Purpose:
Students will learn how to use cost estimation techniques to estimate costs
Outcomes Met With This Assignment:
contribute to a team activity to accomplish the goals of a project, recognizing the unique strengths and talents of individual team members
plan a project that meets organizational goals and that has a high probability of success
Instructions:
This assignment is the fifth of seven team assignments. As a team, you will learn about cost estimation approaches and select the approach to use for the project your group selected in Week 1.
Step 1: Preparation for Writing the Assignment
Before you begin writing the paper, read the following requirements that will help you meet the writing and APA requirements. Not reading this information will lead to a lower grade:
Read the grading rubric for the assignment. Use the grading rubric while writing the paper to ensure all requirements are met.
Third person writing is required. Third person means that there are no words such as “I”, “me”, “my”, “we”, or “us” (first person writing), nor is there use of “you” or “your” (second person writing). If uncertain how to write in the third person, view this link: http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/first-second-and-third-person.
Contractions are not used in business writing, so you are expected NOT to use contractions in writing this assignment.
For all source material used in the analysis, you will paraphrase and not use direct quotation marks but will instead paraphrase. What this means is that you will put the ideas of an author or article into your own words rather than lifting directly from a source document. You may not use more than four consecutive words from a source document, as doing so would require direct quotation marks. This requirement include facts from the case scenario. Changing words from a passage does not exclude the passage from having quotation marks.
You are responsible for APA only for in-text citations and a reference list. At a minimum, this deliverable should include in-text citations and references for information relating to the organization’s purpose, goals, strategy, and/or objectives.
You are expected to use the weekly courses readings to develop the analysis and support the reasoning. The expectation is that you provide a robust use of the course readings. Any material used from a source document (including both course readings and outside materials) must be cited and referenced. A reference within a reference list cannot exist without an associated in-text citation and vice versa. View the APA under Content on the main navigation bar.
You may not use books in completing this project.
Provide the page or paragraph number in every in-text citation presented. If using an eBook from the classroom, you may see that there are no page numbers so you will provide the Chapter Name and Section Title.
Step 2: Set Up the Paper
Create a Word or Rich Text Format (RTF) document that is double-spaced, 12-point font. The final product does not have a page limit but you want to make sure to write clearly and concisely.
Follow this format. Consider making an outline to ensure the correct headings are in place and to keep you organize the paper.
Title page with title, your name, the course, the instructor’s name; date
Cost Estimation Methods
Summary of Cost Estimation Methods
Selected Cost Estimation Approach
Step 3: Brainstorm
Under Discussion on the main navigation bar, locate your group.
In the LEO classroom (do not use external systems), participate in a brainstorming and collaboration session to learn about cost estimation techniques and how to estimate costs.
Identify and discuss at least three different approaches to Cost Estimation. Discuss which approach is the best fit for your project and why you chose the approach.
Step 4: Cost Estimation Approach
Concisely provide a summary of the identified cost estimation approaches.
Identify the cost estimation approach that was selected for your project. Explain why your team ultimately chose this methodology.
Step 5: Review
Review the paper to ensure all required elements are present and correct.
Step 6: Submit the plan in the Assignment Folder.
Project management requires a particular set of skills in order to be successful. Most importantly, effective and clear communication is imperative in order to avert project failures, major delays, and missed deadlines (Ford, 2004, para. 3). Other characteristics that project managers (PM) must possess are accountability, having the ability to plan effectively, and set realistic goals and deadlines. All of these skills can and should be applied to all projects. Having experience in a particular career field or trade can influence what projects a PM may decide to explore and undertake. For that reason, the team considered three potential projects for the duration of this course and explored the feasibility of each option based on the collective experience of the group. The team deliberated on whether the project should be a home addition, miniature house under 300 square feet, or converting a garage into an apartment. It was decided the base option would be to explore the home addition project based on knowledge, familiarity, and experience.
The skills and experience will definitely contribute to a project’s success. But in order to actually determine if a project was truly successful, or a failure, there must be a quantifiable means to measure success. Factors that contribute to this success criteria could include the project remaining on or ahead of schedule, quality service was provided, and the project stayed well within the stakeholder’s budget. But the ultimate factor of successful project using this method is based on whether the stakeholder’s expectations have been met or exceeded (Watt, 2014, p. 12).
Potential Projects
Renovating a garage into an apartment is similar to building a miniature house, but requires less work than miniature house, because unlike the miniature house the foundation has already been established. Aside from that difference, the two are the in terms of space and having to have an open-area concept, with the exception of the bed and bathroom for privacy reasons.
The task steps involved in renovation after the framing has been completed, the plumbing and electrical wiring will need to be installed before the insulation, drywall and flooring are installed. The remaining renovation tasks involves painting the interior, wall trim molding, appliances, kitchen and bathroom fixtures and the list goes on. Once the renovations are complete, the living area can now be furnished and ready for tenants.
