петък, 15 юни 2012 г.

ADVERSE WEATHER AND FIDIC


The climate changes bring extreme weather conditions and unpredictable rains and floods to our project sites. When heavy rain obstruct road work and earth slip occurs during execution, the important question arises that which clauses of contract that  has to be  invoked ?


Construction operations are often sensitive to weather conditions such as temperature, humidity, wind, rainfall and snow. When exceptional adverse weather causes construction delays and cost overruns, contractors often submit claims, requesting extension to the project completion time and compensation for extra cost, citing adverse weather as the basis for their claims. many construction contracts include specific clauses that regulate the basis and conditions for submitting weather-related claims. “If adverse weather conditions are the basis for a claim for additional time, such claim shall be documented by data substantiating that weather  conditions were abnormal for the period of time and could not have been reasonably anticipated, and that weather conditions had an adverse effect on the scheduled construction.” In other words, such clauses specifically stipulate that weather-related claims should be supported by appropriate documentation, substantiating that the weather conditions during construction were abnormal and unexpected and that the encountered abnormal weather conditions had an adverse effect on the construction schedule. The intensity of rainfall is expressed by the total amount of rain accumulated during a given period of the day. weather currently incorporates historical weather database for a period of over certain period (30 years) obtained from historical weather data obtained from the closest weather station to the site.

If the Contractor incurs cost or suffers a delay as a result of unforeseeable physical conditions, he should firstly identify the relevant Sub-Clause, which is Sub-Clause 4.12. Sub-Clause 4.12 is relevant because it entitles the Contractor to extension of time and additional costs. The test is then,whether the Contractor encountered Unforeseeable physical conditions. All elements of Sub-Clause 4.12 must be met, which are:
•   Physical conditions (climatic conditions are not covered)
•  Relevant physical conditions must have been Unforeseeable (Unforeseeable is a defined term)
•   Previous notice is required, which should have been given as soon as practicable
•   Claim notice is required according to Sub-Clause 20.1 and 1.3

Let us see what Sub Clause 4.12 -Unforeseeable Physical Conditions stipulates?
“ In this Sub Clause, “physical conditions” means natural physical conditions and man-made and other physical obstructions and pollutants, which the Contractor encounters at the Site when executing the Works, including sub-surface and hydrological conditions but excluding climatic conditions…” 
Climatic conditions are left outside of above Sub Clause, and if we go further, according to Sub-Clause 4.10 the Contractor is deemed to have inspected and examined the Site and the surroundings and he is also deemed to have been satisfied before submitting the Tender as to all relevant matters, including the form and the nature of the Site and the hydrological conditions. Also he may only consider the conditions to have been unforeseeable in line with Sub-Clause 1.1.6.8, according to which Unforeseeable means not reasonably foreseeable by an experienced contractor by the date for submission of the Tender. (We can accept the Contractor as an experienced contractor which he passes from the test of experience during pre-qualification stage).

However two types of adverse physical conditions must be distinguished. The Contractor may encounter conditions at the Site which are (1) subsurface or otherwise concealed physical conditions which differ from those indicated in the contract documents or (2) unknown physical conditions of an unusual nature, which differ from those ordinarily found to exist and generally recognized as inherent in construction activities of the character provided for in the contract documents. Sub-Clauses 4.12 does not define the term “adverse”. Thus it may be debated whether the Contractor can rely on Sub-Clause 4.12 to shift the risk to the Employer where an unforeseeable site condition is encountered, which is not an adverse physical condition. 

Obviously some of the risk which is inherent to a construction contract does not depend on chance. It is then not insurable. Thus differing ground conditions (see Sub-Clause 4.12) and unusual climatic conditions (see Sub-Clause 8.4) which may have a critical impact on the successful completion of the works are dealt with separately in FIDIC contracts. This type of risk is also referred to as speculative risk. In principle speculative risks are not unforeseeable. An experienced Contractor should be able to foresee most of the current risks. The question is whether he should also make allowance for the event that the risk occurs. Unforeseeability is dealt with in Sub-Clause 1.1.6.8. According to Sub-Clause 1.1.6.8 unforeseeable means not reasonably foreseeable by an experienced contractor by the date for submission of the Tender. The General Conditions refer to the term unforeseeable as defined in Sub-Clause 1.1.6.8 in several Sub-Clauses, such as:
•   Sub-Clause 4.6:   Unforeseeable cost
•   Sub-Clause 4.12: Unforeseeable physical conditions
•   Sub-Clause 8.4:   Unforeseeable shortages in the availability of personnel or goods
•   Sub-Clause 8.5:   Unforeseeable delay or disruption
•   Sub-Clause 17.3: Unforeseeable operation of forces of nature

FIDIC strongly recommends consulting an insurance expert prior to the conclusion of the contract. It is worth noting that the decennial liability insurance must be obtained before the Commencement Date. It is sometimes very difficult to obtain such insurance cover. Late efforts to obtain such an insurance policy may delay the commencement of the works at the risk of the Contractor.

