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2 provides some information as to the general business of construction
projects..
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The construction industry accounts for approximately 5% of the U.S. GDP. However, it
should not be viewed as a large, monolithic, industry. It is made up of many
businesses and different types of construction.
One major way of looking at the construction industry is to look at the different types
of construction that make up this industry. Often times the standards of how things
are done vary among these different types of construction, and businesses tend to
specialize in a one or two of the construction types. Therefore, when a person, or a
business, transitions from one type of construction to another, care must be taken to
learn the “customs and traditions” of that particular sector of the construction
industry. These customs and traditions will form the standards to which participants
in that sector will be held to.
The construction industry is also heavily regulated. The most obvious regulations are
in the form of Building Codes, but there are other regulations that may apply to a
project. The applicable regulations for a project are determined by a number of
factors: the project type, location, and Owner, to name a few considerations.
There are a variety of Project Delivery Systems that are used in the construction
industry. The delivery type determines the contractual relationships among the
parties, their respective responsibilities and when each party enters the design and
construction process.
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As mentioned in Chapter 1, there is typically a long process through which
construction projects are designed, built and occupied. The exact nature of this
process may vary according to delivery type, project type and owner, but there will
always be a sequence of activities which must be followed, from project inception to
completion and ultimate occupancy and use by the owner.
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The documents that legally describe the responsibilities of the builder of a
construction project are referred to as the Contract Documents. These Contract
Documents are prepared by the project’s Designers, the Owner, the Construction
Manager (if there is one on the project) as well as other Owner consultants. The
Contract Documents consist of the following:
• The Agreement‐The formal contract which legally bind the parties to the contract.
• General and Supplementary Conditions‐These relate to the “business” aspects of a
construction project: billings, change orders, submittals. The Supplementary
Conditions “fine tune” the General Conditions to the requirements of a specific
project. For example, an existing building undergoing renovations may need the
work to be done while the building is occupied and in use. How this is done, in
phases, during off‐hours, etc., would be detailed in the Supplementary Conditions.
• Drawings‐This is the graphic representation of the project. The drawings show the
size and configuration of the project and the location of its various elements.
These are the “pictures which are better than a thousand words”.
• Specifications‐But there are also words. The specifications are the written
documents which describe the products and materials to be used in the project.
• Miscellaneous Documents‐A number of other documents may also be required
under the contract.
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The drawings and the specifications are the Contract Documents that primarily
describe the physical characteristics of the project that is to be built. The drawings
and specifications are prepared by the project’s designers; Architect(s), Engineer(s)
and other consultants. Together the drawings and specifications create what is
referred to as the “design intent”, what the designers want the builders to build. The
builders will look to the drawings and specifications to determine what they are
legally obligated to build. It is therefore very important that the drawings and
specifications be complete, correct and correlate with each other. However, there is
no such thing as a perfect set of drawings and specifications. For a variety of reasons
there always seem to be errors, duplications, omissions and discrepancies. Every
effort should be made to minimize these mistakes, but there will never be a 100%
correct set of drawings and specifications. When problems in these documents arise
they need to be recognized and resolved quickly. The exact way this is done will vary
according to delivery method and contract type used for a particular project. The
most successful projects are those in which all of the participants are working
together in a team effort.
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The primary function of the builder, the contractor, is to determine the “methods and
means” of the project‐how it is going to be physically built. There are also a number
of organizational functions required to run the business itself; marketing, basic
operations and administration. The construction of a project is typically a team effort.
There is usually a General Contract that the Owner contracts with to build the
project. This General Contractor has the legal responsibility to complete the project in
accordance with the requirements of the Contract Documents. The General
Contractor may physically build some portions of the project, but they rarely build all
portions‐in some projects the General Contractor does not actually build any portion
of the project. Most of the physical construction is done by subcontractors, who have
contracts with the general contractor to build specific portions of the project. These
subcontractors are specialist; electricians, plumbers, painters, etc. In a manner similar
to the relationship between the Architect and their consultants, the General
Contractor is the generalist which has a vision of the overall project and they try to
coordinate all of the subcontractors, who are focused on their specific portions of the
work.
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An important skill that contractors and subcontractors must develop is to be able to
examine the specifications and drawings, to determine what ultimately needs to be
built, and then be able to accurately visualize the process by which the project will be
built. Much of what is require to build a project is not shown on the drawings. For
example, the formwork required to build a concrete wall will not be shown in the
drawings. The finished concrete wall will be shown in the drawings and the
specifications will detail the technical requirements for formwork‐the materials to be
used, any standards that apply to its construction. But the actual formwork will not
be shown. The contractor or subcontractor that will do this work will have to visualize
what will be required to provide the formwork. To be able to properly visualize the
methods and means of a project requires a strong technical knowledge, but also an
ability to understand the drawings. To properly understand the drawings one must be
able to translate and combine the information shown in each of the separate
drawings into a three‐dimensional concept that is seen at the correct scale.
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