1. 40+ YEARS OF PROJECT CONTROL-FASTER, CHEAPER, BETTER!
April 2011 by Ray Jussila
If you’re not continually predicting the future, you’re simply recording the past! This has been
my mantra working over 40 years as a Project Control Engineer. Yes, faster, cheaper and better
are in fact possible if you’re capable of peering into the future. This means having the ability to
effectively use both sides of your brain—the logical and creative sides. The logical side is
necessary to calculate the knowns such as physical progress and productivity while the creative
side anticipates future unknowns. In other words, you need to know where you’ve been to
anticipate what may lie ahead of you. This is much more than identifying remaining activities in
a schedule. It involves predicting change requests and change orders resulting from continuing
design development. Yes, we all want complete design drawings when we issue construction
bid packages, but we also know that there will always be changes. It’s the responsibility of the
Project Control Engineer to engage the creative side of their brain to quantify the cost and
schedule impacts of those potential changes. This not only requires creative thought, it requires
experience, experience and more experience!
Faster means your schedules are initially developed with both the input and agreement of
experienced field supervision. These schedules then become the baseline for development of
commodity curves and construction manpower loading. Additionally, a schedule contingency
duration must be built into the baseline schedule to handle the changes that will surely come as
design is finalized. I’ve also found that schedules in excess of two or three thousand activities
eventually become punch lists where the schedule logic can no longer be supported. If extreme
schedule detail is required, then create a separate sub-net schedule rather than encumber the
master schedule with excessive detail. Remember, the Empire State Building was constructed in
15 months without computers, CPM schedules or BIM!
Computers, CPM schedules, BIM, etc. are nothing more than tools to assist our Project Control
efforts. These tools have limitations which need to be recognized. There is no substitute for a
common-sense approach to the Project plan ensuring that it’s cheaper, faster and better!
If it’s faster, then it’s also cheaper because faster results in reduced construction overhead.
(This is true as long as construction productivity remains high). Cheaper also involves
competitive bidding of materials, equipment and construction contracts, reasonably complete,
(at least 80%) detailed engineering, solid scheduling, qualified field supervision, experienced
suppliers and contractors plus many other factors.
Better means that the project is tightly managed from detailed design through start-up and
commissioning. Consideration needs to be made for not only the initial capital costs of a facility,

2. but the continuing operation and maintenance costs need to be carefully analyzed. Better
means tight quality control/inspection of equipment and materials during fabrication plus
experienced field inspection during the construction phase.
The preceding thoughts were developed over the past 40+ years working as a Project Control
Engineer on a wide variety of projects around the world. These projects all had the common
goals of faster, cheaper and better. Most achieved all three goals.
Upon graduation from Montana State University, I was hired by a large international
engineering and construction firm. I started with a short period of training in San Francisco and
was then sent to work on a Copper Electrolytic Refinery direct-hire, union labor Project in San
Manuel, Arizona. I was a Junior Cost Engineer responsible for preparation of the Weekly Labor
Cost Report which analyzed construction productivity, (installation rates for various
commodities). We had no computers. The field superintendents would have their craft-persons
code their timesheets according to the commodities on which they worked. Sometimes, if their
commodity unit installation rates exceeded the budget rate, they would have the crafts code a
different commodity other than the one on which they were actually working. I would walk the
jobsite each morning and afternoon and record the commodities on which work was being
performed. That way, I knew if the field superintendents had told their craft-persons to
miscode their timesheets. It was vitally important that the unit rates of installation for various
commodities be accurate because this data became the basis for estimating and bidding future
projects!
When this Project was about 60% complete the labor productivity took a nose dive based on
information from my Weekly Labor Cost Report. I told the Project Manager that we needed to
increase our field labor from 350 people to around 500 based on the lower commodity unit
installation rates and our scheduled completion date. Rather than increase the craft labor, this
very senior Project Manager immediately laid-off 150 union crafts-people and told me to tell
the mechanical and electrical union stewards that our project schedule had been extended. I
passed the word which wasn’t true, but it shook up the remaining crafts-persons! Our
commodity unit installation rates immediately improved and we gradually added 100 crafts-
persons, eventually bringing us up to a total of 300. The Project was completed three months
ahead of schedule and 10% under budget! (The white lie had worked.)