As a rule the insured items (Works including material to be used in performing the contract, construction plant and equipment) are covered against any unforeseen and sudden physical loss or damage from any cause not excluded. 
A typical Contractors All Risk (CAR) claim will be composed by three damage headings:
 (1) direct loss(the costs to repair);
 (2) prolongation costs to the employer; and
 (3) the prolongation or extended general conditions costs to the contractor and subcontractors which may include loss of profits and expenses caused indirectly by the event. 

According to Sub-Clause 18.2(a) unless otherwise stated in the Particular Conditions, the insurance for the Works shall be effected and maintained by the Contractor as the insuring party and shall cover all loss and damage from any cause not listed in sub-clause 17.3. The last part gives a tool to the Contractor to claim his losses from the Employer for unforeseeable operation of forces of nature. Sub Clause -17.3 Employer’s Risks stipulates that ; “…. h) any operation of the forces of nature which is Unforeseeable or against which an experienced contractor could not reasonably have been expected to have taken adequate preventive precautions…”

Sub Clause 17.2 Contractor’s Care of the Works gives exception in parallel to above as stipulates that; ”….If any loss or damage happens to the Works, Goods or Contractor’s Documents during the period when the Contractor is responsible for their care, from any cause not listed in Sub-Clause 17.3 [Employer’s Risks ], the Contractor shall rectify the loss or damage at the Contractor’s risk and cost, so that the Works, Goods and Contractor’s Documents conform with the Contract….”

Sub Clause 17.4 Consequences of Employer’s Risks stipulates that, “If and to the extent that any of the risks listed in Sub-Clause 17.3 above results in loss or damage to the Works, Goods or Contractor’s Documents, the Contractor shall promptly give notice to the Engineer and shall rectify this loss or damage to the extent required by the Engineer. If the Contractor suffers delay and/or incurs Cost from rectifying this loss or damage, the Contractor shall give a further notice to the Engineer and shall be entitled subject to Sub-Clause 20.1 [Contractor’s Claims] to:
(a) an extension of time for any such delay, if completion is or will be delayed, under Sub-Clause 8.4 [Extension of Time for Completion], and 
(b) payment of any such Cost, which shall be included in the Contract Price. In the case of sub-paragraphs (f) and (g) of Sub-Clause 17.3 [Employer’s Risks ], Cost plus profit shall be payable.
After receiving this further notice, the Engineer shall proceed in accordance with Sub-Clause 3.5 [Determinations] to agree or determine these matters.

As conclusion, when landslides occurred and Works damaged due to heavy rains, the Employers always expect from the Contractor to cover his losses and also losses to the Works from the CAR policies. However, the policies may not cover the losses in all circumstances. Also, in most cases EoT is required to cover time losses. Therefore, you have to give timely notices to the Engineer and also particulars of the losses subsequently, therefore you do not loose your contractual rights.

събота, 26 май 2012 г.

VALUATION OF VARIATIONS

Construction Image

Everybody has been in a position to negotiate with the contractor a new rate or price when an instruction has been issued and you know that if you are an engineer you must have a strong stomach and patience to deal the price. 

One of the reason to raise this question is my opinion that in most forms of standard contracts there are four ways of doing this and this options can raise disputes between the parties.

Variations under the contract can be valued by a number of methods. The price can be agreed by the employer and contractor directly, more usually by means of a quotation mechanism subject to analysis by the engineer. The contract may contain a schedule of rates to be used to value variations or standard published rates may be used as dayworks.
 If the contract contains a bill of quantities then the rates in the bill of quantities may be used as the basis of valuation. Most standard forms of contract (including ICE and JCT Standard Forms in the U.K.) which adopt bills of quantities have a four tiered approach to the valuation of variations. The options are:
  1. Valuation using bill of quantity rates or schedule rates
  2. Valuation on the basis of rates analogous to 1 above
  3. Valuation on the basis of fair valuation or fair rates or reasonable prices
  4. Valuation on the basis of dayworks


Which of the above options will apply as the basis of the valuation will depend largely upon the timing of the variation order, the location of the work, the quantity of the work involved and the circumstances in which the work is executed. If it can be established that these factors preclude the valuation on the basis of bill rates then the valuation will usually be based on fair or reasonable prices:



Option 1: The principle is that if the varied work is of a similar character and executed under similar conditions to work priced in the bill of quantities then such bill rates and prices shall be used to value the varied work.

Option 2: It requires the engineer to break down the quoted rates into the elements of plant, materials, labour and overheads, in order to make the appropriate adjustment. The engineer is required to do so even if he does not have from the contractor any build up of the rate upon which the new rate is based. In that case he will have to arrive at a notional build up. He may be assisted in doing so by information obtained from the contractor's contemporary records. The elements of the rate are to be adjusted to make appropriate allowances for the effects of the variation, but those elements unaffected by the extra effort are not changed.

