Session 11CONS Construction Process

“You guys don’t have time.” (Charles Berliner)

What forms the foundation for successful construction?

•Excellent Communication

•Excellent Organization

Communication

• It is important to understand what the role of all team members are in the project

• Establish leadership roles in all areas of design, construction and house operation

Communication

• Facilitate regular dialogue between team members

Communication

• Successful teams will have a constant flow of information between all team members

Organization

• A team that communicates well should also have a strong sense of organization

• All phases of building design and construction should be appropriately planned, scheduled and documented

• The development of a master project schedule is essential to completing a project properly, on time and on budget

• All core team members should have involvement in creating project schedules, and all involved with the project should be aware of and have easy access to schedules

• Hold regular meetings to discuss schedules, both to ensure that scheduled tasks are being attended to, and to assess whether any modifications need to be made to the schedule.

Scheduling

• Schedules are a great way to unify all aspects of design and construction in one location

Scheduling

• Organization is key to maintaining control over a project

• Weekly team-wide meetings can be arranged to discuss goals for the upcoming week, clarify the construction schedule, and offer an opportunity to bring up potential impending construction issues

Scheduling

• Update schedules often to stay relevant to construction

• Scheduled weekly meetings at the construction site offer an opportunity to discuss progress

Scheduling

• Immersion in the construction process

• It is important to play an active role in managing the construction process

• Being involved on the construction site will help to assure that the project is being built according to the design intent

• Team communication with contractors helps to foster a mutual understanding of design intent versus constructability

• Being involved in the construction process is a great educational experience that cannot be replicated in a classroom setting

Construction Process

• The more completely teams understand their projects, the more controlled the construction process will be

• An effective way to become familiar with the project is to have individual team members become “experts” in certain areas of construction.

• Experts can take additional leadership role during their phase of construction

• Constant team communication will also allow team members to become more aware of the relationships between different building divisions

Construction Process

• Opportunity to understand and appreciate the process of building

Construction Process

• Understand all of the components that make up a building

• Observe and document these components as they are added

Construction Process

• Manage the proper sequencing of phases of construction to ensure nonstop work and avoid backtracking

Construction Process

• In order to help maintain order during construction, certain team members should focus on coordinating and managing conflicts.

• These team members should have a strong working knowledge of all components of the house, in addition to having good communication skills and construction knowledge

Documentation

• Utilize construction documents and BIM model to resolve conflicts before they arise during construction

• Group redlining sessions for construction documents, project manual and shop drawings are an opportunity for team members of different disciplines to identify and solve problems together

• It is important for teams to critically analyze shop drawings in comparison to their own construction documents, as shop drawings often form the final set of documents used in the assembly of a building

Documentation - BIM

• Utilize BIM modeling to streamline the construction process

• Instead of encountering conflicts in the field, discover and resolve them through the use of the 3D model

Documentation – Construction Documents

• Contractors will build based on how they interpret the documents

• Specificity and precision in the document set will minimize guesswork during construction

• Periodic reviews of documents with contractors will serve to clarify design and build intent

Documentation – Shop Drawings

Review

• Final walkthroughs of a completed project should include the same level of organization and communication that occurred during the rest of the construction process.

• Organize all field documentation so that it can easily be referenced

• All aspects of the project should be cross-referenced with all schedules, documentation and drawings to ensure that the project was built according to the design