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Milagros & Associates brings a much disciplined approach to Project Management to ensure the success of a project. Its three most important and basic components consist of, Communication, Team Building and Cost Control. These three items are all closely intertwined, and cannot be placed in an order of importance relative to one another.
Communication is the first essential step that Milagros employs towards the success of a project. Regularly scheduled meetings followed up with notes and correspondence, and general conversations with the client and team members furthers everyone’s understanding of the project goals and an establishment of realistic expectations. A problem that Milagros has observed over the years is a professional’s decision to make assumptions based on similarities to other previous projects, sometimes forgetting or not incorporating an owner’s specific requirement. Milagros tries to mitigate that situation by constantly asking questions of the team, forcing them to carefully and completely think through and plan for the specific needs of the project.
Team Building is the joint process by which Milagros assists the Client by placing the best group of professionals together to form the project team. Milagros’s experience with both large and small scale projects has introduced us to professionals of all types of disciplines and specialties. Reviewing proposals, comparing scope of services, interviewing potential project members, assessing their capabilities, are all key ingredients to formulating the right team. Details such as the correct balance of varying degrees of consultant’s size play a role in the formulation of the Project Team as well. For example, the selection of a structural engineer with a large firm may be a correct choice, as well as the selection of an independent small scale LEED consultant.
Cost control is a particular area where Milagros places a tremendous amount of time and energy. Baseline control budgets that include all project costs, both hard and soft are developed with the Owner and shared with the Architect. Throughout the design phases, costs are being checked and validated both by independent estimators and Construction Managers. Milagros also establishes a system for submittal and approval of Change Orders, an inevitable part of any project. An independent cost tracking system is set in place to monitor, record and report costs as they occur. Milagros feels that it is critical for the Owner to understand and confirm costs, independent of a General Contractor or Construction Manager’s report. To handle the cost control and monitor a project’s progress and flag potential problems, Milagros incorporates the use of project management software, which provides many essential tools for project control.
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Milagros also considers its own size as part of its methodology. Project managers are hands on, and become deeply involved with their projects. It is one of our stated goals to remain a manageable size that allows us to give personal attention to our clients.
Ultimately, Milagros attempts to move beyond the scope of what is portrayed as Project Management. The underlining basis for the service is to act in the Owner’s best interest in all instances, not just as it relates to construction. The approach is more holistic, taking into account not only budgets and schedule, but project financing options, working environment, public safety, security, integration of existing systems, life cycle costs, building maintenance and the ongoing use of the facility.
There are many sub-categories of the above three listed areas. For example, scheduling and phasing also receive focused attention by Milagros and are closely related to cost. Many issues and decisions on schedule have a direct impact on cost and need to be evaluated hand in hand.