Construction Submittals Template: Fill & Download for Free

Project Manager Level TasksA project manager’s responsibilities should begin in the preconstruction phase, or before the project starts. His level of involvement in this stage and subsequent stages will depend on the project. A construction management contract will modify a project manager’s responsibilities accordingly.Preconstruction Phase Tasks:Issue Project Book to SuperintendentRefine the scheduleVisit the site/survey the sitePreconstruction meetings with vendors and subcontractors RFIsAssist with buy-outsLong-lead submittalsDepending on when a project manager joins the project team, and his abilities, his preconstruction responsibilities will vary. For the average fixed-sum project the project manager should receive a ‘job book,’ or ‘hand-off package,’ well before the project is set to begin. If he isn’t so busy, he may receive the package earlier. There can be an enormous amount of documentation for some projects. The more there is, the more important it is for this information to be organized.I have seen many jobs never get out of the gate, due to poor hand-off practices. Optimally, you would want your project manager to have all relevant documentation before building begins, as opposed to after the fact, when he will have to back-pedal to locate it, process it piecemeal (as opposed to a comprehensive job-book), and always hope he has it all.A proper job-book and hand-off package should contain all of the following elements:§ Working drawings§ Specification book§ Permits§ Client information§ Contact list: design team, production team, and vendors§ Copy of base contract and payment requisitions§ Submittals and logs to-date§ Copy of all sub-contracts and insurance certificates§ HAZ/MAT book§ Copy of alteration agreement (for Condos and Co-ops)§ Project schedule (he or his superintendent should generate this, and may have done so already to accompany the bid package to the architect)All of the above are distributed in the preconstruction phase. With this information the superintendent can now help his project manager to facilitate the work. Once the hand-off book is issued, the superintendent and project manager should begin templating forms for the project.

Task Management Software works to improve the life of project managers.As deadlines keep coming closer, budgets get more stringent, and the complexity of tasks increase. Completing a project within the defined window becomes Herculean indeed.Thankfully, in today’s digital age, a few task management tools have been created to make the manager’s work much easier. Next time you feel frustrated with the various demands of a challenging project, you know that there are software systems and tools to make life easier.1.MondayMonday is a powerful project management software that helps teams plan and execute projects that deliver results on time, whether they are in the office, home, or on-the-go. Its ease of use and flexibility means fast onboarding for your team and the ability to customize workflows your way. With powerful productivity features such as time tracking, automated notifications, dependencies, timeline views and integrations, your team can achieve better and faster results for every projectmilestone.2. WrikeWrike is an online work management solution that enables project tracking, team collaboration, and real-time reporting. Features interactive Gantt charts, Kanban boards, personalized dashboards, and request forms. These help organizations to automate processes and become more efficient and productive. Use customized workflows and shared folders to achieve full visibility of workloads and progress. Wrike offers a number of specialized solutions such as Wrike for Marketers and Wrike for Professional Services, along with tailor-made tools and templates for specific teams. Also features 400+ app integration from the likes of Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce. Used by 20,000+ companies across 140 countries.3. JiraJira is an agile project management software used by development teams to plan, track, and release software. It is a popular tool designed specifically and used by agile teams. Aside from creating stories, planning sprints, tracking issues, and shipping up-to-date software, users also generate reports that help improve teams, and create their own workflows. As part of Atlassian, it integrates with many tools that enable teams to manage their projects and products from end to end. Jira Software is built for every member of your software team to plan,track, and release great software. Every team has a unique process for shipping software. Use an out-of-the-box workflow, or create one to match the way your team works.4. LetsBuildBuildertrend is the #1 Software for home builders, contractors & remodelers. Our construction software is an all-in-one solution, it features everything you need in one construction app.5. WorkflowMaxCloud-based worklow and job management software delivered as Software-as-a-Service. It is an end-to-end PM solution that has tools for leads, quotes, timesheets, job management, and invoicing.6. BuildToolsBuildTools is a web-based, fully integrated construction project management software. It is a modular construction management platform designed to manage the back-office processes of custom builders and remodelers.7. ProcoreCreates schedules, closes RFIs faster, tracks project emails, archives documents & photos. Manage submittals, daily logs, change orders, job costing and punch lists. Integrates with MS Project and and Sage Timberline Office.8. FluixFluix is a lightweight software for construction companies. All your project documentation in one place, available anytime. Redline drawings, attach progress photos, and add notes and comments for faster approvals.