Option 3: It applies if the other two rules do not apply. It requires a fair valuation to be made. A fair valuation generally means a valuation which does not give a contractor more than his actual costs reasonably and necessarily incurred plus similar allowances for overheads and profit.


Option 4: I will not comment it because it is very clear how this option must be applied.

What's difficult when using this four tiered approach? It's clear-a lot of disputes  arise from it.

Last edition of NEC (new engineering contract) is trying to avoid this problem by reimbursing the contractor his actual additional costs. How does NEC do it? If the bill of quantities originally included a piece of work (a) which is now to be replaced by a piece of work (b) the compensation is assessed as the difference between the forecast actual cost of (b) and the forecast actual cost of (a). The fee is then added to this difference and the resulting total amount is issued to change the prices. The original price for (a) does not enter the assessment. 

So NEC doesn't use the first two options anymore which are the sources of disputes and apply only the third option which I think is a modern trend in dealing with the valuation of variations. 







вторник, 24 април 2012 г.

DESIGN QUALITY CONTROL

Construction Image
How does the PM control the quality of the design works? I already mentioned that the quality management plan is a part of the PMP. But what does really quality management plan mean?

The quality management plan should answer the questions of who is responsible and when in time actions should occur. Since the primary product of the design phase is construction contract documents for construction contractors, decisions about quality requirements for construction and manufacturing need to be planned and included in the contract documents. The processes used for controlling quality of design are described hereinafter.

For a design/bid/build project, the project manager coordinates and oversees reviews at the design criteria, conceptual, preliminary engineering, 30 percent, 60 percent, 90 percent, 100 percent, and bid documents stages. The percent refers to the approximate ratio of design budget spent over total budget. Reviews at these points in design are key control points to the design management process.

Another process which the Clients are encouraged to apply is VE (value engineering). The objective of VE is to satisfy the required functions of the project at the lowest initial total cost and cost over the life of the project.

Peer review technique should be an early step in the design process that can add an external perspective to enhance the functionality of design, construction, and operation. Used in addition to a VE study, that is usually later in the design process, peer review is based on the question "can we do this better?" and can be used to provide an independent critique of the design phase.

Later in the design process, the design team will need to perform constructability reviews as part of the design process. Participants for constructability reviews can come from within Client team, the design team, or assistance can be obtained from, code officials, independent consultants, or contractors. The constructability reviews should be prior to completion of 90 percent and preferably shortly after 60 percent of the design.

The design manager is responsible for overseeing the design QA system. The design team can accomplish this by setting up an in-house QA system for the project and having the design manager perform the QA by overseeing the design consultant's QC efforts. As the project manager you will need to maintain an oversight role to acquire confidence that the quality management system for design is achieving the project quality objectives.

And last the method of documentation of comments and coordination responses should be described in the quality management plan. All comments made by phase reviewers shall be recorded either by copy of memos, e-mail, letters and/or marked plans received from the reviewers. In the event that comments are received through meetings with reviewers, there shall be minutes prepared that summarize the comments received. All comments shall be addressed to the designer responsible for the discipline that prepared the document being reviewed. The response shall be in writing and shall be formatted in a manner that identifies the document review date, reviewer’s comments and responses to the comments. The designer will be responsible for submittal of comment responses to the reviewing entity. Where it is necessary and prudent to discuss the comments with the reviewer(s) prior to making a response, the designer shall arrange for the meeting. Copies of all comments and responses shall be kept in the project files.






петък, 20 април 2012 г.

TIME MANAGEMENT

Construction Image

Do we manage time in construction? How do we cope with delay? How do we use technology?

I strongly recommend viewing following presentation if you want to develop your time management skills:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsU7EftWVx0&feature=relmfu



HOW TO RUN MEETINGS

The press of business has reduced my recent posting activity. I have been involved in a series of progress meetings and have been surprised by the lack of results due to incompetence of the resident engineers responsible for conducting these meetings. That's why I recommend the following link where you can find a good information on how to run the meetings:


http://www.projectmanager.com/how-to-run-team-meetings.php

петък, 16 март 2012 г.

SUPPORTING MANAGEMENT PLANS

Supporting management plans are added to a project as appropriate depending on the project's size and complexity. Larger and more complex projects may require adding one of the following supporting plans to the project management plan at project initiation:

  • Quality management plan;
  • Risk management plan;
  • Contract management plan.
The quality management plan describes how the project will comply with the client's quality policy in terms of project procedures for quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC), and continuous process improvement. QA is the planned processes the project will follow to make certain that the quality policy is met through. QA audits to examine if the project activities are in compliance with project procedures, and process analysis to examine the effectiveness of project activities, learn from experience and problems encountered and thereby improve the process. QC is monitoring of the specific project results to determine whether they meet with predetermined quality standards and metrics. Continuous process improvement is the iterative application of  process  analysis over the length of the project and from project to project. Each consultant and construction contractor performing work on the project must have a QA plan that is acceptable to the client, so that the client can assess that the contractor's quality standards meet the client's quality management plan.

The risk management plan describes how the project is organized and the procedures used to manage the project risks, addressing in the plan:
  • roles and responsibilities of project staff in risk management;
  • identification of project risks;
  • categorization of risks in terms of probability of occurrence and impact on project scope, cost, schedule, quality;
  • risk handling, should the risk event occur, through either: 
Assumption-accepting the consequences of the risk;
Avoidance-changing the project deliverable design or work methods that lead to the risk;
Control-developing measures to reduce the risk's probability of occurrence, continually re-evaluating the risk, and having in place contingency plans to adopt that mitigate the impacts of the risk;
Transfer-sharing or transferring the consequences of the risk with others, for example, through insurance or warranty provisions.

The contract management plan defines what goods and services are to be acquired for the project and how they will be purchased or contracted, how project purchase orders and contracts will be administered, and what type of contracts will be used. 

петък, 9 март 2012 г.

PROJECT INITIATION-PM's TO DO LIST

In project initiation phase PMs turn their attention on how to plan an authorized project. In this phase PMs develop two important project planning documents: the project charter (sometimes called project requirements definition or statement of work) that documents what the project will deliver and project management plan that documents how the project is to be delivered. If needed, supporting planning documents (risk management plan, quality management plan, contract management plan) might be created. 

PMs to do list:

  • receive project authorization;
  • write project charter;
  • assess client's capability and capacity;
  • select procurement (delivery) strategy;
  • establish project organization structure;
  • write project management plan;
  • write supporting plans- risk management plan, quality management plan, contract management plan


сряда, 7 март 2012 г.

PROCUREMENT METHOD AND RISKS

The procurement strategy needs to identify how and when suppliers are brought onto the project. There are numerous procurement methods that have developed over time for use by construction owners as shown below:
  • own forces-owner manages, design and constructs project with own forces. Owner has total control and accepts all risks;
  • design-bid-build-owner manages project, contracts out design to engineering consultants and construction to contractors. Maintains overall project control and transfers detailed engineering design/ construction tasks and risks to contractors;
  • CMAR (construction manager at risk)-owner retains a CMAR contractor in final design, who participate   in design review, estimating and value engineering and at some agreed point guarantees a fee to manage and carry out construction-owner transfers a share of control of scope through design to the CMAR contractor and all of the control and risk of the management and execution of construction;
  • D/B (design/build)-consutlant contractor completes design through preliminary engineering (approximately 30%). Owner retains D/B contractor to complete design and construction-owner retains control of scope through concept design (30%) after which control and risk of design and construction is transferred to D/B contractor;
  • design/build/operate/maintain-as for D/B plus contractor is responsible for the operations and maintenance of  the facility for a specified period-owner transfers control and risk of operations and maintenance to the contractor;
  • turnkey-owner prepare performance specifications that is bid on by turnkey contractor, who also may participate in financing the project-owner controls scope of performance specification after which control and risk of conceptual/detail design and construction transfers to turnkey contractor. 

четвъртък, 1 март 2012 г.

RISK MANAGEMENT


A few have incorporated risk management into their organizational culture and use it concept daily. Risk management is what you do to prepare for the unexpected. But how do you do prepare for the unexpected-it’s unexpected? Donald Rumsfeld’s ”Unknown unknowns” speech offers an explanation:
Reports that say that something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns-the ones we don’t know we don’t know. And if one looks throughout the history of our country and other free countries, it is the latter category that tends to be difficult one.
Rumsfeld went on to say, “The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, or vice versa.” He explained on this in a speech at NATO Headquarters in June 2002:
There’s another way to phrase that and that is that the absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. It is basically saying the same thing in a different way. Simply because you don’t have evidence that something exists does not mean that you have evidence that it does not exist. And yet almost always, when we make our threat assessments, when we look at the world, we end up basing it on the first two pieces of that puzzle, rather than all three. 

So PM's who skip the risk management process spend lots of time firefighting on problems that could have been avoided.  On even a small project we can undertake a simple 3-step risk management process, investing as little as one hour and possibly saving days of lost time. We start by identifying 2 to 4 risks than do a "quick and dirty" assessment of the risk's potential impact. Then we plan our risk response to mitigate or eliminate the risk. 

It's easy and must become a part of our project management methodology.  

понеделник, 27 февруари 2012 г.

