Project Scope There is a lot of thought and planning that goes into any apartment building complex or building. The depth and breadth of the project will obviously depend on the facets and traits of the desired finished project. This would include the planned amenities, constraints, resources, budget, and plans for the complex. The goal of this project is to have a complex that meets the needs of the tenants and residents in a thoughtful, logical and mindful way. At the same time, the money should be well-spent, the project should come together in a timely fashion and everything should be within the plans and on budget. While there are a lot of ways to do an apartment complex, there are some ways that are better than others, and those better ways shall be a focal point of this project.

The first and most important thing to have in place, or to have ready when the time comes, is to have the proper permits, plans and so forth logged with the appropriate inspection and other agencies with local and other governments. Just a few examples of this would include zoning, inspections for final product (e.g. electrical, etc.) and so forth. The proper developmental applications and verifications of completed work should all be done in advance or should be ready to be done when the appropriate time comes. Further, whether required by law or not, the plans and desired timelines of the project should all be defined in advance. This would include a great amount of specificity when it comes to what will be done at what time, what materials will be used, what order things will be done in, what contractors or subcontractors will be doing what tasks and beyond. This is not to say that things cannot or should not be changed as things go on. There are things that can come up and there is the possibility that things will need to change. However, the vast majority of items should be known and planned for in advance. If there is a change, it must be decided with the proper amount of due diligence and forethought. All changes should be fully documented when it comes to both internal and filed/public documents for the project.

The next item to be done would be the preparation of the site. This would include making sure that the areas for the buildings are properly leveled, that the other areas for paving and otherwise changing (e.g. sidewalks, parking lots/stalls, etc.) are properly ready and so forth. If there is any need to regrade the area so as to make it level or otherwise ready for the project, that should generally be done first. There is the possibility that dirt/material will need to be leveled, removed, or added so as to make sure that everything is sufficiently level and able to accept what is to come. There is also the need to ensure that the drainage and flow of rainwater is done the right way when the time comes. Generally speaking, water should flow away from buildings (not towards them) and towards the infrastructure of the city that is (or will be) present to manage it. In other words, rain and other wastewater of the area should move away from building and into the gutters and drains that are already present (e.g. on the street) or that will be when all is said and done. Any debris or other materials present in the soil should be dealt with in advance if at all possible. For example, if a part of the soil is very rocky and/or otherwise problematic and this will present a problem for the project, that should be fixed early by removing a sufficient layer of the problem area and replacing it with the appropriate type and amount of dirt, sand, gravel, or whatever material would be appropriate for the purpose and area for which it is needed.

There is the need to focus on group amenities and issues for the people that live in the apartment. Perhaps the simplest solution when it comes to the United States Postal Service would be to have a single bank of email boxes at a singular location in the building, or at least nearby. For FedEx and UPS packages, those can be accepted by the office and doled out to the authorized residents (or their representatives) when someone comes to pick them up.

Pricing and Estimation Techniques Employed

When it comes to a project of any size, the cost elements of a project are the main...

Whether it is direct labor, indirect labor, materials or overhead, there are certain costs that must be attributed to the project. The aggregate level of these costs will depend on the labor required to do the job, when the job must be completed, the totality of the direct and indirect costs elements that are needed, the time horizon that is allowed for or demanded as part of the project and so forth. There is also the factor of project bidding and competition. The presence of competitors can obviously lead to pressure on margins and profits. Even with the challenges that exist, there is a way to protect margins while at the same time presenting a quality and informed bid to a potential customer.
There are four main cost elements that are in play. Those four types are materials, equipment, labor and overhead. Overhead is broken down into two major types, those being fixed and variable. Just a few examples of overhead would include rent, property taxes, utility costs, insurance, interest on business loans, marketing, advertising, depreciation and office supplies. Labor is also broken down into two smaller groups, those being direct and indirect labor. Direct labor is labor that is directly engaged with the actual production for the project. Tasks that are typically linked to direct labor would include fabrication, installation and equipment setting. Indirect labor would include supporting activities, engineering, supervision of employees and so forth. Equipment is what it sounds like. Equipment is the mechanical equipment that is used as part of the project. It would always be an example of a direct cost as it is something the direct labor personnel would use to complete the job. Finally, there was the material cost type. There are direct materials and indirect materials. Direct materials would include raw material issued or purchased, material that is transferred from one cost center to another and primary packing material. Indirect materials would be items used for the maintenance of equipment and any material with a very low cost (Cost Management, 2017).

Cost Control

There are costs that are absorbed no matter how long the project goes on and they are not part of the work itself. As one can see, there is a litany of costs and cost types. Some are fairly easy to manage and control while others are a necessary part of things no matter what is done or not done. Estimating and adding those up is necessary as it is part of the total cost of the project and, thus, the bid that is extended to the customer or potential customer. As noted before, a competitive bid process can lead to margins and bids being driven down even if the prices involved are pushing upward. The project bidding personnel need to know what things will really cost the firm and then translate that into a bid that is still attractive to the customer as compared to any other bids that might be present. It should be understood that keeping the bid low is important but going too low can lead to money being lost. Once the bid is committed to, the customer will expect it to be honored unless there is a clear and proven deviation from the facts and factors that are informing the bid. Further, a low bid, in and of itself, does not mean that the bid is the best. Suspiciously low bids, after all, are a red flag and for more than one reason (Cost Management, 2017).

Cost estimating techniques vary, and with good reason. What cost estimation techniques are needed will inevitably vary based on what is going on. Just a few methods that can be used would include resource costing, unit costing, empirical methods and historical costing. When it comes to this IT project, there will be a bit of variance from item to item. For example, resource costing would be called for when it comes to things like equipment, materials and labor. After all, the labor to install network cabling and such will come at a certain hourly rate. Unit costing could come into play when it comes to subcontractor jobs and smaller parts of the project. For example, installing the networking cable for a closet or certain part of the building might be done by a certain subcontractor. That area could be priced based on the cabling that will be needed, the…