Then I was transferred to an Iron Ore Concentrator and Pelletizing Project in Sept Isles, Quebec
where we proceeded to have a dispute between the American and Quebec Union members.
The Quebec Union members entered and occupied our construction offices and destroyed files
and equipment after they forced us to leave our offices. They burned cars on the jobsite and
took control of the entire town by blocking off the road leading into town and dumping large
rocks on the airport runway. They also commandeered the local radio station. This lasted for a

3. number of days. The Quebec Union construction workers finally agreed to relinquish control of
the town after the Quebec Government threatened to bring in the Van Doos, (elite
commandos).
After the Project resumed construction I noticed that the Construction Support Services
contractor, (who had a cost-plus contract) was billing around 50 people to the Project. When I
walked the jobsite, I could only find less than half that number! We had employed a young
timekeeper who was approving their timecards. I also learned that the timekeeper had recently
purchased an expensive new car. After further investigation, I found that the Construction
Support Services contractor was falsifying their payroll and the timekeeper was receiving
money for approving false timecards.
The lesson I learned was that it was always good to walk the jobsite every day and count
contractor hardhats. It was also reveling to make a note of how many crafts-persons were
actually working and how many were standing around due to a lack of craft supervision. That
was always a good indicator of contractor productivity. Remember that when a contractor has
poor productivity they lose money and eventually look to others to reimburse them via a flood
of change requests and claims. I learned that contractors are in business and intend to stay in
business regardless of who is at fault!
From Quebec I was transferred to Ouro Preto, Brazil to work as a scheduler on development of
the largest Iron Ore Deposit in the world. We built a concentrator and iron ore slurry pipeline,
(the only one in the world). This would be a three billion dollar project in today’s dollars. There
was only one scheduler and one cost engineer on this massive project.
My wife, infant child and I lived in a mansion there and had 4 servants. I even had the
opportunity to have lobster tail in the jungle and sat next to a man who had previously been
the Secretary of the US Treasury and would later become Secretary of State. Across the table
was the owner of the large international engineering and construction company for whom I
worked. These were indeed heady days for a 27 year old scheduler!
There were no computers on this Mega Project which preceded the PC. We controlled it with a
drawing-sized 60-line bar chart, commodity curves and a three-week, look-ahead schedule. It
was also constructed in record time! The construction group I was in prided ourselves in being
able to complete any construction project anywhere in the world at least three months ahead
of our competitors. This was a significant advantage over our competitors due to the huge
monthly profits earned by the Owners of these mining and metals projects once they became
operational!
After Brazil, I changed companies and went to work for an engineering company that was noted
for their work on pipelines and compressor stations around the world. They had performed

4. extensive pipeline work on the north-slope of Alaska and throughout the Arab World. I rose to
the position of Project Control Supervisor and supervised over twenty cost engineers,
schedulers and estimators.
While working for this engineering company, I spent time in Morocco instructing the executive
management of their National Oil Company in Project Control Techniques, traveled to Prudhoe
Bay, Alaska, Bogota, Colombia and worked in London on pipeline projects in Saudi Arabia.
Prior to going to Colombia, I was given a phone number to call should I be kidnapped. We flew
in a helicopter to a jobsite in the jungle and invaded Venezuelan airspace to avoid being shot
down by FARC, (the Colombian rebels). While in Colombia, I developed a schedule recovery
plan which earned a million dollar bonus for the engineering company. This recovery plan used
commodity progress curves based upon existing manpower and clearly demonstrated to our
Colombian partners that significant manpower and construction equipment needed to be
added to the project. This allowed the project to be completed ahead of schedule and thereby
earn the million dollar bonus.