BUILD THE SCHEDULE - TECHNIQUES

Determine if You Will Capture Actual Effort Hours
A very early decision needs to be made as to whether you will capture actual effort hours on the schedule. For instance, let’s say you estimated an activity to have 40 hours of effort and ten days duration. It is easy to know when the activity is complete so you can compare estimated duration against actual duration. However, are you going to keep track of whether the effort was actually 40 hours?
Capturing actual effort hours requires much more diligence on behalf of the project team to keep track of their time per activity and report it back accurately. There is a lot of value associated with capturing actual effort hours, including helping make future estimates more accurate. However, many (most?) organizations do not capture the actual effort hours because of the work involved. If your organization does not capture actual effort hours, it will be difficult for a project manager to enforce this discipline on one specific project. Collecting actual effort hours is usually something that is required (or not required) on an organization-wide basis.   
Be Cautious About Having too Much Slack in the Schedule
There is only one path through the schedule that does not have any slack or float. This is the critical path and it will drive the end-date. Although every other path in the schedule has some slack, there might be some concern if there is too much slack. “Too much slack” means that the other paths have many long gaps when no work needs to be done. This can lead to a long “skinny” network diagram. Of course there may not be a problem with this occurrence. However, the potential implication of having too much slack in the schedule is as follows:
  • Many resources are coming and going in and out of the project, and this can cause potential problems making sure everyone is available when needed and for as long as needed.
  • If you use the same resources off the critical path, you may have to mix in non-project work for them when they do not have project work to do. You may assign them a few weeks of project work, then find other work for them during the slack time, and then make sure they are available for you again when they have more project work assigned.   
  • There may be a lack of urgency on the part of all resources that are not on the critical pathIn other words, you have one or more resources working hard on critical path activities and end-dates, while everyone else has a lot of slack in his schedule. This can be de-motivating to the resources on the critical path.
Be Cautious About Having too Little Slack in the Schedule
Just as there is risk with having too much slack, there is also some risk associated with not having very much slack. If this happens, minor schedule slippages off the critical path could force these paths critical as well. Schedules without much slack off the critical path are more risk.
"Just Right" Slack
It would be better if the project schedule could be built in such a way that the non-critical paths were “full but not too full” so that a group of resources could be utilized more efficiently on the project.
Enter Work on Your Schedule in Chronological Order
Although schedule activities can be added in any order, it is easier to understand the schedule if you add the activities in chronological order. That is, the earlier activities should be listed first on the schedule and the later activities should be listed in the general order that they will be executed. As you enter the activities, you can also enter the dependencies, since these prior dependent activities should have already been entered.
Ten Steps

петък, 17 февруари 2012 г.

DEVELOPING THE BUSINESS CASE-PART TWO

Clients should also set a realistic and reasonable programme in the business case, which is likely to be attractive to the market place and attract competitive prices. The programme should identify all inter-dependencies as soon as possible so that the effects (delay or acceleration) can be identified immediately.

Clients should work on understanding risks, how to handle risks (including their impact on relationships) and their attitude for them before considering risk allocation, risk management and risk registers. Clients' insurers will also have a role in this aspect of a project.

Clients should operate a "live" risk management process which, in larger organizations, is facilitated by risk managers.

Clients should include a project risk register in the business case from an early stage and use it throughout the life of a project. It is widely accepted that effective risk management assists a business to achieve its objectives.

Clients should strive to develop their processes and experience in risk management.

The Client Brief should define what the client needs the project to achieve in order to deliver the success and values identified by the client's vision for the project. The Client Brief should also be anchored by the business case and should set objectives that are clearly within the envelope justified by the business case.

There can be different approaches in formulating the Client Brief. In some cases clients may have business related or functional performance related objectives and they may be open to how these may be realised. It is sometimes seen as an advantage to leave as much as possible open to allow creative or innovative solutions to be developed from those with skills or experience that clients do not posses. In such cases a "performance specification" approach should be taken.

In other cases clients may have a clear vision of how they see the project manifesting itself. They may already have completed similar projects and want many of the features of these incorporated. Then it may be more appropriate for a "detailed design" to be prepared.

сряда, 8 февруари 2012 г.

DEVELOPING THE BUSINESS CASE-PART ONE

Clients of successful construction projects have a clear vision and delivery strategy from the outset. Clients need to identify the business requirements that a proposed project will fulfill and determine how the project sits within their overall business strategy. A clear vision for a project, which states the objectives and outcomes, is critical in justifying it in terms of investment and building the business case.

The objectives and outcomes should be tested as the project progresses to check that it is still on track and that assumptions made in the business case remain valid. The gateway reviews, which some clients use to check the status of their projects at different stages of their maturity, provide the opportunity to verify and validate that a project still meets the requirements of the business case. The reviews should be used to ensure that the strategic intent and objectives are still being followed and are still valid. A method known as "system engineering" can assist greatly with this approach and is becoming more widely used by clients.

Clients should ensure that the budget provided in the business case is realistic and delivers best value. They should use whole-life costing, which involves considering planning, development, implementation, operation and decommissioning cost from the outset.

