Group Project, Part I
(Module 2)–
Work together with your team to prepare a validate scopedocument
for the framing and exterior inspection, pre-drywall inspection. This
inspection includes the following:
·
Completed
exterior, including roof, windows, doors (pre-painting)
·
Completed
internal wall framing
·
In-wall
plumbing for sinks, tubs, dishwasher, clothes washer, wet bar, etc.
·
Completed
electrical for wall switches, outlets, ceiling fixtures, etc.
·
Low-voltage
wiring and conduit for security system, AV equipment, internet and computer
wiring, thermostat, telephones, etc.
·
HVAC
ducts and returns
All of these items are shown on the
construction plans approved by the Browns. If the items are as shown on the
plans, they should be approved. The Browns know that if they want to make
any changes not shown on
the plans, they will be charged a lump sum of $250 for making the change and
any additional costs incurred to construct the change. Some changes may require
the review and approval of the local building department, which will add at
least two weeks to the construction schedule. You don’t anticipate any issues;
the Browns live in the area and stop in at the site once or twice each week.
You have shown the location of various appliances and the kitchen island by
painting the outline of these on the floor. This allows for the owners to
better visualize the final layout.
The purpose of this week’s
submission is for your team to develop a generic procedure that uses the
inputs, tools, and techniques, and produces the outputs in the Validate Scope
process. In addition, your team must develop a quality control procedure for
just the electrical switches and outlets to eliminate rework and demonstrate
your knowledge of the core value of Responsible Stewardshipby
installing these features correctly the first time. Remember thecarpenter’s
adage: “Measure twice, cut once.”
The case study on which the
four part assignment is based is as follows:
Project
Background:Mr.
and Mrs. Brown are buying a new house, the“San Leo”model, in a
local subdivision. The house is a 4-bed, 2-bath with a 2 car garage. The
Browns have selected their options and signed the contract and addendums. Their
financing is approved. The house is now under construction. It is nearing the
end of the third month in a seven-month construction schedule. The Browns have
previously approved the two earlier interim inspections, 1) regarding the lot
grading, underground plumbing; and 2) slab and interior wall framing. It is now
time for the third interim inspection described above.
Company Background:Your company, HappiHouses
(HH), builds standard houses in severalnew subdivisions in your area.
HH has been in business for over 40 years and is a licensed general contractor
in your area. HH sells the house and lot as a package. HH’s profit comes from
mark-up on the lot, construction management, a mark-up on subcontractors, as
well as the margin from self-performing the structural, concrete, drywall,
painting, and finishing work. HH self-performs this work to better control the
quality and schedule for these items.
HH uses several
subcontractors (subs) during construction. These subs are typically those
trades that are separately licensed in your area. For this house, the subs are
constructing the electrical, plumbing, heating, roofing, and ventilation and
air conditioning (HVAC) items. The construction of each house is managed by a
single project manager who has two assistants. This project management team
typically has 10 to 20 houses in various stages of construction to manage.
Please make sure that you
cite and reference all your outside sources properly. You must have a minimum
of three references, including one peer-reviewed journal article.
Even
though you complete this assignment as a group, all students must submit
their own paper to their own individual Dropbox. (This Dropbox
basket is linked to Turnitin.)
Group
Project, Part II (Module 3) The Control Schedule Process
The baseline project
schedule in MS Project 2013 is contained in the course documents. The start
date (notice to proceed) is set for May 1, 2024 so that the schedule does not
need to be changed during the expected life of this course material. Please
ignore the year. For your convenience, a 2024 calendar is available at the end
of this file. The building inspector requires a three-day window, which can
include weekend days. The building department is very good on performing the
inspections within the three-day window. The schedule has been approved by all
stakeholders. WBS items 3.5 and 3.6 are for two-story houses and were deleted
from this schedule because the San Leo is one story. For consistency, the
remaining WBS numbers are the same as a two-story house.
