RUSH

Your Outdoor Living Experts Project Report

MGT 4330

Tannous

Introduction

As Your Outdoor Living Experts we design, build, and renovate to produce your dream outdoor living area.  Our company has been in business for over a decade, during that time we strive to exceed our customer's expectations. We have expanded our portfolio with a number of projects across the states and we reside our main headquarter in Houston, Texas.  We are one of the top leading outdoors living experts in our industry and we intend to keep it that way!  As a member of the BBB we have high standards for our company and will give our clients nothing but the best quality outdoor living experience.

Project Objective/Scope

Our latest client is a local apartment complex who is looking to renovate their current swimming pool area. With our latest project we have $175,000.00 as our budget and have a 90 days for our completion date.  Our clients are looking to add a patio area which will include a patio over to block weather conditions.  It will also include a full kitchen which will include a stainless steel refrigerator, gas grill, prep station, marble countertop, and backsplash to give it a complete kitchen look.  There will be a complete composite decking that will be surrounding the existing pool.  As for the landscaping we will be installing 3 tall palms with tropical flowers with mulch to give it a tropical resort look.  Last but not least we will be installing a fence that will surround the entire pool area to secure the area when used by residence

Deliverables and Milestones

Our deliverables in the early design phase of our project was to provide our client with an outdoor kitchen area that included a propane grill, a built in refrigerator, sink, and island bar; that connected to the living area which would all be under a covered area that included lights, fans and heating lamps for the colder months of the year. We would also be providing our client with a fence around the entire outdoor living area for safety of the kids of the community, and a gate around the pool. We would also build a composite deck around the pool area for entertainment. Lastly, to beautify the living area we would provide our clients with lush and beautiful landscaping around the outdoor area and pool. The second phase of the deliverables included more detail for each of these areas; these would include ensuring the granite installation for the kitchen was completed appropriately. Confirming the light fixtures generated enough light in the correct areas of the outdoor living areas and also, making sure the heating lamps gave off enough heat. For the fences, ensuring the fences met all safety requirements and for the decking around the pool; just making sure it was installed properly and the appropriate protection for outdoor conditions were applied. For the landscaping during the second phase making sure the plants are arranged in the way it was designed and make any appropriate adjustments as needed. During the third phase, ensuring that all the client’s expectations were met for each deliverable, and if changes are needed our company would address them as soon as we are made aware of.

For the milestones, we had several significant events throughout our project. We used several deliverables as a platform to identify the major segments of work and the end date. These were important control points in our project. Our milestones consisted of obtaining all permits prior to the beginning of construction, because a large amount of other deliverables depended on the pouring of the slab (cement) we had to ensure the scheduling of the kitchen and roofing were timed perfectly for when the slab was dry and ready. The safety of our employees and contractors is something we do not take lightly here at Your Outdoor Living Experts, we ensured the framing and roof were completed and secured before we had workers begin working on the kitchen and installation of lights, fans, and space heaters. Finalizing the kitchen and having it meet the customer’s expectations was a significant milestone for us. The kitchen and living area would be the areas of high traffic and most impact to the project, so having a sign-off from our client that it met their expectations would be a great relief. One other major milestone is the installation of the sprinkler system, our fencing and decking around the pool had to be scheduled until the sprinkler system had been installed and tested before their work could begin. Finalizing the landscaping was the icing on the cake; it brought all the areas together and made it the beautiful and relaxing outdoor living area our customers requested. The last milestone would be the walk-thru with our client after the area has been cleaned and ready for presentation. The walk-thru provides us with a closing for our project; essentially the walk-thru is for the customer to sign-off on the entire project.

In the process of defining the project scope, expounding the technical requirements are one of the important factors of the project. According to Larson (2011), “More frequently than not, a product or service will have a technical requirement to ensure proper performance” (pg.103). By defining such requirements, it allows the project manager to possibly save money, time, resources, and/or lesson delays. With any project that Your Outdoor Living Experts construct, we like to take proactive steps by following our specific company policies which include, acquiring all permits in a timely fashion, conducting inspections of the property or space before work begins and after construction is complete. Also, in projects such as this one, we make sure materials are environmentally safe and animal friendly. Because we intend for this outdoor oasis to be used by families with kids and their pets we want to assure the property owners their residents are safe. The technical requirements that are mandatory by the city include call before we dig, to avoid mishaps, alerting participating utility companies such as electric, gas, cable and phone about the planned digging is a must so they can mark the appropriate location of their underground lines if necessary. According to Centerpoint Energy,” Homeowners and contractors who are going to undertake projects involving excavation or digging must provide at least 48 hours' notice” (Centerpoint Energy). Other requirements for the landscaping and outdoor kitchen we are designing include; running utilities for the kitchen near existing water and electricity, the refrigerator requires 110 volt electrical lines in conduit, fence cannot be higher than 6ft, and we must follow neighborhood noise ordinance which is no work performed after the hours of 7pm.