A home addition entails adding one or more rooms onto a house. This can be any room ranging from a bedroom to a bathroom or kitchen extension. Each one comes with its own challenges requiring different trades. With a bathroom and kitchen, you will need a plumber with the kitchen requiring a more experienced electrician because most ovens run on 220-volts. All additions will require framing, siding, and a roof along with electricity. As a PM, planning and scheduling are a critical aspect of creating an addition to a home. Knowing who to hire for what job, when and what permits are required for projects, and when specific tasks need to be completed are critical to meeting deadlines (Watt, 2014, p. 3). The scheduling aspect is typically performed using a sophisticated scheduling program, which may include Microsoft Project or Procure (Watt, 2014, p. 3).
Project Selection
The team ultimately decided to work on the home addition project from the narrowed list of potential projects. While the other two project options were quite attractive, the team noted that most of the team’s collective experience managing small spaces was challenging, especially while in college. However, PMs do not necessarily need specialized or technical skills since they can span many different industries (Wiess, 2016, para. 3). This means the team can apply basic project management skills to this project and still succeed if they are applied correctly and effectively, but the team must also utilize their strong scheduling skills (Watt, 2014, p. 3). While most of the team members faced this challenge, just as many have some form of experience in this line of work. This is very important as this will decrease or mitigate challenges throughout the project. The team’s collective experience can be a social support for the team, which helps to mitigate uncertainty and conflict (Watt, 2014, p. 55). Many families often have to keep on moving from one place to another in search of a bigger space to accommodate a growing family or for other personal reasons. Therefore, the team felt it was feasible to come up with an affordable idea that would help these families solve the underlying challenges with small spaces as a family. Providing the project is successful, the family would not be required to move from one place to another every time they have an additional member if they plan and budget accordingly to add extra space to their existing homes.
The team felt this particular project is quite interesting, will spark the creativity within the team, and enhance each member’s project management skills (Watt, 2016, p. 39). Through these projects, the team will be required to extensively think and internalize solutions to come up with realistic ideas that will satisfy the customer’s preferences and budget constraints. The team will also have to accommodate project management procedures such as goal setting to ensure that the project is successful. According to Haughey (n.d.), developing SMART goals is a fundamental strategy towards developing and maintaining successful projects (para. 1). Goals are more than just a statement, as they must be specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-based (Watt, 2014, p. 67).
Anticipated goals, Benefits, and key success criteria
Anticipate Goals
- The primary goal of this home addition project is to add more space to the home by creating additional rooms while not exceeding the maximum budget and finishing by the deadline of July 14, 2021.
- Another key goal is updating the style and utilizing energy efficient materials for the home addition to which is satisfactory to the customer’s agreed upon standards.
Benefits
Home addition plays an instrumental role in enhancing space within homes and expanding their purpose. Space has become a critical part of the modern home, especially now that people are normalizing working from home as a result of the current covid-19 pandemic. With additional rooms, the homeowners will be able to conduct office work more effectively without interference.
Success Criteria
The following criteria will be used to evaluate the success of this criteria:
- Costs incurred at the end of the project are within the predetermined budget
- Each milestone is achieved at their specified timeline
- Final product of the addition meets or exceeds regulatory compliance
- All identified deliverables have been met at the end of the project, on July 14, 2021
Summary
As a group, the team discussed and concluded that the three best project ideas would be a building a miniature house (under 300 square feet), converting a garage to an apartment, or a home addition. With proper research, determining experience within the team, comfort level, and further discussion, it was decided the most practical project would be the home addition. The Project Management Life Cycle was a key factor used to come to a collective decision. These five steps are necessary when deciding to begin a project to properly prepare for the process and ensure success. In project management, it is imperative to understand the benefits of setting and meeting timelines and proper execution of a project to guarantee appropriate financial management and project completion. This is critical to achieving the anticipated goals and success criteria.
References
Ford, P.W. (2004). Top 10 project management challenges. Project Management Course. http://projectmanagementcourse.com/project-challenges.html
Haughey, D. (n.d.). SMART goals. Project Smart. https://www.projectsmart.co.uk/smart-goals.php
The 5 phases of a project life cycle. (2008, June 23). Bright Hub PM. Retrieved May 24, 2021, from https://www.brighthubpm.com/monitoring-projects/1907-successfully-guide-your-projects-to-completion-with-the-pm-life-cycle/
Watts, A. (2014). Project management. Victoria, B.C.: BCcampus. https://open-textbc.ca/projectmanagement/
Weiss, B. A. (2016, January 15). ‘Skilling up’ for a project management career. Baseline. http://www.baselinemag.com/careers/skilling-up-for-a-project-management-career.html
