Constructability+Analysis

=**Values/Goals to the Project**=


 * 1) Financial Success - Various service levels to fit need (online)
 * 2) On Schedule - Opening on June, 9 2009 (online)
 * 3) High-Quality Work - Well-appointed apartments (online)
 * 4) Safety - Concern for others (online)
 * 5) Sense of Community - 48 apartment community (online)

=Documentation=

**Descriptive Title**
To keep the project within good financial health including keeping material and labor costs low as well as keeping the overall project under budget.

**Detailed Description**
Financial stability and health are both key components to the success of the project. Performing continually updated budgeting throughout the construction process allows for checks on unaccounted for changes in the project budget. The budgeting process will begin with the conceptual estimate and continue through the analysis and comparison of the overall actual costs with the submitted bid. Weekly updates will be necessary for the project budget as well as full monthly reports on budget. If a project budget is not continually updated throughout the duration of the project items such as hidden costs may show up that were not originally accounted for. In order to maintain enough funding to keep the project going while still pending payment from the owner, there will be an open line of credit available through our local lender. In addition to the reports and the open line of credit continual cost saving items will be analyzed upon each activity by all parties involved. For the subcontractors the main concern is for bids to be accurate and to minimize change orders required that will affect any costs. All subcontractors will be paid within 30 days of completion of work and submission of pay request forms.

**Discipline/Work Area Category**
The financial health and budget of the project is everyone’s concern. While it is the primary job of the estimators and project manager to implement the original bid, the supervisors and subcontractors must maintain close observation of costs and payments because they are the first individuals to know the actual cost of items. While all disciplines are affected by the budget, the actual laborers need not be as concerned as management.

**Pertinent Project Phase**
The impacts and concerns of the financial health of the project and budget should be in affect from early in the bidding process up to even past project completion. Project finances start with the conceptual budget, but appear with the general contractor when bids are due and eventually awarded. A continual analysis of this financial health is necessary throughout the project. After project completion an analysis comparing the actual project costs with the initial bid is to be conducted. Also, any and all change orders must have a proper financial evaluation at the time of approval or denial with regards to any areas affected by the change order.

**Primary Impacts on Project**
The primary impacts of financial health and budget on this project are on quality, schedule, safety, and overall costs and profits. The financial portion of the project decides in large part on the quality of materials and labor used on portions of the project. Also, the finances of the project and the budget are the actual and projected costs which determine the actual profit made on the project. Also the financial budget is a small part in determining what kinds of safety precautions are taken on different activities.

**Personal Contacts for More Information**
The responsible person for onsite cost updates is our Superintendent Brian Norby: He can be contacted by phone at: 414-123-4568 For overall project budget information, please contact our Senior Project Manager Joel Vande Boom by phone at: 414-123-4570 For general information or questions the overall project or company, please contact our Home Office by phone at: 414-123-4500.

**Referenced Manufacturer’s Literature**
[]

Descriptive title
Scheduling is the process of organizing and determining the order of activities needed to complete the project.

Detailed Description
The goal of scheduling is to provide a project road map for the project to follow. In order for this to work you have to facilitate efficient communication among all members of the construction team. By using resources like scheduling software, online resources, email, or even phone calls you can more effectively manage the schedule. These tools also help identify problems early so you have an opportunity to fix or correct the problem before it affects the schedule. Controlling the schedule is as much a skill as making the schedule. When you have a schedule it allows you to make many important decisions about the project. 

Discipline/Work Area Category
Scheduling encompasses all disciplines and work categories. The scheduler is responsible for on-site coordination, adequate work space is available for subs, dependency on other trades, work-flow, and a productive work environment. 

Pertinent Project Phase
The most pertinent project phase would be the construction phase. Although scheduling is used for pre-construction as well it is not as heavily used as it is in the construction phase. 

