Modular-based construction is becoming increasingly a key role in oil sands development in Alberta, Canada. Modules are generally installed by large-capacity mobile cranes based on one of two lifting options: (1) pick from fixed positions, in which case the crane delivers the payloads from a single (fixed) position for the duration of the project; and (2) pick and carrying operation, in which, because of site congestion, the crane is required to walk with the payload until it reaches a location from where it can finally deliver it to its set resting position. Since the current manual-based crane lift planning is time-consuming, costly, tedious, error-prone, and unable to efficiently react to changes in lift schedule and/or site constraints, this research presents a methodology which allows motion planning of mobile cranes to be developed automatically. The series of computer program developed in this research are integrated with external databases and building information modelling (BIM)-based software in order to develop a system that reacts to changes in project site layout and schedule. The core of this work is a 3D visualization module which monitors the motions of the mobile crane body configurations during lifting and carrying operations. Although the 3D module is built upon numerous algorithms, three in particular are mentioned here since they have been specifically developed for crane operations: (i) the procedure which automatically builds the mobile crane operation, (ii) the routine used to calculate lift angles, and, finally, (iii) the function which tracks quasi-dynamically the movements of the payload and the body of the crane in order to identify and eliminate potential collision errors. The developed system also provides collision and lift information for 3D visualization to ensure crane operations do not exceed allowable crane capacity, clearances, and working radii during crane operation. This research also assists practitioners in selecting the most appropriate crane location(s) associated with the module pick positions by evaluating the cycle time of mobile crane operations using simulation. A case study—a modular-based heavy industrial construction project by PCL Industrial Management Inc. in Alberta, Canada—is presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology.