Roles of Stakeholders in Construction Projects

Hello everyone. In this lecture we are going to discuss about the various stakeholders involved in a construction project and the role of a civil engineer in this kind of a project. We will start with the stakeholders. The stakeholders are the people who are involved or affected by some kind of a construction project. So at first the user. So a user is generally the beneficiary of the project. who uses the project after its completion. For example, if it's a highway, all the people who are going to drive on that highway. If it's a building, the people who are going to live in that building. If it's a dam project, then the people who are going to use the electricity generated by the dam, and so on. Now, the client actually sets the objective and requirements of the project. That is, the client will set up... what is needed from the project, what are our expectations. So those things are to be set by the client. Then the client also provides all the funds for the project. This is we are talking about traditional contracts where fund is generally provided by the client. And one thing is that for small projects, the client is also the user. That is for a residential house, the client will be the... owner of the house and the client will be also the user of the house and but for very large projects the client may be an agency or a department of the government and so on while the users will be the public and then the client is also responsible for supervision of the construction activity that means whether the construction activities is going on time, whether the quality is maintained, whether the payments are maintained and all those things. The designer, it's quite self-explanatory, that is the designer determines the technical specifications, drawings, then also prepares the estimate and so on. And designer may be a civil engineer, it may be an architect and for different components of a construction project. you may require electrical mechanical and computer engineers as well it depends on the type of the project then comes the contractor so the contractor is responsible for actually carrying out the work and so the contractor will also be responsible for arranging the materials and manpower machinery etc so the quality of the construction is to be maintained by the contractor and also has to fulfill the time constraints. Regarding this time constraint, please bear in mind that if the time is maintained, it's desirable for both the client and the contractor because the contractor wants to complete the construction work as soon as possible so that they can move on to the next project and the client also wants the project or the construction project to be completed on time so that they can use it. Then comes the investor. So an investor is someone who provides fund for the execution of a project. So in case of a small project, for example, a residential house, there is no investor actually. The user is the client and also the investor. But for large projects, the client may not have all the funds required and therefore external investors may be invited so that they can fund the project and in return the investors will also expect some kind of profit. So this is this question I leave it open to you. To whom does the investor provide the fund? To the client or contractor? In many cases it is the client. That means for example if it is the government who is trying to set up an airport Then if the government fund is not enough, they will also ask some investors, private investors to invest in the airport project. And therefore, so that they can also earn some profit after the project is completed. And in some times, it can be said that the investors will also provide funds to the contractor. Now, how does that work? Contractor expects some profit out of the construction work that he is doing and the investor will provide him some fund and in exchange of that he will require or he will expect some cut of the profit. But many times it's not the investors that who pay the contractor but in many cases it is some banks. So when banks invest we don't say that it is investment but it is in the form of loans. So the contractor when he doesn't have enough fund right at hand then he may ask for banks showing that I have acquired this contract and I'll require this amount of loan to carry out the project. And how does the bank get anything out of it? They get the interest. So in case of a investor the investor will expect some profit out of the total profit of the contractor on the other hand the bank will expect some interest for the period for which they have lent the contractor that loan and finally regulators so the regulators ensure compliance with the regulations for example if the municipal corporations of a city will look after what are whether the different limitations or restrictions are maintained If a certain house, residential house is built too close to the boundary wall or too close to the access road. So those kind of things are to be handled and regulated by the regulatory agencies. Sometimes in case of public buildings, the regulators will also see whether all the specifications are maintained or not. For example, for a... school building or college building there has to be sufficient access or circulation facilities inside the building that means the stairs are supposed to be of a certain size certain width there has to be fire safety measures so all those things are to be checked by the regulator. So this is in brief what the different stakeholders mean in a construction project. Now let's go to the role of a civil engineer in a construction project. So the role of a civil engineer may be in form of different stakeholders. For example, the civil engineer may be the client or may work for the client. Now why is it so? The client should have or possess the understanding of the objectives to be set. That means if we are building a highway, then the... what should be the width of the highway, what should be the height of the highway, and what should be the material, all those things are to be set by the client. And the client should also have the expertise to evaluate the technical details of the design because the designer may be somebody else and after the design is submitted the client will have to look have a look at the design and approve it and if there is any objections in the design then they may be asked to the designer may be asked to rectify those errors or objections then the client should also have the expertise to prepare or evaluate estimates sometimes the client themselves prepare the estimate sometimes somebody else will prepare the estimate but they will check the estimate and see if it is correct or not then the client should also have competence in assessing the progress and quality of work being executed that means whether the construction work is going on in time and whether the materials are properly tested and after construction suppose after pouring of or casting of concrete whether it is properly vibrated whether it is properly being cured and so on in case of a highway if the pavement is properly compacted etc so those things are to be checked by the client. They will have to be inspected by the client and for doing that the client should have a good knowledge of civil engineering and therefore the client will appoint civil engineers or the client himself or herself should be civil engineer. Examples would be a government department for example let's say PWD or public works department. It may be Central PWD or the State PWD. So, the PWD is filled with civil engineers. So, whenever a project comes, when a road is being built, then the civil engineers appointed by the PWD will look after the project and check and keep track of all the work, its progress and the quality. Then comes the designer. Generally, the designer in small projects civil engineers but in very large complicated projects we start with an architectural design and if it's a very complex project instead of a civil engineer this job is done by an architect a person who has an architectural degree and then comes the work of the civil engineer and in civil engineering design it may be a structural engineer geotechnical engineer transportation engineer hydraulic or environmental engineer and so on so if it's a building project Then a structural engineer will have to design all the specifications, that means what should be the grade of concrete, what should be the size of different members, what should be the reinforcement and so on. Then geotechnical engineers are also required to check the soil properties. Then transportation engineering is very necessary in case of highway or bridge projects. Then hydraulic engineering is required in case of canal designs. irrigation project designs and dam projects etc and environmental engineering is also required in case of design of water supply schemes water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants etc so you say in case of a construction projects all these different disciplines or sub disciplines of civil engineers ring are required and they play a different role in the design process at different stages. In many projects it is also required that you hire an electrical engineer for carrying out the electrical engineering design that means what should be the electrical distribution, the wiring, all the outlets, all the power points and so on whether this project will require a transformer or not. and so on. Then mechanical engineering is also required in case of factories and manufacturing plants etc. And in modern projects we also require computer engineers to design various aspects of the networks, computer networks or surveillance systems etc. And as the projects become modern and more complex we need a very interdisciplinary approach and all these kind of engineers architects and other experts are required in the design phase itself. Now let's go to the contractor. So a contractor will have to carry out the work. If it's a very small project that means let's say a very small stretch of a rural road is to be constructed you and it is supervised by the PWD. So if that is the case, then the PWD will appoint some engineer to supervise the work, but that civil engineer will work under the supervision, that contractor will work under the supervision of the civil engineer. In that case, the contractor will be maybe a small-scale contractor who may not have lots of civil engineers. civil engineers working under him but in case of a large project the contractor may appoint civil engineers to carry out the design execution etc and that's the case with most of the large construction companies and there the contractor will appoint the civil engineers who will carry out all these tasks like design execution supervision etc many times the contractor you himself or herself may be a civil engineer. You can do that if you start a construction firm or design firm. So you'll start small with only you as the engineer or maybe a couple of other engineers and in that case the contractor will be a civil engineer and if that is the case then in many cases the contractor may not have to appoint another civil engineer because he or she will already have the expertise to handle a small scale project. Now, let's come to this role of construction manager. So construction manager will supervise the execution of the construction work, manage the supply and delivery of material, manpower, machinery and all those things. Then prepares and manages the schedule of various tasks, that means which work will have to be done first, then which other works can be done parallelly and so on. and maintains smooth execution and this construction manager may be appointed by the contractor so that the work goes on smoothly without any conflict but that is in case of a large project and on the other hand for a small project the client will appoint a civil engineer as the construction to supervise the contractor and that is in case of smaller projects. Now after that the role of project managers come in. A project manager is someone who works closely with the client to understand and represent the client's demands or requirements. That means the project manager will ask the client, what do you want? And the client will say that these are my requirements. And then the project manager will represent his demands and see that all those demands are fulfilled. That is, whether the building is to be constructed in a certain way or the highway is to be constructed in a certain way and so on. And the role of the project manager is... bit wider than the construction manager where the construction manager will only oversee the construction work but the project manager will also have to look after the payments safety schedule material delivery all the regulations etc and even if some kind of legal matters come in that also will have to be handled by the project manager at the preliminary stage and a project manager generally supervises the construction managers and engineers. I'd like to request you to look at the structure of a corporation called NHIDCL, that is National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited. So it's a company, corporation, but it is completely owned by the central government. It's a very peculiar company in that regard because when a highway is being constructed, generally they look after highway projects and bridge projects. So if a highway is being constructed, then, and if that project is under the central government, then the central government will not directly be involved in that project on the field. But on behalf of the central government, the NHIDCL will act as the client. However, NHIDCL is not the actual client. The actual client is the government on behalf of the public. But on the field, the NHIDCL, that corporation, will act as a client and appoint various contractors to carry out different works or different projects. So in that case, the project manager will work for... NHIDCL and that project manager will supervise the construction managers who will be appointed by the contractors. For example, a company like L&T or Game On etc. They're carrying out some construction of a bridge or a highway. So those companies will appoint construction managers and under them other civil engineers and designers. But on top of that, they will be supervised by the project manager appointed by the any appointed by NHIDCL and that project manager may have to work under a general manager who will be supervising a number of projects. So for each project one project manager or one project manager may sometimes supervise two or three projects but there will be an overall general manager of projects who will be supervising a number of projects. So this is how different roles are played by civil engineers and remember that It's not always that the project manager or the general manager will have to be a civil engineer, but in most of the construction projects, they generally prefer that the project manager is a civil engineer. However, at different stages of a project, for example, after the construction is completed, but now if it's a power plant, now you'll have to carry out construction of all the grid towers or installation of turbines in a power plant and so on. So in that case maybe a electrical engineer or a mechanical engineer will be appointed as a project manager. So the project manager may change during the project at different stages. So this is all about the roles of civil engineers and other engineers in case of a construction project. Now... This job is not exactly very simple and people require different kind of skills and temperaments. Different personalities also matter. So I'll try to prepare another lecture based on what kind of requirements are necessary to be a good project manager or construction manager. So I'll leave that to the end of this whole course, maybe. So this is all for now. Thank you.

So a user is generally the beneficiary of the project. who uses the project after its completion. For example, if it's a highway, all the people who are going to drive on that highway.

If it's a building, the people who are going to live in that building. If it's a dam project, then the people who are going to use the electricity generated by the dam, and so on. Now, the client actually sets the objective and requirements of the project.

That is, the client will set up... what is needed from the project, what are our expectations. So those things are to be set by the client. Then the client also provides all the funds for the project. This is we are talking about traditional contracts where fund is generally provided by the client.

And one thing is that for small projects, the client is also the user. That is for a residential house, the client will be the... owner of the house and the client will be also the user of the house and but for very large projects the client may be an agency or a department of the government and so on while the users will be the public and then the client is also responsible for supervision of the construction activity that means whether the construction activities is going on time, whether the quality is maintained, whether the payments are maintained and all those things.

The designer, it's quite self-explanatory, that is the designer determines the technical specifications, drawings, then also prepares the estimate and so on. And designer may be a civil engineer, it may be an architect and for different components of a construction project. you may require electrical mechanical and computer engineers as well it depends on the type of the project then comes the contractor so the contractor is responsible for actually carrying out the work and so the contractor will also be responsible for arranging the materials and manpower machinery etc so the quality of the construction is to be maintained by the contractor and also has to fulfill the time constraints.

Regarding this time constraint, please bear in mind that if the time is maintained, it's desirable for both the client and the contractor because the contractor wants to complete the construction work as soon as possible so that they can move on to the next project and the client also wants the project or the construction project to be completed on time so that they can use it. Then comes the investor. So an investor is someone who provides fund for the execution of a project.

So in case of a small project, for example, a residential house, there is no investor actually. The user is the client and also the investor. But for large projects, the client may not have all the funds required and therefore external investors may be invited so that they can fund the project and in return the investors will also expect some kind of profit.

So this is this question I leave it open to you. To whom does the investor provide the fund? To the client or contractor?

In many cases it is the client. That means for example if it is the government who is trying to set up an airport Then if the government fund is not enough, they will also ask some investors, private investors to invest in the airport project. And therefore, so that they can also earn some profit after the project is completed. And in some times, it can be said that the investors will also provide funds to the contractor. Now, how does that work?

