Project Management Jim and Julia

Project Management

Jim and Julia have a limited amount of budget with which to make the changes to their house. They have a time frame of at least ten years to take care of everything they need to resell the house. In the meantime, however, they likely have more immediate priorities with respect to making the house livable. Livability should be their first goal as homeowners. The second goal is to stay within budget. The third goal will be to ready the house for re-sale.

A budget of time and cost will be critical in allowing Jim and Julia to meet all of their objectives. They have limited time and limited funds with which to achieve their goals. A schedule will help them to prioritize items in terms of time. A budget will allow them to adequately save for the bigger ticket items, such as the roof. Failure to adequately plan their renovations will put them in a position where some items will either not be completed on time, or it may force them to use debt to finance some of the work. Likewise, having a budget of time and cost will allow Jim and Julia to identify any shortcomings in their plan. At this point, they do not even know if they can afford to do all of the things that they would like to do. The budget will therefore give them a sense of their capabilities and help them to identify bottlenecks in either time or cost and give them the opportunity to devise solutions to those bottlenecks today, so that there are no problems in the future.

Project Proposal and Preliminary Plan

The total cost of the various renovations and upgrades that Jim and Julia wish to complete is $25,400. This is well below their capacity to spend, which is at least $10,000 per year. What we propose is to that the tasks be broken down in two different ways. The first is by time, wherein the most pressing priorities are dealt with first. The activities which are done strictly to enhance the resale value of the house will take a lower priority, since the closer they are done to the resale date the more the value of the renovation will be captured in the resale price.

The second is by type of task. It will be easier for Jim and Julia to tackle a given room at the same time, for example a complete kitchen or bathroom renovation all at once, rather than piecemeal. This will give the room in question better consistency of look and age, making it more attractive in terms of resale. This also minimizes the disruption to the family.

There are a couple of wild cards to consider as well. The couple expects to have children, and will likely want to take some time off from renovating in order to accommodate this. Having children is enough work on its own, without having major renovations at the same time.

The preliminary plan therefore is to tackle the painting first, while the house is still empty. It may be necessary to repaint again before the house is put onto the market, but the condition is marginal and the colors not to their liking. They need to address the paint issue now. The kitchen appears to be the next major priority, since some of the appliances are reaching the end of their life, and other appliances are not present at all. The roof will need to be replaced by the eighth year. Lastly, the bathroom remodel is not necessary at present and can be considered an activity strictly to affect the resale value of the home. This means it should be done towards the end of the ten-year time frame. The floors are a wild card -- worn carpets are unhealthy for children but if they are replaced too soon they will be in rough shape by the time the couple wishes to sell the home. Thus, they may need to deal with the floors twice -- once before having children and then again when they wish to sell.

The Work Breakdown Schedule takes into consideration the different functional groupings of the activities. There are a handful of stakeholders to be considered as well, such as children, inspectors (for plumbing and electrical work) and these are noted in the WBS where appropriate. This is important, because some of the work can be done without professional help, while other tasks require it. Within the category of kitchen work, for example, the cabinets can be installed without professional assistance but the dishwasher and garbage disposal will require the services of a plumber.

Work Breakdown Structure

Projects by Type

Kitchen

Bathroom

Plumbing

Painting

Physical

Electrical*

Stove

Cabinets

Dishwasher

Interior

Roof

Washer

Fridge

Disposal

Exterior

Carpets

Dryer

Cabinets

Washer

Flooring

Stove

Counters

Sink & Faucet

Fridge

Bathroom Fixtures

* Whether electrical work is needed depends on the choice of appliance

Work Breakdown Structure

Baby

Inspector

Carpets

Dishwasher

Floors

Disposal

Interior Paint

Washer*

Dryer*

Stove *

Roof

* an inspector may be needed for these depending on the extent of the work note: all "Baby" work must be completed before the child arrives, for its health

Before finalizing the plan, the following precedent relationships should be established as well. In general, there are few precedence relationships, but it helps to undertake internal activities before external. For example, the plumbing in the kitchen should be dealt with before the more superficial cabinetry. Likewise, it is less risky to install new carpets after the interior painting has been done than before.

Precedence Relationships

1st

Interior Painting

Dishwasher/Disposal

2nd

Flooring/Carpets

Kitchen Cabinets