Maintaining the Vision

There was a time when institutions hired architects to design projects, then sought bids, and selected a contractor who then built the project. Today, it’s rarely done that way. There are many reasons for this; complex permitting, compressed schedules, changes in construction delivery, and an increasing number of non-construction, technical components necessary for the occupation of most projects.

Most institutional projects today are carried out by a team that involves an architect and a construction manager along with other consultants, to assess and manage the risks of a project from the start through the completion of the process. Below is a description of the typical phases of a project’s delivery.

Feasibility

The goal of the feasibility study is to reconcile the program, site, and budget. In many ways, this is the most critical stage of the project, and getting this right can mean the success or failure of a project.  It is likely in the early stages of a project that there is a considerable mismatch in expectations associated with the items mentioned above. Taking the time to reach a consensus around these is the key to avoiding lost time and unnecessary re-design costs later.  A brief description of these elements is as follows:

Program

The program is not just a list of all the elements that need to go into a project, the square footage, the technical requirements, etc. It should constitute a complete assessment of the institutional requirements for the project, how it relates to the overall mission of the institution, what will define success for the project, what elements are essential and whichmight be achieved by other means say, the “nice to have elements.” It should also recognize what other “enabling projects” may be necessary before this project can be undertaken, for example the relocation and reconstruction of other facilities in order to make way for the new project.

Site

The site can mean many things from a singular location where the project is to occur to the overall context in which it must be delivered.  This may include the relationship to adjacent or dependent infrastructure, as well as property rights, leasing obligations, licensing and other factors affecting the realization of the program.

Budget

The budget is one of the most elusive and fraught-ridden aspects of a feasibility study.  This is partly due to the different interests involved.  Construction participants are reluctant to advance numbers in the absence of a design. Architects and engineers are concentrating on achieving the program objectives and are less focused on the cost. Finally, owners are often provided with incomplete information from other projects that do not pertain to the actual circumstances of their project.

One of the best ways to handle this aspect of the feasibility study is to recognize that a budget based on this “pre-design” phase should be a range, not a fixed number.  Some aspects of the program can be considered fixed and essential, and others optional based on further study.  With a proper budget contingency for unknowns, this range can be narrowed as technical due diligence occurs and real costs can be verified.  The owner’s active participation in this evolving trade-off process is crucial to the credibility of any project budget.

Design

If all of the objectives above have been achieved in the feasibility study, the next phase is design.  While the Feasibility Study tested design ideas, these ideas must now be explored more thoroughly to verify and detail the technical, constructability and cost issues associated with them.  The traditional process follows these phases:

Schematic Design

In this phase design and engineering move from a more illustrative and narrative description to a more detailed description.  One of the primary goals of this phase is to integrate the engineering assumptions into the overall architectural design (e.g. where are boilers and chillers located; how is HVAC delivered to the space).  This phase, as in all phases is accompanied by a cost estimate, and any adjustments to ensure the project remains in budget are made at this time.

Design Development

In this phase both the architecture and the engineering are thoroughly described and dimensioned and an outline specification of materials and standards is developed.  Furniture and equipment layouts are explored in detail to ensure that there is enough infrastructure to support the various non-construction aspects of the project (audio-visual, information technology, movable and special installations, etc.). Once again, a complete cost estimate and reconciliation with the budget is performed.

Construction Documents

In this phase the actual documents which form the basis of the construction contract are developed. If there is a construction manager involved, this phase is heavily influenced by the input of the construction manager into the latest, best practices in construction as well as input into how design decisions can maximize the value of construction dollars both in the bidding and construction process.

Construction

As mentioned earlier, construction often starts before the design process is complete. For example, for schedule purposes it may be necessary to begin some elements, say foundations, utility work, or enabling projects, before completion of all the design documents. The essential element of the construction phase is that entities are now contracted to carry out the work, and changes to that work, which are often inevitable, come at a cost. In addition, once parts of the scope are committed to, so is the budget for those components of the design, leaving less latitude for the remaining budget for the project.

Progress

Keeping a project on schedule is critical. As they say, “time is money,” and in the case of construction, delays can become very expensive. This is primarily due to the fact that an enormous number of resources have been marshaled to undertake a project and, to use another cliché, “the meter is running” for all of them. Even if no progress is made on the construction itself, there are daily expenses to be paid. This area, more than anything else, becomes the basis for most litigation in construction.

Change Orders

Change orders are an inevitable part of the construction process. Sometimes conditions on the site are different than expected. Sometimes there is a conflict between the various technical aspects of the project that requires a change. Sometimes a building official may insist on something due to an adverse interpretation of the building code. While no one likes to acknowledge change orders, surprisingly even the contractor, speedy resolution of them is essential to avoid the risks described in the discussion of progress above. The best practice here is to carry a change order contingency as part of the overall budget.

Payments

Payments are best described as an acknowledgment that the work that is being billed for is in fact complete. Just as important, if not more important, is that the remaining work can be completed under the terms of the original contract. Hence the payment process becomes a negotiation between owner and contractor to determine the fair representation of what work is complete. It is not uncommon that an owner has overpaid for the work in place, and this makes them very vulnerable to potential disputes in the future. The best way to prevent this is to focus not only on the cost of the work in place, but on the cost to complete the remaining work on the project. If those two do not align, there is a problem in the current request for payment.

Completion and Closeout

Completion is an enormously difficult part of any project, and most project completions enter a kind of half-life schedule where things like a punch list (all the little incomplete items) are not completed for up to a year afterwards. After that, there may be items to be attended to under the various warranties that accompany a project, long after the project has been occupied.

Maintaining a Vision

There are numerous participants in this process and the larger the project, the more participants. There are program consultants, permitting consultants, environmental consultants, IT consultants, and independent testing agencies. The list goes on. And that doesn’t even include that architect, and all their consultants and engineers, or the general contractor and their key subcontractors. In addition, at each phase of the project, due to areas of specialization and expertise, the key players and sometimes the principals change. The people in the room at the end of a project are usually entirely different that the people in the room at the beginning of the project, and sometimes that institution’s own participants have changed, if the project drags on for a few years.

Maintaining a vision is key therefore, to make the thousands of decisions necessary to bring a project to fruition. Having continuity in the form of a professional staff member, an owner’s project manager or advisor, who understands not only the workings of all the elements of the project, but just as importantly, has a clear understanding of the project’s priorities, and has the regular contact with and full support of the institution’s leadership, is the best way to ensure success.