The engineering company then transferred me to Phoenix, Arizona to establish an earned value
system to be used for engineering management on the Arizona Department of Transportation’s
Centerpiece Project which was the start of their six billion dollar Urban Freeway System.
After that, I was transferred to work as a Control Team Leader on a Vitrification Project to clean
up radioactive waste material from the Manhattan Project which was being stored at Fernald
outside Cincinnati, Ohio. Fernald was a multi-billion dollar nuclear clean-up effort.
I then left the engineering company and went to work for the local electric utility in Phoenix,
Arizona. This was the third and last company for whom I’ve worked in my 40+ year career. At
the electric utility, I became the Manager of their Y2k Project to ensure there was no loss of
power as the clocks turned 2000. I completed that project 85% under budget through the use
of in-house expertise rather than using outside consultants saving over $10 million.
Following Y2k, I was the Project Control Manager on various new power plants, (combined
cycle and coal) and environmental projects for the electric utility. On one 850MW combined
cycle project, I identified a “non-standard” construction activity sequence for erection of a
steam turbine, thereby shaving 2 months off its erection time. I also saved close to a million
dollars by stopping a tax equalization payment to our natural gas supplier. We had an
agreement to offset their tax liability on facilities for which we paid and then transferred
ownership to them. (They essentially had gift-tax liability.) However, in reviewing their current
Annual Financial Report, I discovered the gas supplier had not been paying any taxes because
they had suffered a $6 billion loss, therefore; I decided they were not entitled to any tax
equalization payments. They were unable to counter my logic.

5. The billion dollar coal fired power plant was constructed in a record three and a half years from
engineering through start-up! (The normal time frame is from five to five and a half years.) The
project was constructed in record time by all project participants continually “thinking out of
the box”. The Project Control Group consisted of one Project Control Engineer in the designer’s
office, one jobsite scheduler and me. I’ve come to believe that a very small Project Control
Group ensures close communication and the least cost for the Project!
Remember faster, cheaper and better is truly possible if you engage both sides of your brain,
exercise common sense and don’t get drawn into believing that sophisticated computer
applications are the primary solution to effective Project Control. You must walk the jobsite
every day, talk with the field superintendents, contractors and crafts-persons and you’ll be
amazed at what you’ll learn! Never forget that the Empire State Building was constructed in 15
months without computer assistance!
TIPS:
Along with Cost Engineering and Scheduling Skills find courses in Technical Writing and
Salesmanship.
Make the Project Manager your best friend and make him “depend” on you for quality
information. Make sure it’s information and not just data.
Remember that the Owner, Prime and Sub-Contractors all pay for bad productivity in terms of
both cost and schedule! Be very aware of craftspeople standing around and question the ratio
of craft supervision to craft labor.
It’s OK to have “unreasonable” goals for the project. Many times, people rise to the challenge
especially when a bonus is involved!
You learn the most on difficult projects with impossible schedules and tight budgets!
Fight bureaucratic processes! Your time is valuable. Produce “meaningful” work products!
“Make a difference” and feel good about yourself and your contributions to the project’s
success!
Daydream and take time to “think out of the box”. Ask yourself, “what have I missed?”
Project Control is 60% human psychology and 40% technical skill. Make things happen!

