PM 490 Week 4 Project Closure and Value Example

Open Two Days Early, Under Budget by $9,400: Closing a Cidery's Barn Project and Measuring the Value It Started to Deliver

[Student Name]

University of Phoenix

PM/490: Project Management Capstone

Week 4 Assignment

[Instructor Name]

[Date]

Stone Lantern Cider Works, its closeout records, sales and figures are composites written for a model paper.

The Vandermeers' imaginary cidery, Stone Lantern Cider Works, opened its tasting room in the restored 1880s barn on Saturday, August 30, two days before the charter's target. The Week 3 report had warned that float was down to four days; the second carpenter crew and an early liquor authority inspection recovered the margin. This paper closes the project and measures the value it has begun to deliver.

Confirming Acceptance

The current standard treats closure as confirming that deliverables meet acceptance criteria, completing administrative and contractual work and transitioning results to those who will use them (Project Management Institute [PMI], 2021). Each charter criterion was checked:

Certificate of occupancy issued by the town on August 21.

State liquor authority premises approval on August 26.

Accessibility inspection passed, including restrooms, the bar's lowered section and the ramp to the deck.

Seating for 120 inside and 80 on the covered deck confirmed by the fire marshal's occupancy posting.

Architect's preservation sign-off on the exterior, confirming the barn remains eligible for local landmark recognition.

The owners signed the acceptance form on August 28.

Final Cost and Schedule

Final cost was $1,170,600 against the $1.18 million budget. The four approved changes added $66,000: sill and post replacement $44,000, the landscaped berm $9,000, the reclaimed wood bar top $6,500 and a late change adding two outdoor heaters to extend deck use, $6,500. These were funded from the $70,000 contingency, leaving $4,000. Other lines finished about $5,400 under their estimates, mostly furniture bought at an auction. Schedule: the opening came two days early, although structural work had finished three weeks late; the fit-out recovered the time through a second crew and parallel work on the deck.

Closing Contracts

The general contractor's contract was closed after a punch list of 23 items was finished on September 12. The 5 percent retainage, about $38,000, was released once the architect confirmed completion. Warranties for roofing, the heating and cooling system and the septic system were collected in a single file with expiry dates. The architect's and engineer's contracts were closed with final invoices. All permits, inspection reports and as-built drawings were archived with the farm's property records.

Retainage is the owner's last lever; release it only after the punch list, not before.

Releasing the Team and Resources

Closure also means letting people go cleanly. The contractor's crew demobilized after the punch list, and its temporary power pole, dumpster and portable toilets were removed by September 15, freeing the gravel lot for visitor parking. Delgado's engagement ended on September 30, after a handover meeting with the tasting room manager. The architect agreed to a two-hour call in the spring to inspect the deck and siding after the first winter, a small cost that protects the preservation work. The owners wrote short thank-you letters to the contractor's crew lead and the town's building inspector, both of whom will matter again if the kitchen is ever built.

Lessons Learned

Anbari et al. (2008) argued that post-project reviews are a core project management competence and that their value depends on capturing knowledge in a form others can use. A two-hour workshop with the owners, Delgado, the contractor's crew lead and the architect produced eight lessons, each with an owner. Four of the most useful: probe old timber more widely before pricing, since three probes missed most of the rot (owner, Tom Vandermeer, for any future building work); price uncertain items per unit, which prevented disputes (Delgado, for her future clients); meet neighbors before any public hearing, which reduced objections to conditions the cidery could live with (Clara Vandermeer); and set the rule that bad news goes in the weekly update immediately, which made the sill decision a one-day matter (both owners).

Transition to Operations

The tasting room manager, hired in July, received a handover file containing the operating manual for building systems, warranty and maintenance schedules, the permit conditions on events and music, the point-of-sale setup and staff training records. Badewi (2016) studied project-based organizations and found that benefits management practices, alongside project management practices, contributed to project success, particularly when benefits were governed after delivery. The manager is now the owner of the business benefits and will report them monthly to the owners.

Early Value Against the Business Case

After ten weeks, including the autumn harvest season, direct sales totaled about $171,000. Visitor numbers will fall in winter, so the owners' accountant projected annual direct sales of about $560,000 from monthly patterns at comparable tasting rooms, above the $520,000 objective. Seven private events are booked for the coming year, against the revised target of 18. Distributor sales have held at about 70 percent of production, meeting the charter's floor. Gross margin per bottle sold in the tasting room is about $11.40, close to the business case.

What Could Still Go Wrong

The early numbers come from a harvest season, the busiest ten weeks of the year, and winter may be thinner than the projection assumes. Two other risks remain open. Neighbors have not yet experienced a full season of events, so the first noise complaint could test the permit conditions. And distributors, who watched the tasting room open, may ask for better terms or shelf commitments if they see the cidery competing with them. The tasting room manager will track complaints and the owners will meet their two largest distributors in January.

Project Success and Business Success

By the charter's project criteria, the project succeeded: scope delivered and accepted, opened early and under budget. Business success can only be judged after the first full year, when sales, events and the effect on the brand can be measured. The tasting room manager will report against the objectives at twelve months, and the owners will decide then whether to pursue the deferred kitchen.

Conclusion

The barn conversion closed with accepted deliverables, reconciled costs, closed contracts, archived records and lessons assigned to owners. Operations and benefits passed to the tasting room manager with a complete handover file. Early figures suggest the business case will be met, but full value will be measured after a year, which is the right test of whether the barn was worth restoring.

References

Anbari, F. T., Carayannis, E. G., & Voetsch, R. J. (2008). Post-project reviews as a key project management competence. Technovation, 28(10), 633-643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.technovation.2007.12.001

Badewi, A. (2016). The impact of project management (PM) and benefits management (BM) practices on project success: Towards developing a project benefits governance framework. International Journal of Project Management, 34(4), 761-778. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2015.05.005

Project Management Institute. (2021). A guide to the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute.