My Construction Project Is In Trouble – Now What? (Part 1)
By SSP Architects,
This is the first of a two-part blog series that outlines common problems in construction projects. In this part (Part 1) we highlight trends facing the design/construction industry and the challenges they present to building owners who are trying to advance their projects.
In Part 2, we discuss what it means to be “in trouble” when handling a construction project and the best practices you can follow to minimize your chances of risks and maximize your chances of building success. While some items and examples apply to public sector projects, the principles hold true regardless of the project type. (i.e public or commercial)
Trends and Challenges in Construction and Design
Picture this: It’s two weeks before kids are scheduled to arrive at school, and the building itself is a mess. The construction project that has been planned out for months and was supposed to be done two weeks ago, still has mechanical units not set, connected, or let alone running. You also notice that the ceilings still have not been installed, there are wires all over, there is a leak in the roof and the dust? It. Is. Everywhere. You ask yourself, how will this ever be ready in time?
Unfortunately, construction issues like this are happening more frequently. By some measures, two-thirds of facility construction projects run into troubles like these with aspects such as scope, schedule, or cost. As a facility owner, you have to ask yourself what can you do to maximize your chances of building success? How do you know when you are in trouble before it’s too late? And once there, how do you get the work back on track?
To address these problems in construction, we must first understand the trends and challenges that building owners/managers, design professionals, and contractors are facing. See below for a list of common trends and challenges.
Low-Bid Format
For public sector projects in New Jersey, building owners are forced to award construction projects to the “lowest responsive bidder”. Even if the contractor who placed the bid has an established reputation of poor quality, pushing change orders, and/or mismanaged schedules. No matter what they’re known for, the contractor must be awarded the project, as long as their credentials and paperwork are in order.
This presents a few problems in the construction process. The first being an uneasiness in whether you can or cannot trust the bidder on a personal level. The second being the competitive nature it produces, considering the process encourages some bidders to undercut their pricing, hoping to make up the difference in change orders, strong-arming subcontractors/vendors, or circumventing prevailing wage requirements. Even when a bidder makes a legitimate error in their pricing, they will often take the job anyway, rather than risk loss of a project.
Reduced Construction Timelines
In private sector projects, where production and profits are tied to the completion of a project, a best practice to follow is to minimize chances of downtime. However, as time evolves, so do project timelines which have been found to be shortened more and more, further posing the challenge of not meeting set expectations and having to develop during operational hours or seasons, which can conflict with communal productivity.
Take for example, a school renovation or a capital improvement project where development is set to begin at the start of summer and predicated to finish towards the end of it. As summer breaks become shorter, and school facilities begin to implement more year-round programs for athletic and academic communities, there poses the challenge of pressuring contractors and workers to compress their original bidding and material timelines so function and productivity are not disrupted. A result which can create a perfect storm of occupancy failures that can prove to be far more costly that the initial timeline budget.
For instance, if a project cannot be bid or awarded until April (because that is when the annual budget is approved) that leaves little time for contractors to procure the necessary materials, especially long-lead items, before the building is ready for work to begin. The resulting compression eliminates crucial quality control checkpoints and proper commissioning procedures, further guaranteeing that preventable issues will emerge in the months following project completion.
Labor and Material Availability
Before the great recession, it was easier to secure products because manufacturers maintained a stock of standard materials, equipment, and fixtures. Today however, many manufacturers have shifted closer to a “made to order” approach to minimize their risk. An approach that has added a level of difficulty to forecasting a set amount of products that does not exceeded planned budgets while still meeting demand.
Add to this, the fact that construction work across the country is at record high levels. Manufacturers of certain products have trouble keeping up with the high demand, meaning lead times for securing products are being extended. (At the time of this writing, production for aluminum windows, for example, has extended to 16-20 weeks from the approval of shop drawings.)
Of course, with the high rate of construction work comes a high demand for labor. Record low unemployment, combined with a shortage of skilled labor and diminishing support for vocational education, equates to additional problems in construction with extra hurdles in time, cost, and quality of work.
More Complicated Systems and Regulations
Contractors and even design professionals can easily get use to certain code and engineering requirements, without realizing construction codes have changed. Just because they may follow a “that’s the way we have always done it” stance, it doesn’t mean it meets the current codes, best practices, or the specific goals of a project. Ignoring these changes in coding systems and regulations could be the domino that sets all operational functions falling.
On top of that, mechanical, lighting, and even plumbing systems are becoming more complicated to manage and control, as these systems are updated to meet current energy codes and sustainability goals. This is one of the relatively newer problems in construction as design, fabrication, installation, and programming for these systems require a higher level of skill than previously needed.
Projects seeking certification in a sustainability program such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) or the Living Building Challenge will require an even higher degree of design and construction compliance. In many of these programs, the minimum requirements have been raised in an effort to challenge the market and keep the industry moving toward higher levels of sustainability. This often requires contractors and design professionals to produce more creative design solutions, a more integrative design process, and more documentation to prove compliance.
Delay Tactic Mentality
Unfortunately, there are contractors who purposely try to slow down the project to give them more time or a reason to seek additional compensation. This challenge typically looks like a contractor trying to shift risk and place blame on the owner and architect. The tactics involve include: trying to overwhelm the architect with frequent and repeated requests for information (even when information is already provided in the construction documents) or changing order proposals (for work that is already in the contract). This detracts attention away from advancing the project.
It is also common to submit a large quantity of submittals and shop drawings at once, often way ahead of when the information is required. With standard contracts, the design team is generally allowed 10-15 working days to review submittals (depending on engineering/consultant review is also required), so when 50+ submittals are sent in at once, the contractor can start to claim “delay” if they are not reviewed and approved within that timeframe.
Being aware of these challenges in construction is critical to understanding how to properly prepare design documentation for bidding and construction. To understand when your construction project may be in trouble and what best practices you should be aware of when trying to maximize the success of a construction project, explore part 2 of this blog series.
Avoid These Common Construction Challenges With SSP Architects
From design issues to project delays, SSP Architects has the expertise to tackle the toughest of construction challenges. If your current construction project is delayed or you need facility guidance, our dedicated construction architects are here to guide you through every step. Contact us to learn more today