An Excel workbook: House Schedule of Values is included with
the course materials. This workbook has a WBS Budget that includes the initial
budget for the WBS items. Notice that the roll-up items do not have a subtotal.
You should also refer to the Microsoft Project form: Schedule Compression, to help with your
assignment for this week.
Situation. The project was on or
ahead of schedule during May and June. However, TropicalStorm Cody sat
off the coast, and the jobsite was shut down because of wind, lightning, and/or
rain for the entire first two weeks of July. We were fortunate that lintel and
block inspection passed on June 28. Today is Friday, July 12. It is too wet to
work until Monday, but you have ordered the materials for the roof and the
framing, and all materials will be delivered on Sunday.
You’ve probably heard of
“saving up for a rainy day.” Well, in the home building business, we “save up
to recover from rain delays”.
In the course materials,
there is an Excel workbook that contains the budgeted cost, the planned value,
the percent complete, and the earned value that your team has estimated as of July
12. The sheet has subtotals and formulas for PV, EV, AC, and BAC.
Unfortunately, the other formulas are missing, and you have to recalculate
them.
Your supervisor has asked
you and your project management team to develop a recovery plan to start the
drywall work on time by the end of July. That gives you two weeks to do
essentially four weeks of work. The building department has agreed to inspect
the day you call in for an inspection as long as you pay the $200 overtime fee
per inspection. For weather delays, your company’s policy is to always pay this
additional inspection cost and costs for extra inspections out of general
company overhead so as not to impact your project budget.
To
make up for the weather delay, you’ve talked with the structural engineer
regarding the framing inspection that is required before windows can be
installed. (The building department requires that all structural walls be
completed before any windows are installed).You also talked to the building
officials about installing the windows after the inspection of the load bearing
wall, and they agreed. You don’t need to complete all of the framing, just the
interior load bearing wall shown in Figure 1. You realize that your crew can
erect this in a 12-hour day. The building department will have to inspect this
wall before the windows are installed, but they agreed to do that at 6:00 a.m.
on Tuesday, so that allows you to install windows all day Tuesday. The cost for
the additional inspection will be paid out of company overhead and not charged
to your project.
The
sheeting can be started when half of the trusses are installed, but it will
still take one day after the trusses are installed for the sheeting to be installed.
The inspector has agreed to be there first thing in the morning the next day
after the sheeting is completed.
You can also shorten the
duration for framing, trusses, sheeting, windows, and roofing by working your
crews on overtime pay. You can get up to 12 hours labor per day from your
crews, and they like the overtime pay!
Your
foreman estimated 48 hours total for the framing crew to do all of the framing.
He estimated 32 hours for the trusses. The time for the roofing is 80 hours with
one roofing crew. The windows are 56 hours for one crew. You can also pay these
crews overtime for 4 hours per work day and 12 hours on Saturday at a cost of
$45 additional per hour. (The straight time hourly wages are included in the
budget.) If needed, your crews can work Sunday at double time, which would cost
an additional $90 per hour. (See the Crew Cost spreadsheet for calculations.)
One of your assistants started a spreadsheet in the budget workbook called
“Schedule
Compression” to help develop the cost for the new schedule. She didn’t get it
finished before she went into labor and she will be out for the next 12 weeks.
Assignment:
You will complete the second stage of your
Group Project—The Control Scheduleprocess. Work with your group to prepare
a recovery plan that can be used to bring the project back on schedule. Prepare
a report to your supervisor that provides a detailed description of which tasks
you will crash and/or fast track, the additional cost for crashing and/or
fast-tracking, the revised activity start and end dates, and any other issues
you think should be reported.
Also, explain how crashing
and fast tracking will shorten the schedule. Demonstrate your knowledge of the
core value of responsible stewardship by minimizing the cost for overtime pay.
Please make sure that you
cite and reference all your outside sources properly. You must have a minimum
of three references, including one peer-reviewed journal article.
