Project Management – learn it, use it, avoid a lawsuit (Free Webinar– THIS Tuesday!)

listeningWant to learn more about how to use project management as a risk avoidance tool?  Sure you do! 

Join the Hall & Company folks for this month’s free webinar entitled, “Effective Project Management Practices as a Key Risk Management Strategy.”

The webinar will discuss:

1. The essential elements of a solid Project Management Plan and why “Planning a project will not guarantee success, but failure to plan will guarantee failure.”
2. Why your project’s scope, schedule and budget are considered a “three-legged stool” and how to manage the big risks associated with project changes.  
3. Why effective communications are absolutely essential to project success, why poor communications have been described as the biggest contributor to project problems and what every project manager needs to know about communicating with their clients.
4. Ensuring quality in every aspect of project delivery as a fundamental risk management strategy.  The quality of the project and project deliverables will be remembered much longer than the project’s schedule, budget or project manager!  
5. Why project risks need to be identified, understood and managed so they don’t become business risks for your firm.

When?  THIS Tuesday, February 21, 2012 at 1pm EST

Register Here

This presentation has been approved for AIA Continuing Education credit (1LU).

Happy listening!

Photo: (c) Mike Quinn via Creative Commons license.

7 Critical Mistakes that Engineers & Architects Make that Sabotage their Projects

7 critical mistakes engineers & architects makeA lawsuit could cost your company thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars.  You will spend more time with your lawyer than you’d like– time you’d otherwise be able to spend on your business.  Sound fun?  Of course not. 

What can you do to lessen your risks of a lawsuit? 

Take a few minutes right now to download my free 6 page white paper entitled 7 Critical Mistakes that Engineers & Architects make that Sabatoge their Projects & Invite Litigation.  If you know what these critical, yet common, mistakes are, you can take steps to minimize your risk of being sued. 

Check it out by going to the right hand side of the blog’s main page and submitting a request for your free copy today.

Construction Estimating: the Odd Numbers game

As a design professional, you have likely seen your share of construction estimates.  You may be in charge of evaluating bid proposals and/or in reviewing projects for value engineering possibilities.  Of course, you are almost certainly involved in submitting your own proposal estimates for architectural or engineering services on a project.

I saw a recent blog discussion on construction estimates, and how owners view them.  In the situation discussed, a contractor was losing business because his estimates were in nice round numbers, creating the suspicion in the owner’s mind that the numbers were not carefully put together.

One commentator, a civil engineer, said:

As a Professional Civil Engineer and owner’s representative, I am very leery of proposals received that are round (up or down) unless I’ve done business with this group before and am aware of it. I agree with the other comments that it appears as if the bidder has not put much effort into their proposal.

What do you think? Are you leery of an estimate that is a nice round number? Do you round your own estimates? Does an estimate of $21,975 look more legitimate than an estimate of $22,000?  Share your thoughts, and your practice, below.

 

tall building

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Photo credit: Håkan Dahlström.

Roofing performance & codes – Free webinar tomorrow (the “it’s-not-Tue” Tip)

Apologies for the late notice, but this one just crossed my desk:  Tomorrow, January 26, 2012, at 2pm EST, Architectural Roofing & Waterproofing UniverArchitectural Roofing Universitysity will present a free webinar entitled

“Code Changes, Point Programs and the Roofing Industry.”

Here’s the description from the presenter:
Webinar will discuss issues that are important to both roof performance and to assure the new Code requirements are met. A few lessons learned and industry needs will be presented along with things that can or must be done in the meanwhile. It is not all bad news; after all, we are the industry problem solvers. As new problems arise our value and opportunities increase.

Attend this webinar to learn:

• How to identify and avoid trouble with new regulatory requirements
• New approaches and product to best avoid constructability and performance issues caused by compliance with new regulatory requirements
• Solutions to problems encountered and venues to help share solutions utilized
• How to think forward concerning the pitfalls associated with implementation of new technology and regulations

Speaker: David R. Hawn, FRCI, RRC, CEM, President, Dedicated Roof and Hydro-Solutions, LLC

Webinar qualifies for 1.0 AIA Learning Unit

Registration is required.

Do you know of upcoming webinars, seminars, or conferences that you think readers of this blog should know about?  Drop me a line or comment below.

 

Top Design Products of 2011 (Tue Tip)

funky toiletED+C (Environmental Design & Construction) magazine recently released a list of its top 10 design products for 2011, based on reader requests for additional information. 

Topping the list?  The Energy Star LED lightbulb

Most popular type of product? Materials relating to air quality.

Item which made the best picture for this post?  The Invisi Series II toilet by Caroma, which is designed to maximize floor space by making smaller bathrooms more roomy and luxurious while using the company’s award-winning Smartflush technology.( The half flush uses 0.8 gallons-per-flush (gpf) for liquids, and the full flush uses 1.28 gpf for solids for an average volume of 0.9 gpf.).  Funky little toilet, isn’t it?

What do you think were the top design products of 2011?  Share in the comments below.

Photo (c) Caroma.