Contractor expects some profit out of the construction work that he is doing and the investor will provide him some fund and in exchange of that he will require or he will expect some cut of the profit. But many times it's not the investors that who pay the contractor but in many cases it is some banks. So when banks invest we don't say that it is investment but it is in the form of loans. So the contractor when he doesn't have enough fund right at hand then he may ask for banks showing that I have acquired this contract and I'll require this amount of loan to carry out the project.

And how does the bank get anything out of it? They get the interest. So in case of a investor the investor will expect some profit out of the total profit of the contractor on the other hand the bank will expect some interest for the period for which they have lent the contractor that loan and finally regulators so the regulators ensure compliance with the regulations for example if the municipal corporations of a city will look after what are whether the different limitations or restrictions are maintained If a certain house, residential house is built too close to the boundary wall or too close to the access road. So those kind of things are to be handled and regulated by the regulatory agencies. Sometimes in case of public buildings, the regulators will also see whether all the specifications are maintained or not.

For example, for a... school building or college building there has to be sufficient access or circulation facilities inside the building that means the stairs are supposed to be of a certain size certain width there has to be fire safety measures so all those things are to be checked by the regulator. So this is in brief what the different stakeholders mean in a construction project. Now let's go to the role of a civil engineer in a construction project. So the role of a civil engineer may be in form of different stakeholders.

For example, the civil engineer may be the client or may work for the client. Now why is it so? The client should have or possess the understanding of the objectives to be set. That means if we are building a highway, then the... what should be the width of the highway, what should be the height of the highway, and what should be the material, all those things are to be set by the client.

And the client should also have the expertise to evaluate the technical details of the design because the designer may be somebody else and after the design is submitted the client will have to look have a look at the design and approve it and if there is any objections in the design then they may be asked to the designer may be asked to rectify those errors or objections then the client should also have the expertise to prepare or evaluate estimates sometimes the client themselves prepare the estimate sometimes somebody else will prepare the estimate but they will check the estimate and see if it is correct or not then the client should also have competence in assessing the progress and quality of work being executed that means whether the construction work is going on in time and whether the materials are properly tested and after construction suppose after pouring of or casting of concrete whether it is properly vibrated whether it is properly being cured and so on in case of a highway if the pavement is properly compacted etc so those things are to be checked by the client. They will have to be inspected by the client and for doing that the client should have a good knowledge of civil engineering and therefore the client will appoint civil engineers or the client himself or herself should be civil engineer. Examples would be a government department for example let's say PWD or public works department. It may be Central PWD or the State PWD. So, the PWD is filled with civil engineers.

So, whenever a project comes, when a road is being built, then the civil engineers appointed by the PWD will look after the project and check and keep track of all the work, its progress and the quality. Then comes the designer. Generally, the designer in small projects civil engineers but in very large complicated projects we start with an architectural design and if it's a very complex project instead of a civil engineer this job is done by an architect a person who has an architectural degree and then comes the work of the civil engineer and in civil engineering design it may be a structural engineer geotechnical engineer transportation engineer hydraulic or environmental engineer and so on so if it's a building project Then a structural engineer will have to design all the specifications, that means what should be the grade of concrete, what should be the size of different members, what should be the reinforcement and so on.

Then geotechnical engineers are also required to check the soil properties. Then transportation engineering is very necessary in case of highway or bridge projects. Then hydraulic engineering is required in case of canal designs.

irrigation project designs and dam projects etc and environmental engineering is also required in case of design of water supply schemes water treatment plants and wastewater treatment plants etc so you say in case of a construction projects all these different disciplines or sub disciplines of civil engineers ring are required and they play a different role in the design process at different stages. In many projects it is also required that you hire an electrical engineer for carrying out the electrical engineering design that means what should be the electrical distribution, the wiring, all the outlets, all the power points and so on whether this project will require a transformer or not. and so on. Then mechanical engineering is also required in case of factories and manufacturing plants etc. And in modern projects we also require computer engineers to design various aspects of the networks, computer networks or surveillance systems etc.