Sustainability and health and safety aspects should also be considered for a project as a whole. Value engineering is a tool which should be considered throughout a project to ensure that the most economically advantageous methods and materials are used and that the appropriate quality is being maintained. 


петък, 3 февруари 2012 г.

DESIGN BRIEF


How many times have you been in a position to fight with architects for the scope of work or design brief?
Have a look at the following article!

 Dear Mr Architect,

Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to me, I will make the final decision of what I want. Also, bring me the cost breakdown for each configuration so that I can arbitrarily pick one.

Keep in mind that the house I ultimately choose must cost less than the one I am currently living in. Make sure, however, that you correct all the deficiencies that exist in my current house (the floor of my kitchen vibrates when I walk across it, and the walls don't have nearly enough insulation in them).

As you design, also keep in mind that I want to keep yearly maintenance costs as low as possible. This should mean the incorporation of extra-cost features like aluminum, vinyl, or composite siding. (If you choose not to specify aluminum, be prepared to explain your decision in detail.)

Please take care that modern design practices and the latest materials are used in construction of the house, as I want it to be a showplace for the most up-to-date ideas and methods. Be alerted, however, that kitchen should be designed to accommodate, among other things, my 1952 Gibson refrigerator.

To insure that you are building the correct house for our entire family, make certain that you contact each of our children, and also our in-laws. My mother-in-law will have very strong feelings about how the house should be designed, since she visits us at least once a year.

Make sure that you weigh all of these options carefully and come to the right decision. I, however, retain the right to overrule any choices that you make.

Please don't bother me with small details right now. Your job is to develop the overall plans for the house: get the big picture. At this time, for example, it is not appropriate to be choosing the color of the carpet. However, keep in mind that my wife likes blue.

Also, do not worry at this time about acquiring the resources to build the house itself. Your first priority is to develop detailed plans and specifications. Once I approve these plans, however, I would expect the house to be under roof within 48 hours.

While you are designing this house specifically for me, keep in mind that sooner or later I will have to sell it to someone else. It therefore should have appeal to a wide variety of potential buyers.

Please make sure before you finalize the plans that there is a consensus of the population in my area that they like the features this house has. I advise you to run up and look at my neighbor's house he constructed last year.

We like it a great deal. It has many features that we would also like in our new home, particularly the 75-foot swimming pool. With careful engineering, I believe that you can design this into our new house without impacting the final cost.

Please prepare a complete set of blueprints. It is not necessary at this time to do the real design, since they will be used only for construction bids. Be advised, however, that you will be held accountable for any increase of construction costs as a result of later design changes.

You must be thrilled to be working on as an interesting project as this! To be able to use the latest techniques and materials and to be given such freedom in your designs is something that can't happen very often. Contact me as soon as possible with your complete ideas and plans.

PS: My wife has just told me that she disagrees with many of the instructions I've given you in this letter. As architect, it is your responsibility to resolve these differences. I have tried in the past and have been unable to accomplish this. If you can't handle this responsibility, I will have to find another architect.

PPS: Perhaps what I need is not a house at all, but a travel trailer. Please advise me as soon as possible if this is the case.

неделя, 22 януари 2012 г.

PERFORMANCE BOND-BUT NOT JAMES BOND

Performance bond will not do miracles as James Bond but it will really make your job and life less stressful especially in the current financial problems all over the world. Last week I had several talks with contractors/vendors who were very eager to receive 100 % advance payment before ordering supplies but nobody wanted to hear about presenting performance bond ( I don't mention advance payment guarantee now). And the explanations were "we are too famous, we are with a strong position on the market"! Famous, strong-GMC, Lehman Brothers were also famous and strong just 10 days before collapsing!

Why do we need performance bonds? They are hedge against potential lien claims and failure to complete the work. When do we receive them? Right after award of the contract, before starting any works.

Under a performance bond, the surety has an obligation to the client for any additional costs to complete the contract due to the contractor's failure to comply with its contract requirements. The most common reason for a contractor not completing a contract is insolvency-very likely nowadays. Therefore, sureties are interested in the contractor's financial condition as well as other qualifications before writing a performance bond. Generally, a contractor's ability to take a large contract is a function of bonding capacity, as the bonding company will only risk a slight increase over previous bond amounts.

The position of the main contractors is the same when they want a performance bond from their subcontractors. Main contractors must obtain bonds from their subs that are of the same form and not less than the guarantee that the main contractor is giving the client under the client's own bond.

The performance bonds are written in the amount of 10-100 % of the contract price (what is your experience with these percentages). 

So, it's up to you if you want to count on the contractor's record of performance and not to obtain a performance  bond or ask for  receiving a performance bond and have a trouble-free job.


сряда, 11 януари 2012 г.

