Managing Public Construction Projects: Imagine, Design, Manage, Build: From Concept to Concrete

Some projects succeed and others are massive failures. The failures have sometimes been from unforeseeable conditions, but often have been from predictable issues that recur with shocking frequency. The reason for this is simple: with public projects, the persons that are responsible for the project approvals and outcomes, at the highest levels, are typically elected or appointed officials that have little previous experience with construction, much less with managing a multi-million-dollar project. Elected and appointed officials are often unwilling to acknowledge their lack of expertise, and instead plow forward with projects that have major potential defects-or at the very least, that have not been fully considered and optimized.The general lack of prior experience that many public officials have, when properly acknowledged, can be a great asset, rather than a significant detriment. How is that so? When you come into a project without the burden of prior assumptions based on previous project experience, you can re-envision what a successful project should be, and what your goals should be. Prior to starting this book, I searched out some of the highest profile success stories and some of the worst failures in public construction projects. I spoke with professionals involved in every aspect of public construction, including design, financing, construction and inspection, and gathered their thoughts and recommendations.I wrote this book for the benefit of both experienced and inexperienced public officials alike. It is written for elected officials, for appointed officials and for staff who are charged with bringing a public project from concept to reality. Many of the points discussed are equally applicable to private construction, but we focus primarily on public construction and its intricacies because it is the public projects that are often headed up by less experienced project managers.