All Construction Professionals are Deemed Contract Administrators: A DNA Hack to Ease Your Job
The construction sector appears lucrative but requires professionals to step for their companies to contribute towards successful completion of projects within stipulated time and budget. However, due to the dependencies on various internal and external stake holders the impediments and delays in the project are very often. These impediments and delays will become burdensome if not managed properly leading to disastrous financial impact on the company. The individual reputation will be at stake in case company finds out that we did not manage our work properly.
We should understand that all the professionals in the project are hired or deputed to achieve common goal as set out the contract. There is no department within the project which is immune towards responsibility to adhere to the contract. Departments function with the professionals and ultimately everyone therefore called contract administrator. Each department shall administer their respective parts of contract. Therefore, everyone is deemed contract administrator within their capacities.
To begin with, all the professionals shall adopt DNA mechanism which I have derived after my years of observation in the projects.
Document: Record all the transactions and work you do, with simple date and time of incoming or outgoing activity. Present day contracts are generally time bound and each activity we do has a time limit. Whenever you get to receive a work or deliver a work, write down the date at which it must be moved from your desk.
Notify: Notify the concerned department or client in writing, whenever there is a delay or impediment due to the factors which are not in your control. No need of any fancy or legal language just to inform about the obstacles you are facing to complete your work.
Act: Act on the work timely and keep a rigorous follow up with dependent professionals or client. Reach out to line managers in polite manner, preferably in writing, in case of any doubts in the work. Include your piers and managers in decision making process, to make it a collective responsibility.
While this may look simple but hard to make a consistent habit. This structured way of working will generate documents which will eventually be instrumental for your company to help in optimizing the legal and financial consequences. At an individual level, it will protect you if you have all the proofs that you have endeavored best of your efforts to complete the tasks.
This framework if implemented for atleast 90 days, you will start seeing results. Let me know if this framework is helping you and should you wish to have further discussion, reach out to me on LinkedIn.