VALUE ENGINEERING DEFINITION AND CONCEPT

An article about the origin of this term and how different it is from Quantity Surveying

VALUE ENGINEERING CONCEPT

The concept evolved from the work of Lawrence Miles who, in the 1940's was a purchase engineer with the General Electric Company (G. E. C). At that time, manufacturing industry in the United States was running at a maximum capacity to supply the allies with arms. There were shortages in steel, copper, bronze, nickel, bearings electrical resistors, and many other materials and components. G. E. C wished to expand its production of turbo supercharger for B24 bombers from 50 to 1000 per week.

Miles was assigned the task of purchasing the materials to permit this. Often he was unable to obtain the specific material or component specified by the designer, so Miles reasoned, "if I can not obtain the product, I must obtain an alternative which performs the same function".  Where alternatives were found they were tested and approved by the designer. Miles observed that many of the substitutes were providing equal or better performance at a lower cost and from this evolved the first definition of value engineering.


 VALUE ENGINEERING DEFINITION

Value Engineering can be defined as an organized approach to providing the necessary functions at the lowest cost. From the beginning the concept of value engineering was seen to be cost validation exercise, which did not affect the quality of the product. The straight omission of an enhancement or finish would not be considered value engineering. This led to the second definition : 

Value Engineering can be defined as an organized approach to the identification and elimination of unnecessary cost. Unnecessary cost is cost which provides neither use, nor life, nor quality, nor appearance, nor customer features.


HOW DIFFERENT IT IS FROM QUANTITY SURVEYING
The following tasks are undertaken by quantity surveying practitioners (in UK) and are not considered to form any part of value engineering:

- Producing contract documents including the bill of quantities;
- Analyzing complex projects into manageable work packages;
- Planning and controlling cost;
- Valuing work in progress and exercising cost control during construction;
- Evaluating tender bids and contractual arrangements;
- Preparing valuations for insurance purposes and advising on insurance claims; 
- Sub contract documentation;
- Settlement of final accounts;
- Advice and settlement of contractual disputes and claims;
- Advising on taxation grant and financial matters;
- Schedule resources;
- Planning and programming design and construction work;
- Use of network analysis techniques;
- Project and construction management.

The following tasks are undertaken by Quantity Surveyors, and are involved in value engineering practice:

- Preparing and administering maintenance programs;
- Forecasting expenditure flows;
- Advising on cost limits and preparing budgets;
- Advising on cash flow forecasting;
- Advising on life cycle costing;
- Cost analysis;
- Cost benefit analysis;
- Estimating;
- Evaluating alternative designs;
- Undertaking feasibility studies;
- Investment appraisal;
- Measuring and describing construction work but only in terms of cost planning.

петък, 6 януари 2012 г.

PMP CERTIFICATION HANDBOOK

For all interested in pursuing PMP certification: http://www.pmi.org/en/Certification/~/media/PDF/Certifications/pdc_pmphandbook.ashx

RAPID DELIVERY AND REVISION OF PLANS


A Happy New Year to all followers and readers of this blog. I hope it will be interesting for you to read the articles this year too. I will appreciate your comments and advises.

I want to start this year articles by using an article published in CE News on future of design and approval process which I think will reduce time frames of projects and number of claims send by contractors due to design omissions, deficiencies, and ambiguities.  



Orangevale is a small but densely populated, unincorporated community in Sacramento County, Calif. The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire district retained KASL Consulting Engineers of Citrus Heights, Calif., to design a new fire station that would serve this growing urban area in a sustainable way. KASL utilized Bentley’s computer modeling technology to prepare, analyze, visualize, and rapidly revise the site/civil design.
Project
Metro Fire Station No. 29 stormwater management, Orangevale, Calif.

Civil engineer

KASL Consulting Engineers

Product application

Bentley Systems’ CivilStorm and InRoads software allow quick analysis and design of sustainable site stormwater system.
Completed in early 2009 at a capital cost of $4.5 million, Metro Fire Station No. 29 is a 12,800-square-foot, single-story fire station with enough paved area for three drive-through bays and a back-in bay for the battalion chief. The facility also features a standby generator, truck wash building, and plenty of paved parking.
The project’s most significant design challenge was the requirement to limit stormwater runoff from the site to pre-development levels. The rapid shedding of stormwater by new impermeable areas is a factor common to all urban development projects. But at this site, the community required sustainable stormwater control and low-impact development methods to be used. No heavy metals, oils, or other contaminants could be allowed to enter the stormwater drainage system. In addition, the stormwater management structures had to be aesthetically pleasing and fit into the landscaping plans.
KASL knew that sophisticated tools and techniques were needed to balance these many requirements. The firm decided to deploy civil information modeling (CIM) software from Bentley to efficiently create and change the site designs. “This was a pilot project for us. We have been producing digital terrain models and 3D surface models for a while, of course. But this time, we started to utilize civil information models to hydraulically design and produce our 2D plan and profiles for the site’s underground utilities,” explained KASL Principal Derek Rayner, P.E. “This worked very well, even though many of our partners on this project were a little behind the curve on the use of 3D models.”
Rayner found that using the CIM models to drive design and plan production resulted in substantial cost savings for the client, mainly in reduced design fees. “One major benefit is when changes are required, the tools allow for a quick remedy without undue additional cost,” he said. “Modeling also provides the client with a better picture of the finished product prior to its being built.”
KASL used CivilStorm to dynamically design and analyze all stormwater structures, including a detention pond, outlet, and other utilities. Accurately modeling every aspect of the stormwater system, CivilStorm performed a full range of analysis necessary for verifying hydraulic capacity and demonstrating stormwater compliance.
KASL used CivilStorm to perform a full range of analysis necessary for verifying hydraulic capacity and demonstrating stormwater compliance.
CivilStorm was used in conjunction with InRoads to develop landscape contours, determine earthwork quantities, produce the design, and model the underground utilities in 3D. The resulting stormwater design was sophisticated and sustainable, including grassy swales used as bio-filters, mechanical filters for stormwater runoff from pavement, and an on-site detention pond to reduce peak flows.
Complex design geometry
The powerful regression analysis features in InRoads, combined with its element design capability, enable users to resolve complex design geometry efficiently and accurately in accordance with unique engineering design criteria. These played an important role in this project due to its various design challenges.