Even though you complete
this assignment as a group, all students must submit their own paper to
their own individual Dropbox. (This Dropbox basket is linked to Turnitin.)
Group Project, Part III
(Module 4) The Control Cost Process
Situation: You’re back on
schedule. However, on your last visit to the house, you saw that the baseboards
and casings are not acceptable after 8 hours of charged work to activity 7.3 by
Curley and Moe, a standard crew. On closer examination, it appears that the
initial framing and drywall work were not exact, but are well within building
standards. You are concerned that your standard two man crew, Curley and Moe,
may not have the skill to install the baseboards and casings without a
significant amount of rework and delay. You call Gus and Leo, the elite
carpentry crew you can use. They can be made available, but their combined
hourly rate, including fringe and overhead, is $50/hour more than the budget.
(See the crew cost spreadsheet.) Gus is confident that he and Leo can fix what
has been constructed and finish the remaining work in 72 hours without
overtime. Gus also mentioned that he and Leo could do the 80 hours of finish
work. You’ll consider that, but you’re pretty confident that Curley and Moe can
get it done in the 96 hours budgeted. What should you recommend to your
supervisor? There are two worksheets (which you need to complete) for
baseboards and finishwork that can assist you with making your decision.
Assignment:Complete the third stage of
your Group Project—The Control Cost Process. Yourassignment for Module
4 is to work with your group to prepare a report to your supervisor
regarding your issues from
the situation and any other issues that you think should be reported. Also,
include Earned Value calculations for VAC, CPI, EAC (using the remaining
formulas not completed last week except the bottoms-up), ETC (no need to
re-estimate), TCPI using the BAC formula, and the EAC formula. (Include
calculations for all methods of calculating EAC except the bottoms-up.)
Although PV, EV, AC, BAC, SV, SPI, and the EAC (using the EAC=AC+BAC-EV
formula) were completed last week, include those in your report. Compare the
different methods used to calculate EAC and TCPI. Explain why the values
differ. Which would you give the most credence in forecasting this project?
Also, explain how you need
to control costs on this project. Demonstrate your knowledge of the core value
of responsible stewardship by minimizing the cost.
Please make sure that you
cite and reference all your outside sources properly. You must have a minimum
of three references, including one peer-reviewed journal article.
Even
though you complete this assignment as a group, all students must submit
their own paper to their own individual Dropbox. (This Dropbox
basket is linked to Turnitin.)
Group Project, Part IV (Module
8)
Situation:It is now July 31 and
Activities 1.1 through 5.1 are 100% complete as shown on theWBS EV Jul
31 worksheet. Your actual cost equals the budgeted cost except for the
additional costs to get back on schedule. You need to calculate the actual cost
for WBS 3.4 and 3.7 $____________ actual cost to WBS item 7.3-baseboards,
casings, and other details that you changed in Module 4.
Assignment:Update your project
schedule with the start/duration changes generated inModule 2 to
recover from the storm. Complete the activity “Pool-if ordered” as WBS item
8.3. The pool costs $30,000 and takes 28 days to build. It must be completed in
order to start landscaping. Include a screen shot of your revised schedule.
Trim the excess and use an appropriate time scale to show the activity
durations. Finally, you received the attached letter from Ralph Acme requesting
an additional $350. What would you do to resolve this issue?
Update all your earned
value calculations, including the revised percent completes through activity
4.8 and the $________ actual cost in WBS item 7.3. Compare the different
methods to calculate EAC and TCPI. Explain why the values differ. Which would
you give the most credence in forecasting this project?
Also, explain how you need
to control costs on this project. Demonstrate your knowledge of the core value
of Responsible Stewardship by minimizing the cost.
Please make sure that you
cite and reference all your outside sources properly. You must have a minimum of
three references, including one peer-reviewed journal article.
Even though you complete
this assignment as a group, all students must submit their own paper to their
own individual Dropbox. (This Dropbox basket is linked to Turnitin.)
