for achieving targets assigned to each organizational unit.

• Designing a control system for the organization

• Developing the resources, time and cost control methodology

• Evolving an information communication system

• Computerizing planning and the control system.

SCHEDULING

• Scheduling is a process of setting various planned activities in order by fixing their starting and finishing dates so that whole work is executed in a systematic order.

• For preparing a schedule, project work is divided into different operational activities. Desired sequences of activities can be decided after knowing their interdependencies. Quantity is taken from project measurement sheet and performance of each activities estimated. Based on quantity and performance rate duration if activities will be determined and start time decided appropriately. Margin is kept for unforeseen delays. Such schedule is the timetable for the propjet.

• Exploring trade- off between time and cost to arrive at the optimal time and costs for completing the project.

• Exploring work options within specified time and resources constraints and deciding on the project work schedule.

• Establishing standards for planning and controlling men, materials, equipment, costs and income of each work package.

• Forecasting input resources, production costs and the value of the work done.

• Assigning physical resources like men, materials and equipment activity-wise and allocating these to the organizational unitsearmarked for execution.

• Forecasting the project budget and budget allocations for achieving targets assigned to each organizational unit.
• Designing a control system for the organization

• Developing the resources, time and cost control methodology

• Evolving an information communication system

• Computerizing planning and the control system.

2.4. PREPARING SCHEDULE

Method of Scheduling:

• Bar chart or Gantt chart

• Milestone charts

• Network analysis

Scheduling are of:

• Construction schedule

• Material schedule

• labor schedule

• Equipment schedule

• Financial schedule

• Control schedule

• Organizational schedule

• Summary schedule