And as the projects become modern and more complex we need a very interdisciplinary approach and all these kind of engineers architects and other experts are required in the design phase itself. Now let's go to the contractor. So a contractor will have to carry out the work. If it's a very small project that means let's say a very small stretch of a rural road is to be constructed you and it is supervised by the PWD.

So if that is the case, then the PWD will appoint some engineer to supervise the work, but that civil engineer will work under the supervision, that contractor will work under the supervision of the civil engineer. In that case, the contractor will be maybe a small-scale contractor who may not have lots of civil engineers. civil engineers working under him but in case of a large project the contractor may appoint civil engineers to carry out the design execution etc and that's the case with most of the large construction companies and there the contractor will appoint the civil engineers who will carry out all these tasks like design execution supervision etc many times the contractor you himself or herself may be a civil engineer. You can do that if you start a construction firm or design firm. So you'll start small with only you as the engineer or maybe a couple of other engineers and in that case the contractor will be a civil engineer and if that is the case then in many cases the contractor may not have to appoint another civil engineer because he or she will already have the expertise to handle a small scale project.

Now, let's come to this role of construction manager. So construction manager will supervise the execution of the construction work, manage the supply and delivery of material, manpower, machinery and all those things. Then prepares and manages the schedule of various tasks, that means which work will have to be done first, then which other works can be done parallelly and so on. and maintains smooth execution and this construction manager may be appointed by the contractor so that the work goes on smoothly without any conflict but that is in case of a large project and on the other hand for a small project the client will appoint a civil engineer as the construction to supervise the contractor and that is in case of smaller projects.

Now after that the role of project managers come in. A project manager is someone who works closely with the client to understand and represent the client's demands or requirements. That means the project manager will ask the client, what do you want? And the client will say that these are my requirements. And then the project manager will represent his demands and see that all those demands are fulfilled.

That is, whether the building is to be constructed in a certain way or the highway is to be constructed in a certain way and so on. And the role of the project manager is... bit wider than the construction manager where the construction manager will only oversee the construction work but the project manager will also have to look after the payments safety schedule material delivery all the regulations etc and even if some kind of legal matters come in that also will have to be handled by the project manager at the preliminary stage and a project manager generally supervises the construction managers and engineers. I'd like to request you to look at the structure of a corporation called NHIDCL, that is National Highway and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited. So it's a company, corporation, but it is completely owned by the central government.

It's a very peculiar company in that regard because when a highway is being constructed, generally they look after highway projects and bridge projects. So if a highway is being constructed, then, and if that project is under the central government, then the central government will not directly be involved in that project on the field. But on behalf of the central government, the NHIDCL will act as the client.

However, NHIDCL is not the actual client. The actual client is the government on behalf of the public. But on the field, the NHIDCL, that corporation, will act as a client and appoint various contractors to carry out different works or different projects.

So in that case, the project manager will work for... NHIDCL and that project manager will supervise the construction managers who will be appointed by the contractors. For example, a company like L&T or Game On etc. They're carrying out some construction of a bridge or a highway. So those companies will appoint construction managers and under them other civil engineers and designers.

But on top of that, they will be supervised by the project manager appointed by the any appointed by NHIDCL and that project manager may have to work under a general manager who will be supervising a number of projects. So for each project one project manager or one project manager may sometimes supervise two or three projects but there will be an overall general manager of projects who will be supervising a number of projects. So this is how different roles are played by civil engineers and remember that It's not always that the project manager or the general manager will have to be a civil engineer, but in most of the construction projects, they generally prefer that the project manager is a civil engineer. However, at different stages of a project, for example, after the construction is completed, but now if it's a power plant, now you'll have to carry out construction of all the grid towers or installation of turbines in a power plant and so on.

So in that case maybe a electrical engineer or a mechanical engineer will be appointed as a project manager. So the project manager may change during the project at different stages. So this is all about the roles of civil engineers and other engineers in case of a construction project. Now... This job is not exactly very simple and people require different kind of skills and temperaments.

Different personalities also matter. So I'll try to prepare another lecture based on what kind of requirements are necessary to be a good project manager or construction manager. So I'll leave that to the end of this whole course, maybe. So this is all for now.

Thank you.

Transcript for:Roles of Stakeholders in Construction Projects

Transcript for:
Roles of Stakeholders in Construction Projects