Percentages by opinion
The basis and uncertainty of reported progress affect how the information can be interpreted.
For contractors
Construction Progress Monitoring
Progress monitoring is the discipline of checking the reported position against the physical one, period by period, so that variance is caught while there is still time to respond to it.
Progress, production rates and forecasts may provide different information about a project. Trends, measurement changes and possible responses are considered in the circumstances rather than through a fixed hierarchy of indicators.
Progress and payment information may be evaluated using measures suited to the contract and work. Physical quantities, reported percentages, milestones and other evidence have uses and limitations; differences are assessed in their contractual context.
Differences between reported and actual progress can arise from measurement conventions, incomplete work, estimates, errors or unsupported entries. Monitoring documents those differences and examines their effect on forecasts.
Contractor and owner records provide different views of the same work. Their usefulness rests on timing, support and consistency with the rest of the record. The author’s identity alone does not settle the weight of the information.
Possible assignment considerations
In practice
- 01
Fix the measurement method
Agree what counts as progress for each kind of work before measuring any of it, so the series stays comparable from period to period.
- 02
Walk the work
Physical observation against the schedule and the drawings, the step that catches the difference between delivered, installed and complete.
- 03
Compare against the plan
Actual production rates set against the rates the baseline assumed, and actual progress against the current schedule rather than the original one.
- 04
Report the variance plainly
The gap, its direction, and what is driving it, in a form the project can act on this month and a reader can rely on later.
Considerations and limitations
Questions and limitations to consider
Reviewing only summary activities
Summary activities that roll detailed activities into one longer bar can hide slipping work or low production rates that show up only in the detailed activities.
Progress-record sources
Contractor and owner records provide different views of the same work. Their usefulness rests on timing, support and consistency with the rest of the record. The author’s identity alone does not settle the weight of the information.
Construction Progress Monitoring
Talk to a consultant
Also in this practice
Contractor Construction Administration Services
- Prepare Baseline ScheduleCPM schedule development and review in relation to the project facts and contract requirements.
- Prepare Schedule UpdatesPeriodic updates documenting progress, forecast assumptions and material revisions.
- Delay Analysis & Project Progress MonitoringAnalyzing delay events, their supported time effects and the contract administration record.
- Schedule Requirement SpecificationWriting the scheduling specification so it produces a usable record, not a compliance exercise.
- Prepare Time Impact Analysis (TIA)Modeling identified events in a selected schedule, with the time perspective, assumptions and limits explained.
- Prepare Extension of Time RequestsTechnical support for time requests using available schedules and project information.
- Change Order RequestsPricing and substantiating changes, including their effect on time.
- Requests for Equitable AdjustmentA documented claim for the cost and time consequences of a change in the work.
- Estimating AssistanceTechnical estimating and cost analysis for bids, changes and claims.