Primary Impacts on Project
The primary impacts are quality, cost, time, and safety. The schedule affects quality when there is not enough time allotted for a specific trade, such as masonry, to perform their work to the highest level. This requires them to speed up and most likely their quality will suffer because of it. Scheduling may have one of the biggest impacts on the cost and time of the project. It is directly linked with the time of the project. If your schedule is not accurate and you have to move things back this affects the time directly but it also affects the cost. In having to reschedule activities and stop work until materials arrive money is lost. Also, if the project does not get delivered on time there will be penalties levied on you by the owner. If your site is not properly coordinated or managed safety can become an issue as well. 

Personal Contacts for More Information
 The responsible person project scheduling is our Project Manger: Alex Mejac and can be contacted at phone number 414-123-4570.  The responsible person for implementing the schedule is our Superintendent Head: Adam Messing and can be contacted at phone number 414-123-4568.

Referenced Manufacturers Literature
 []  [|http://www.meridiansystems.com/products/prolog/construction-project-management.asp]

Descriptive Title
Improving quality of self-performed work done by our employees.

Detailed Description
The quality of self-performed work done by our employees would be accomplished by improving the use of equipment and tools used. There would be three ways of improving the quality of work performed: increasing training opportunities for our employees for the tools and equipment they use, keeping our equipment and tools in satisfactory condition, and providing our employees with the latest and most efficient tools for the job they are performing.The tools that will be updated to keep our employees with the most efficient include REED concrete pumps, CROWN power buggies, Milwaukee power tools.

Discipline/Work Area Category
The area of work that would be affected on this project would be our self-performed portion of the work. The areas that we are going to be self-performing on this job include, Cast-in-place concrete operations, Masonry, and Carpentry. The disciplines include numerous divisions in the 200 4 CSI MasterFormat. Some of the divisions that are included in the work area are Division 3 Concrete, Division 4 Masonry, Division 6 Wood, Plastics, and Composites, Division 7 Thermal and Moisture Protection, Division 8 Openings, and Division 9 Finishes. Division 3 and 4 are self-explanatory for the concrete and masonry work but the remaining divisions 6 through 9 have to do with the carpentry work our own trades will be performing.

Pertinent Project Phase
The pertinent project phase that would be affected mostly by this constructability practice would be the actual construction of the project. Of course, other phases such as any pre-construction services or during bidding would be affected by this constructablity analysis. The actual construction of the project would be affected directly by increased quality of work done and the productivity of the workers. The pre-construction phase, if we are involved, would allow us to suggest certain work practices that allow us to provide a higher quality of work and materials used to provide a greater estimate of the final cost. The schedule would be another important factor that would be affected by this constructablity practice, due to the increased productivity, the schedule may be able to be compressed to shorten the total duration of the project. The bidding phase would also be affected due to the cost of providing our workers with the most up-to-date equipment and tools our overhead may be more but we can more than make up for that by having a shorter duration for the schedule.

Primary Impacts on Project
The primary impacts on this project will be on productivity, quality, schedule, and cost. The productivity should be increased with the focus on improving on the quality of self-performed work done by our employees. Of course the quality will affected on this project because it is the focus of this constructability practice and the goal is that the quality provided to the owner will be increased. With increased productivity, the schedule should be able to be compressed slightly resulting in shorter duration times for the work will be self-performing and thus slightly shorten for the entire duration of the project. The final impact of this constructability practice on the project will be with regard to cost; our overhead costs may go up due to newer equipment and more training requirements but with us providing more quality and shorter duration for the project it is believed that the cost will be offset.

Personal Contacts for More Information
The responsible person for implementing increased training opportunities on tools and equipment for our employees is our Training Coordinator: Joel Vande Boom and can be contacted at phone number 414-123-4567. The responsible person for implementing the maintenance of tools and equipment is our Head Engineer: Brian Norby and can be contacted at phone number 414-123-4568. The responsible person for providing our employees with the latest, up-to-date, and most efficient tools is our Purchasing Manager: Dan Neumann who can be contacted at phone number 414-123-4569.