For example, the truck wash building presented some unique problems. Since by design the runoff water from the trucks was likely to be especially high in contaminants, the water needed to be routed directly to the sanitary sewer system to collect and treat for toxins before water ended up in the Sacramento River. On the other hand, designers did not want to overburden the sanitary sewer system with relatively clean rainwater. So drains in the truck wash building lead to the sanitary sewer system, and an all-weather cover built tall enough to accommodate ladder trucks routes rainfall to the stormwater system.
Site aesthetics posed another challenge to designers. Though just a single-story building, the fire station is nearly 30 feet high. Nearby residents wanted the visual impact of the station reduced. Also, KASL worked under a mandate to retain as many native oak trees as possible. Since existing above and below ground utilities passing through the site needed to be rerouted and a new 12-inch water main for Orange Vale Water Company had to be brought in, designers needed to find ways to move a lot of earth without destroying trees or making the fire station too prominent.
“There was a residential subdivision behind the new fire station site,” Rayner explained. “The design team had to consider the view from that area. We were able to use the digital terrain model and a SketchUp model from the architect to visualize the roofline appearance, and ended up going with a design that lowered the finished floor elevation considerably. Unfortunately, this meant that we ended up exporting quite a bit of soil, which we’re usually able to avoid when balancing the earthwork on our projects’ sites by comparing pre- and post-developed surface models (digital terrain models). But it was the right solution for this project.”
The KASL team developed the digital terrain model in InRoads and automatically generated design profiles with the utilities database. Utility interferences were detected and resolved with automatic tools from InRoads storm and sanitary tools. Since the software enabled rapid changes and revisions, the team was able to compare and contrast numerous utility designs and site geometries. To minimize tree loss — about half of the lot’s trees were ultimately preserved — and viewscape impact, KASL reconfigured historic drainage patterns, used cut slopes and retaining walls to lower the building pad, and excavated significant amounts of soil. Stormwater structures were also designed and placed with an eye to managing appearances.
Visualization communicates design aesthetics
To verify conclusions and communicate with the public, KASL imported its digital terrain model (surface models) into Google Earth and referenced in a 3D SketchUp model of the building provided by the architect. This combined site work, surrounding real-world information, and the proposed building into one visualization.

KASL combined site work, surrounding real-world information, and the proposed building into one visualization.
Together with ProjectWise and 3D PDF files, visualization proved to be an effective way to communicate rapidly developing information with all stakeholders. ProjectWise gives InRoads users the security to store, distribute, track, and manage InRoads data and models across unlimited users, offices, project team members, and locations. Rayner said that one enormous benefit of a model-based design approach is the assurance it gives designers.
“The tools give design engineers greater confidence. We know that changes are being captured in the model database and will automatically be reflected in all the plans.” Rayner added that another major source of savings resulting from the use of the model was reduced change orders during construction. “Because people are looking at a model when giving approvals, and because the plans are always up to date, there are far fewer surprises once site work begins.”
Once this relatively small project was completed, Rayner noted that KASL began to use model-based design routinely. “This project convinced us that this is the way to go. It saves errors and omissions, it automates and speeds up plan production, and now that we’re applying it on bigger jobs, we’re seeing far fewer design errors and more production out of our design staff.”
In fact, the only challenge that KASL is facing with 3D modeling is that customers are still relatively unfamiliar with it. “It’s fascinating where the technology is going. But not all of our clients and consultants appreciate it, and consequently it’s not a typical request on all our projects. We have to do some evangelizing,” concluded Rayner. “But it’s happening — more people are working with building information modeling, and as owners start to see the advantages of having CIM (site) models included with their BIM models for operating their facilities, they’ll start to demand it.”