What makes a project successful?
Date Posted: August 26, 2016
Posted In: Ideas,
By Paul Netscher, a construction consultant and writer from Perth, Australia.
Many construction projects are unsuccessful. (Based on a study by KPMG last year only 31% of respondents’ projects over the previous three years came in within 10% of their budgeted cost and only one quarter of projects over that period came in within 10% of their original deadlines.) This judgement is based solely on the fact that they were finished over budget or late. But even when projects are finished within budget and on time are they necessarily a success? Well that answer often depends on your association to the project!
Let’s ask these questions:
- What happens when a project is finished on time and within the customer’s budget? Certainly the customer may regard the project as being a success. But what if the contractor lost money – obviously the project isn’t a success for the contractor.
- What if the project is completed on time, within budget and the general contractor made money, but some subcontractors lost money? Well of course the project wasn’t successful for the subcontractors! What if the subcontractors weren’t paid – well then the project definitely wasn’t a success for them.
- What about if a worker was killed while working on the project? The project certainly was a disaster for the worker and their relatives and probably has ramifications for the company that employed the worker. Can we regard a project with a poor safety record and injuries as a success?
- Of course we often have projects delivered on time and within budget which don’t deliver value for money. Politicians often force through projects that are clearly unsuitable for the environment, the neighborhood or simply are projects that can’t deliver what they are supposed to deliver or are unaffordable. The world is cluttered with white elephants. Again I would label these projects as unsuccessful, no matter how successful the construction phase was.
- What if the construction of a new apartment complex is completed successfully, but the developer cannot sell the apartments because the apartment market is oversupplied, or the quality, style, or size of the apartments doesn’t suit what buyers are looking for?
Indeed there is the opposite, where some of the most disastrous construction projects have turned out to be hugely successful. Consider the Sydney Opera House – named in the Hall of Shame of landmark building projects with major cost blowouts (the project was completed 14 times over budget and 10 years late), yet today the Sydney Opera House now stands as a city icon (even a national icon) recognized worldwide, a mega tourist attraction and successful venue.