Descriptive title
To continually update our safety program to make sure we always have the most up-to-date procedures to protect all employees and others that work on or are near the project site.

Detailed Description
Safety is a key aspect of the construction project, while also maintaining efficient production by all workers (constructability). At all times safety is important to all workers and everyone involved on the project. Safety is always number one in our company as we want everyone to feel safe whenever they work with us. Procedures for monitoring safe work at all times on the project site involves daily safety inspections throughout the whole project by the members of our team and also at least one per week for every subcontractor as well. Any unsafe procedure incurred will be reported and recorded by the inspector, then taken care of by the superintendent. Also daily Plan of the Day (POD) meetings will be held every morning before construction and all foremen and superintendents are expected to attend. Their daily plans and possible safety hazards, such as crane picks, will be discussed. Also every two weeks will be job-wide safety meeting where all workers and managers are required to attend. At every job-wide meeting, any unsafe events or good safety procedures that were showcased will be discussed. Also a topic of safety will be discussed every meeting such as silica dust or asbestos. Topics will be chosen that are the most prevalent at the time in the construction schedule. To showcase where unsafe work may occur (red danger tape areas), dry erase boards of the project will be placed throughout the project and updated daily at the POD meetings. Also all unsafe items recorded will be posted on the Company PMC (Project Management and Control) Program that is accessed by all members of the company to see what safety concerns other company projects are having. This way they can prepare and prevent the unsafe event to happen on their site. With safe procedures implemented, delays and other items that are affected due to injuries will be eliminated. To make sure all workers on the job site understand the safety procedures, all workers on site are required to take first-day safety training orientation and also a second training orientation two weeks later to make sure procedures are followed. Other safety procedures are outlined in our site specific safety plan.

Discipline/Work Area Category
Safety is everyone’s concern. For a safe work place, everyone on the project has to contribute and continually be prepared for unsafe actions to take place. Proper planning and execution from start to finish of every job on the project has to be accomplished for a safe project to be completed. With everyone looking out for others and themselves, safety will be successfully implemented.

Pertinent Project Phase
For safety, the most pertinent project phase would be the construction phase as work is being physically done. Pre-construction is important too because this is when subcontractors and others might first be exposed to your site-specific safety plan. So our safety procedures are displayed in the pre-construction meetings and then implemented during the construction phase.

Primary Impacts on Project
With safe construction, unexpected delays due to injuries will be eliminated. This helps the morale of the workers feeling safe and leading to a higher production rate. With a higher production rate the schedule will be successfully followed and the cost will be allocated as planned. Also improved safety goes hand in hand with quality. With high safety, high quality work will result. With safe practices, workers don’t feel rushed and will have success completing the work. Safety helps even before the project starts too with the Experience Modification Rate (EMR). A lower EMR results from safe construction and allows more cost effective bid numbers, which we were able to use on this project.

Personal Contacts for More Information
The responsible person for carrying out safety procedures is our Superintendent Brian Norby: He can be contacted by phone at: 414-123-4568 For on-site safety training for every new worker on site, please contact our Project Engineer II Alex Mejac by phone at: 414-123-4570 For additional information about the site specific safety plan packet that is passed out to each worker, please contact our Senior Project Manager Joel Vande Boom by phone at: 414-123-4567

Referenced Manufacturers Literature
[] [] []

Our Project aims to make a positive contribution to the local community by identifying problems and initiating practical action in order to address them in partnership with the local community. Detailed Description.

Discipline/Work Area Category
The community involvement of the project is everyone’s concern, from the owner, to the project manager and all the way down to the laborer’s involved with specific subcontractors. The project manager should be making sure that effective measures are being taken to prevent damage to the surrounding community and environment. Additionally, proper steps should be taken by subcontractors to ensure as little damage as possible to the environment all while ensuring a safe working environment.

