Construction Elements -- The Good

OK, last week we looked at a construction project being set up for failure.  This week, we’ll take a look at a construction project established using what consultants call “best practices”.  As a reminder, we’re talking about projects in the $1 to $20M range.

It’s real simple…

1. Hire the best construction advisor you can find
2. Stick around for the design phase
3. Add 20% to the project budget for contingencies
4. Go travel the world, or work on something else
5. Come back to a finished project

That’s it!

Now I know you do-it-yourselfers are curious, so here’s a little insight on what will be going on under the covers of your soon-to-be-successful project.

Your construction advisor will recommend a primary construction manager.  These two will work together to establish the project team.  If you will be financing, they will help you work with the bank.  They’ll hook you up with a good construction attorney.  And since construction works best when everyone knows and trusts everyone else, they’ll identify a contractor and design team that has worked together before.  This means that there will be no bidding; the cost of your project will be negotiated.  This gets the project team, especially the GC, off on the right foot.  That’s as opposed to your GC trying to figure from the outset how he’s going to get well after taking a job he bid for next to nothing (get well strategy = change orders).   This strategy also provides the best shot at optimum project quality and schedule performance.

They’ll pick a competent design team.  This means the design team will be very good at five things:  programming, conceptual design, design development, construction drawings, and construction administration.  Programming is extracting from you (the client) what it is you want.  Conceptual design translates the program into something visual for the client to see.  Design development turns the concept into something that can be built.  Construction documents are the plans required by the building department to be evaluated for permit, and by the contractor for construction.  Finally, construction administration addresses the questions that develop during the pre-construction phase, evaluates submittals presented by the contractor, and sometimes participates in the payment application review process. 

Best practices also means the design team takes advantage of the latest design technology, which in this case is BIM.  BIM is an acronym for Building Information Modeling.  BIM design software produces a model that your client can fly around, and walk through.  As important as that is, BIM also provides the ability to interactively “fit check” all aspects of a project in the design stage.  This largely eliminates unanticipated conflicts or “clashes” between the structure of your building and its various systems, including mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire sprinkler, for example.  And beyond that, BIM provides an intelligent model containing equipment details that can be used as a starting point and basis for an ongoing maintenance management system for your building.

Your contractor will use a collaborative project management system to help make your project run smoothly.  He’ll use laser scanning to verify building dimensions, and to record otherwise buried information (like post-tension cable locations).  He’ll also add as-built information to the BIM model, so when it gets passed along to your maintenance provider, it will be as complete as possible.

There are other things your construction advisor and construction manager will do for you that you’ll never see.  All you’ll know is that you got a quality project, delivered on time, and at a reasonable price.  And that’s the name of the game.