building construction

Building construction is the process of adding structure to real property. The vast majority of building construction projects are small renovations, such as addition of a room, or renovation of a bathroom. Often, the owner of the property acts as laborer, paymaster, and design team for the entire project. However, all building construction projects include some elements in common - design, financial, and legal considerations. Many projects of varying sizes reach undesirable end results, such as structural collapse, cost overruns, and/or litigatios reason, those with experience in the field make detailed plans and maintain careful oversight during the project to ensure a positive outcome.
Building construction is procured privately or publicly utilizing various delivery methodologies, including hard bid, negotiated price, traditional, management contracting, construction management-at-risk, design & build and design-build bridging.
The Main systems of Procurement are:-
Procurement describes the merging of activities undertaken by the client to obtain a building. There are many different methods of construction procurement, however the three main types are: -
1 – Traditional 2 – Design and Build 3 – Management Contracting
Traditional
This is the most common method of construction procurement; is well established and recognised throughout. Here, the Architect or Building Surveyor usually acts as the project Manager. His or her role will be to administer the contract, prepare the specification, tender the works and manage the works from inception to completion. There are direct contractual links between the client and the main contractor. Any subcontractor will have a direct contractual relationship with the main contractor. There is no direct contract with the client. This means there is only one point of contact on the contractual side and a single point of responsibility.
Design and Build
This is probably the second most common method of construction procurement and one that can include an entire completed package such as fixtures and fittings and equipment where necessary, to produce a completed fully functional building. In some cases, the Design and Build (D & B) package can also include to find the site, arranging funding and applying for all necessary statutory consents.
The client will produce a list of ‘clients requirements’ for a project, for which the D & B contractor will translate into a set of ‘contactors proposals’. The latter will then be altered and adapted until the client is satisfied that the D & B contractor knows exactly what the client wants from his or her completed building.
D & B is usually used for less complicated projects such as office or industrial buildings, although it has been known to have been used successfully on some more complicated projects.
The advantages D & B has over some other methods of construction procurement is that it can lead to decrease design and construction costs and a reduction in the overall project time. Projects procured by this method have a better chance of being completed on time and within budget.
However disadvantages often include blandness of a design, client’s expectations not being met, and poorer technical ability of the D & B contractor and, in some cases, inflexibility of the design.
The client has a direct contractual relationship with the D & B contractor but can also have a direct contractual relationship with the architectural if input is required in this regard as an additional service.
Management Procurement Systems
Here, unlike the other two roles briefly described above, the client plays an active role in the procurement system by entering into separate contracts with the Designer, the Construction Manager and individual work contractors. The client takes on the active roles of managing all these separate contracts, ensuring that they all work smoothly and effectively together. Because the client is involved in key decision making processes he or she must retain complete control over the works at all times. Sometimes a Project Manager is employed to aid the client.
Management procurement systems are often used to speed up the procurement processes, allow the client greater flexibility in design variation throughout the contract, the ability to appoint individual work contractors, separate contractual responsibility on each individual throughout the contract and a greater client control.