6. PROJECT MANAGEMENT CHECKLIST (Ray Jussila, March 2016)
Select Qualified Design Engineering Firm
Develop Detailed Project Scope Book
Prepare Approx. 50-line Summary Bar Chart—“the Bible”
Start development of various stages of Project Cost Estimates to be refined over time
Create Project Organization Chart
Define responsibilities of project participants both inside and outside Owner’s Organization
Pre Planning and Solid Engineering saves Big Money during Construction
Must have Experienced Project Team
Must have Experienced Client Representative
Must have Experienced Start-Up Team
Utilize Simple tools such as a 4 Week Look-Ahead Schedule with 1 Week Look-Back
CPM Schedule with more than 3,000 activities starts to become unmanageable
Need Simple and Understandable Code of Accounts (Work Breakdown Structure)
Maintain Overall Project Costs on a single large spreadsheet with budget, actual and forecast costs
by code of accounts
Create a Project Calendar, (simple and friendly tool)
Create and Monitor Commodity Curves, (drawings and construction materials)
Report Progress via Drawings and Physical Quantities Installed at the Jobsite, (Earned Value)
Comprehensive Vendor Inspection and Expediting is Critical
Selection of Qualified Design Engineer, Material/Equipment Suppliers and Contractors is key to
Project Success
Must have Constructability Reviews during Detailed Engineering
Perform “Practical” Risk Analysis and Periodically Review/Update
Review Shipping/Transportation Plans
Need Skilled Labor Agreements and understand Skilled Labor Availability
Proper Ratio of Construction Labor Supervision
Government Relations
Importing/Customs
Permitting
Environmental Requirements
Construction Contract Packaging must be compatible with Engineering Progress to avoid extensive
Change Orders
Financial Performance Incentives tied to Project Milestones
Update Contingency and Escalation—Reduce over Time
Expect the Impossible—People Rise to the Task
Update CPM Schedule Logic “Daily”, (account for Murphy’s Law)
Change Order Requests and Approvals process must be timely to avoid lawsuits
Update Cost Forecasts “Daily”
Primavera P6—tool only--Needs “Quality” Input
Need Sense of Urgency!
Keep Everyone Informed!
Remember many Project Problems are really Opportunities in Disguise

7. LIVE AND WORK SMART by Ray Jussila, March 2011
For the first six months to two years on the job – show up early and leave late. Learn everything you can! Ask
others if you can help them with anything. Dress appropriately, speak politely and avoid extremes in your
personal appearance. Seek out mentors!
Always answer YES and never say no, unless yes is morally wrong. Doors (opportunities) open with the word
yes and close with no. Nothing is impossible with the right attitude!
Believe that you have more potential than 90% of the people with whom you work. Go for the promotion and
never assume someone else is more qualified! Continue to learn new skills. Participate in Professional
Organizations. Be a team-player, make friends and never, ever make enemies!
Carefully review your work products as though they are being seen through the eyes of others, (find and
correct errors & make sure your work products are concise and understandable). Strive to submit your work
early and never, ever miss a deadline! In your work commitments, under-promise and over-deliver. Don’t
surprise your boss with negative information. Keep them continually informed! Have the courage to present
your views politely and intelligently, (learn to “sell” your ideas). Think “out of the box”. EARN the respect of
your boss and fellow workers. Identify bureaucratic work processes and strive to streamline or eliminate
them. Recognize B.S. when you hear it!
Companies prosper when they are faster, cheaper, and better than their competitors. Remember, you can
make a difference there! Promotions and money will come to those people who are smart, honest, truthful,
creative, hard working and can get along with others!
Never, ever engage in office gossip! Keep politics and religion to yourself. “Learn” from your mistakes!
Your supervisor may sometimes appear incompetent, but will always win in any challenge to their authority.
Learn to deal with your supervisor. They control your future!
If you’re really hard working (7-10’s) and able to deal with stress and financial risk; work for yourself—
become an entrepreneur. Lead others; and become wealthy!
Pick a spouse very, very carefully. You will never do anything more important in your life! Look for mutual
respect and a common view of life. A good spouse is your partner through life!
Enjoy “the journey”! The destination is death; work hard to delay it. Live right! Don’t over eat, don’t gamble,
don’t lie, drink in moderation, avoid drugs and don’t cheat on your spouse. Join a religious institution; your
faith will heal you. Be thankful for your blessings! Cultivate a few close friends upon whom you can depend.
Exercise, enjoy sports and hobbies. Mature “together” with your spouse. Dream but don’t spend more than
you earn because overwhelming debt is the destroyer of dreams. Maintain a good relationship with your
parents and siblings. Raise children and in the process re-live your own childhood. Have empathy for others
and be charitable.