Pertinent Project Phase
The impacts and concerns of the community should be thought about as early as the initial bid on the project. Proper community awareness starts with identifying potential hazards that may affect the community while construction is occurring and long into the future after project completion. During the bidding phase steps should be taken to assure that additional funding is included for environment impact. Continuing into the construction phase additional efforts should be taken to assure the surrounding environment does not get damaged.

Primary Impacts on Project
The primary impacts of community involvement on this project include safety, scheduling and the overall process of engaging people in the community. The project manager should pay attention to make sure corners aren’t getting cut by the subs that may be forced to change up how they go about their work in order to keep the community consistently engaged. Nothing puts people off more than superficial engagement. Also, when it comes scheduling try adopting a variety of options that may benefit the community, situations are constantly changing so the more options available the better off you’ll be. Furthermore, once the community is engaged we should periodically keep analyzing how we are communicating with the community and if there is anything else that could be done to improve communication.

Personal Contacts for More Information
For overall project budget information, please contact our Senior Project Manager Joel Vande Boom by phone at: 414-123-4570. For overall project safety information, please contact our Construction Manager Dan Neuman at: 414-212-1850. For general information or questions the overall project or company, please contact our Home Office by phone at: 414-123-4500.

Referenced Manufacturers' Literature
[|Community Involvement] [|Community Involvement strategies] [|community involvement programs] [|Community involvement]

=Execution=

Procedure for Implementation
The procedure for implementation of constructability would initially be to perform an analysis on all costs and possible cost savings throughout the project. This analysis would include a comparison of options depending on which options would affect other ones and which would have the most impact. One of the most important items to have for constructability is to have as detailed of a project budget as possible. The more detailed a project budget is initially, the less amount of surprises that show up in a project later on. Also, throughout the project maintaining constant checks upon the financial health of the project is essential to ensure that costs are kept low and that profits are maintained within a reasonable tolerance. At the conclusion of the project the implementation of constructability requires a complete analysis of projected costs compared with actual costs in order to produce data that can be used on future projects.

Barriers

 * Performing continual cost analysis
 * Having proper projected costs in ample time
 * Having actual costs in ample time
 * Maintaining updated records from subcontractors
 * Assigning cost values to overhead and some labor items

Barriers Breaker Strategy
There are many strategies available to eliminate some of the barriers generated. The simplest Barrier Breaker is having proper and fast communication. Having good communication systems allows for information such as projected costs, actual costs, and updates available for continual analysis. Also having good communication systems allows for issues from subcontractors to be dealt with quickly thus preventing any possible long term or even liquidated damages later on. Also another Barrier Breaker Strategy is to have a good recording and information system such as Oracle. Having a good record system allows more accurate assigning of prices to overhead costs. Also, having a good record system allows for more accurate estimated costs in the future on other projects.

Procedure for Implementation
The procedure for implementing scheduling as a constructability technique begins even before construction starts. In programming and pre-construction meetings the schedule is put together along with designs and estimates. These meetings must have full cooperation between the design teams, architect, owner, and CM in order to produce an accurate well thought out schedule. First, the schedule must have a substantial completion date that is agreed upon that satisfies all parties’ needs. Then, the schedule must have adequate time for specified activities such as ordering and delivering material and equipment. Long-lead items must be anticipated and scheduled accordingly such as special items, large deliveries, and equipment. After many meetings with the construction team and coordination among all parties a well thought out schedule should be completed.

Barriers

 * Cost
 * Training
 * Access to information
 * Inputting correct information

Barriers Breaker Strategy
Although there are barriers to developing a good schedule, there are ways to overcome these challenges. One of the most important strategies is to have the CM on the project in the design phase so his input can be used to design a more efficient building and schedule. This reduces the cost of scheduling because the CM builds good relationships with the design team and can start the schedule earlier with more access to information for a more accurate schedule. This also reduces cost because more accurate information will lead to fewer changes in the schedule. Learning curve problems can be solved by training interns and new hires as soon as they start so they become familiar with the scheduling software. Scheduling is a necessary and an incredibly valuable tool that can guide a project to success.