Limits and exclusions are a part of the project scope check list that help clarify how the project planning will be defined. According to Larson (2011), “Failure to do so can lead to false expectations and to expending resources and time on the wrong problem” (103). Your Outdoor Living Experts makes sure that through-out the project only time is spent where it needs to be and every aspect is done to the customer’s satisfaction.

That is why our company sets specific limits and exclusions on every project we do. We set six limits on this outdoor living project for an apartment complex. 1. Outdoor living area, restrooms, and landscaping will be done per agreed upon plans and designs. We do not do any construction until the customer has clarified and Ok’d the design to their satisfaction. 2. Plants have 60 days warranty. Incase plants did not take and start to die we can switch them out for better ones. 3. Contractor responsible for subcontractor work. As a company and we stand by our good reputation, we ensure all the subcontractor work we get in is the best of the best so it is done right in the time frame given. 4. Contractor reserves the right to contract out services. 5. Site work is limited to 7:30 am to 6:30 pm Monday through Saturday that’s open to subcontractors to work, but our workers work Monday through Fridays with no overtime pay. 6. One year workmanship warranty.

We set specific limits to avoid false expectations and putting too much time on the wrong problem where it is not needed. By our company abiding by the limits and exclusions we know what we can and cannot do while abiding by the guidelines.

At the end of a project scope check list Your Outdoor Living Experts always does a review with the customer. To ensure that the project is going according to plan and timeline, when we finish one job we let the customer look over it before moving to the next phase of the project. This helps us keep within our budget because if mishaps happen that could lead to more money spending and going over on time. We want things done right the first time so budget is not gone over as well as not being able to stick with the dead line.

Risks are inherent to any project and plans need to be made in advance to limit those risks as much as possible. Without thinking ahead, planning, and relying on past experiences projects have a much higher chance of failure. For our outdoor kitchen and landscaping project, we had a wide spectrum of risks that need to be mitigated. Being an outdoor project, weather is a major concern as it could cause delays to any or all activities. The customer set a time frame so we could not decide to choose a time of year with less rain. To avoid pest control issues the work areas would be cleaned at the end of each day including the trash being taken to dumpster. Resource issues such as material shortages and people shortages are risks. To avoid resource issues back-up subcontractors are planned for each activity and materials are secured in advance. We also made sure upper management did not take on too many projects that would require the project manager or more skilled teams being pulled for a more important project. Plenty of padding was added in the profit margin to avoid budget issues plus room for crashing the kitchen construction if required. We used planning to avoid the delay of any activities in the critical path that would delay the entire project. All permit research and submission done in a timely manner to ensure no code violations that would risk stopping construction. The last risk we identified was customer dissatisfaction, which we mitigate with customer milestone checks and internal quality control inspections.

We learned lessons and re-enforced previous lessons learned while completing this outdoor living area project. Since weather could delay any activity, we learned to plan for the worst case scenario when planning with the customer and when budgeting resources. Alternative choices of materials need to be picked ahead of time to avoid delays due to first choice material shortages. Always have back up subcontractors planned to cover for internal team issues such as sickness or the company adding bigger projects even if they said they would not. Existing construction can add significant costs to plumbing and gas lines being added for the outdoor kitchen construction so location and timing matter.

Budget

Budget $175,000

· Kitchen Construction $58,000

· Granite $6,500

· Stucco w/Rock $10,000

· Concrete $18,500

· Landscaping/Decking $30,000

· Appliances $2,250

$125,250

Profit $49,750

Resources

Centerpoint Energy Residential, (2014) Call Before You Dig. Retrieved April 29, 2014, from http://www.centerpointenergy.com/services/naturalgas/residential/naturalgassafety/callbeforeyoudig/HO/

Larson, E. W., & Gray, C. F. (2011). Project Management: The Managerial Process (5th ed., p. 103). The McGraw-Hill/Irwin Series Operations and Decision Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.