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Decision-Making on a Construction Project

Help a project manager rescue a delayed building project: weigh up the options and make clear recommendations with modal verbs.

Level: B2

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Ex AReading: The Project Manager's Email

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Ex BDecision-Making Vocabulary

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Ex CModal Verbs

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Ex DWrite a Recommendation

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Auf einen Blick / At a glance

Free Business English practice: help a construction project manager choose how to recover a delay, with decision vocabulary and modal verbs.

Niveau / Level: B1–B2 (GER/CEFR)
Für / For: Business English
Grammatik / Grammar: Modal verbs (Modalverben)
Fertigkeiten / Skills: Leseverstehen / Reading, Schreiben / Writing, Wortschatz / Vocabulary, Grammatik / Grammar
Aufgaben / Tasks: 4 — Reading: The Project Manager's Email · Decision-Making Vocabulary · Modal Verbs: Obligation, Advice & Possibility · Write a Recommendation
Kosten / Cost: kostenlos, ohne Anmeldung / free, no sign-up

Exercise A

Reading: The Project Manager's Email

Read the email from the project manager, then answer the questions.

Subject: Summary – options to recover the delay on Riverside Offices

Hi all,

Thanks for joining yesterday's site meeting. Here is a summary of where we are.

Heavy rain in October has put the Riverside Offices project three weeks behind schedule. The client expects the building to be handed over on 28 February, and the contract includes a penalty of £5,000 for every week we finish late.

We have a shortlist of three options: adding weekend shifts for the current team, bringing in a second steelwork subcontractor, or asking the client to move the handover date.

To keep the decision objective, we agreed to use a weighted decision matrix. Each option is scored from 1 to 5 against four criteria: time saved, cost, site safety and build quality. Because a late handover would trigger the penalty, time saved carries the highest weighting (40%), followed by safety (30%), cost (20%) and build quality (10%).

We also identified the key stakeholders. The client, the subcontractors and our health and safety manager must all be consulted, and the health and safety manager has to approve any plan that increases working hours on site.

At this stage, the second subcontractor has the highest overall score (4.2), mainly because it saves the most time. However, it is also the most expensive option, so there is a clear trade-off between speed and cost. Weekend shifts scored 3.6 and cost about 40% less, but tired workers increase the risk of accidents.

My recommendation is that we should get quotes from two steelwork subcontractors this week before we commit. We ought to have the quotes by Friday, which still leaves time to start work on site in early December.

Please send me any comments by Thursday.

Best regards,
Daniel Brooks
Project Manager

Questions

1. Why does time saved carry the highest weighting?

2. Who has to approve a plan that increases working hours on site?

3. What is the trade-off with the second subcontractor?

4. What does Daniel recommend?

Exercise B

Decision-Making Vocabulary

Choose the right word for each gap. Two words in the bank are not needed.

Word bankconsensuscriteriadeadlineinvoiceshortliststakeholderstrade-offturnoverweighting

1. Before we compare the tenders, we need to agree on the _____ we will use to judge them.

2. The client, the architect and the local residents are all _____: the project affects every one of them.

3. Eight contractors sent in tenders, but only three made it onto the _____.

4. Safety is our top priority on site, so we gave it a high _____ in the matrix.

5. The cheaper concrete takes longer to dry. That is the _____ we have to accept if we want to stay on budget.

6. After a long site meeting, the team finally reached a _____ and everyone supported the new schedule.

7. The roof must be finished before the winter weather arrives, so 15 November is a _____ we cannot miss.

Exercise C

Modal Verbs: Obligation, Advice & Possibility

Choose the modal verb that fits the meaning. Read the second sentence for a clue.

Questions

1. Everyone on site _____ wear a hard hat. It's a legal requirement.

2. I think we _____ check the weather forecast before we pour the concrete. It would be a sensible idea.

3. Workers _____ walk under the crane while it is lifting. It's extremely dangerous.

4. The new subcontractor _____ be faster, but we won't know until they start work.

5. If the weather stays dry, the steel frame _____ be finished by mid-January.

6. We _____ order more bricks. There are enough on site for the whole job.

Exercise D

Write a Recommendation

Use the information in Daniel's email and at least two modal verbs (should, must, have to, ought to, might).

Tasks

1. Reply to Daniel (80–120 words). Say which option you would choose (weekend shifts, a second subcontractor or a later handover date) and why. Mention at least one risk or trade-off.

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2. Describe a difficult decision on a project you have worked on or know about. Who were the stakeholders, and which criteria mattered most?

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