Procedure for Implementation
The procedure for implementing this constructability technique would be to first assemble key owner team members to discuss their views on this topic. The next step would be to define the constructability objectives and the measurements used to determined how successful this practice will be. The next step would be to select the project contracting strategy or project delivery system and how that would affect the constructability procedure. Another step would be to secure the contractors and material vendors that may help to improve the success of the constructability practice. The next step would be to develop the constructability team. After the constructability team is developed, it is important to identify and address any project barriers. It is important to consult matrices and other related experience. The procedure would be to implement the procedures and integrate them into the project activities. For high-quality work, training would be increased for employees, an equipment maintenance system would be setup and up-to-date tool would be purchased to replace older tools. The next step would be to apply the constructability concepts and procedures. After applying the concepts, it would be important to monitor and evaluate the program's effectiveness. Finally it is imperative to document the lessons learned from the program to help improve upon the constructability practices.

Barriers

 * Cost
 * Time Required to Training
 * Training Required for new tools
 * Additional Personnel needed

Barriers Breaker Strategy
There are various strategies that I would use to break through the cost, time required to train, and the additional personnel needed for training. The strategy I would use to confront the cost is to stress to the management of the company the important aspect of our safety and the insurance modifier rate that affects their insurance cost and workers' compensation. The strategy I would use to address the time required to train the employees would be to rotate the employees through the training program while maintaining their normal work hours. To address the personnel needed for training, the strategy I would use would be to hire one or more training specialists to work for the company part-time.

Procedure for Implementation
To have a successful safety program, we need involvement from everyone that is associated with the construction project to be involved. First off, we have to make sure we assemble a safety team to help implement the safety items. With a separate team, they can dedicate their time to safety every day. This will allow thorough inspections and investigation of every incident to make sure everything is evaluated. With a safety team overseeing all safety procedures, training for safety can be more prevalent and informative. Every week there will be safety training for safe procedures of ladders, scaffolding, etc. for management and workers. There will also be daily safety training for every new worker on site to make sure they understand our safety program fully. Also small prizes will be given to trades that have worked so many days without a recordable, or to workers that showcase safe working procedures. Our company stresses effective communication of every incident that happens because this will allow for safe working conditions. With great communication incidents can be recorded and taken care of immediately or possibly eliminated. Again safety is a team effort, so for successful implementation of the safety procedures that will help with constructibility everyone has to be involved.

Barriers

 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Avoid letting the development be dominated by one sector of the community
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Don’t limit influence
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Don’t rely one strategy
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Identify main areas of concern
 * <span style="font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 11pt;">Limiting environment damage

Barriers Breaker Strategy
Barrier breaking strategies for training time required, cost of the safety program, worker cooperation, management involvement and tracking can be successfully addressed in many ways. First off, training time can be placed at efficient times such as lunch breaks so two items can be taken care of at once. Training is needed though and there is no exception to it, so we will do our best to make the training meeting efficient and at correct time periods. Management involvement is simply solved by attending POD meetings or the job-wide safety meetings. This will show the workers your participation and will help with the worker cooperation of implanting safety procedures. Also awards can be given for successful safety procedures shown. This will help motivate the workers to follow the safety plans and add to worker cooperation. The safety team can be involved with the tracking of daily meetings and safety inspections. The cost for having a separate safety team will be offset by the safe work that is done which equals on-time, high quality, cost effective work practices.

Barriers

 * Time Required for Training
 * Cost for having separate safety team
 * Worker cooperation
 * Management involvement has to be shown
 * Tracking daily meetings and safety inspections (might be new to some trades so forget to do safety inspections or go to trainings)

Barriers Breaker Strategy
The strategies available to eliminate barriers to ensure community involvement throughout the project depend solely on the persistency of the project team. Moreover, paying attention to detail when engaging people at events could go a long way in assuring that the community feels you actually are interested in their opinions and not just there for superficial engagement.