Are you spending more time manipulating your data or thinking about the meaning of the results? If the latter, then congratulations are in order because you are already using Excel pretty efficiently.I disagree with other Quorans about the value of learning keyboard shortcuts. Although I’ve been an Excel power user for 25 years, I haven’t learned many keyboard shortcuts. I use CTRL + C, S, V, and X all the time, but grab the mouse for all other tasks. While a master of the 101-button mouse might chide me for not knowing their tricks, I save so much time through VBA automation that those tricks are a worth a pittance in comparison.Since you continue to ask the question about using Excel more efficiently, you now need to ask whether there is any repetition in the work that you do. For example, do you need to handle the same type of workbooks on every job? Issue the same reports every month? Massage the same kind of data every week? Do other people in your organization do the same things that you do?If the answer to any of these questions is “Yes,” then you ought to be learning how to write macros to automate those tasks. You may think you are too busy to take on the task of learning how to program in VBA. In actual fact, you squander company resources by continuing to do things manually. You are making mistakes because human error can never be completely eliminated, no matter how good you are with the manual processes. You are also wasting time, because a macro can do in seconds what it would otherwise take you hours to accomplish (minus a few minutes if you have mastered keyboard shortcuts).How can you find time to write these macros? Do the first couple of macros on your own time. From then on, when one of those tasks comes up—you will have free time to make more macros. Over the ensuing months, the compounding of productivity improvements will start saving enough time that management notices, while also making better quality deliverables.Your problem then becomes figuring out how to break a repetitive task into small pieces, each of which can be tackled separately. If you can’t see how, step back and try to look at the forest rather than the trees. Make a block diagram of work flow to see opportunities.I faced exactly this problem in 2006 when I took a job with a manufacturing company. As an engineer, my Excel-related tasks took about half of each day. These were:Make sure the equipment sold could meet the customer’s performance requirementsBuild a list of instruments needed for the project, then cross-check it against the P&ID schematic drawingUpdate the tag numbering of each instrument to use the customer’s preferred tag numbers. These new tag numbers would be used on all future documents relating to the project.Select the right size valves to control the system, then produce calculations that verified the sizingProduce a set of datasheets using an industry standard templates. These sheets show construction details of each instrument, along with process details like flows, temperatures and pressures. Each datasheet needed to use the customer’s preferred engineering units and tag numbers.Submit all of these documents for customer review and approval. Update the documents according to customer red-line markups. The only acceptable final result was every detail in the document set being 100% correct.I did things the hard way the first couple of times so I could learn where the opportunities lay for improvement. Marking up a previous job was the standard method. That approach institutionalizes bad practices, and even after checking and double-checking before submittal, I made mistakes on 5 to 10% of the instruments. This was personally very embarrassing, because I had about 30 years of experience at this point.The instrument list in step 2 was the first target for automation. My employer made about 15 different models, each of them having a standard bill of materials, but with numerous options. I tackled this by putting a list of all instruments used by the company in worksheet Parts Database, along with their part numbers and descriptions. A separate worksheet for each model listed the parts normally used, both standard and optional. VLOOKUP formulas brought data over from Parts Database as all of these worksheets were in the same workbook. To produce a custom instrument list, I just needed to find the worksheet for the model the customer ordered, “X” out the parts they weren’t getting, add in the handful of special parts required, AutoFilter and export the filtered sheet to a new workbook. Major improvements in effort, quality and accuracy.There was much gnashing of teeth the first time my customer wanted to use their own tag numbers. Fortunately, they gave me a cross-reference list of the standard tag numbers in one column and their preferred tag numbers in another. So I wrote a macro to check for possible conflicts, then perform a search and replace. This macro needed just seconds to run, and was 100% accurate.It took me two years to automate all six steps, and the macros chopped 90% of the time needed to produce workbooks for customer approval. So my firm handled double the sales volume without needing more engineers, and my colleague and I used our now free time to take on tasks previously performed by a technical writer. Document quality improved because we only needed to edit one place, and all future jobs got the benefit. Accuracy was also up, as most jobs now came back with no red-line comments at all.In my opinion, that’s the right way to improve Excel efficiency.