Prevent unnecessary project costs and streamline construction with a constructability review from TranSystems.
A constructability review is one of the most effective tools for mitigating risk, a major factor in a contractor’s bid that increases costs. When assembling a bid, a contractor factors in size, scope, location, subsurface conditions, timing, phasing, materials, labor, permit requirements and more. Once all the controllable factors are accounted for, the contractor then looks at risk. And the factors that contribute to risk include:
- Vague descriptions in the plans or contract
- Unusual bid items
- Unusual ways items are being bid
- Uncommon construction practices
- Unrealistic timeframes or completion dates
- Missing information or lack of details about operations required by the contact
- Costly, poor or restricted access to jobsites
- Contradictory typicals or detail
- Utility conflicts
The contractor will adjust their bid to account for these risks in order to be covered for a worst case scenario.
A constructability review, though, can help change the way a contractor bids your project by adding details or suggesting changes that eliminate risk, applying industry standards to construction, eliminating redundancies, or adjusting how items are paid for – which in turn allows the contractor to better identify overall costs.
A GOOD CONSTRUCTABILITY REVIEW IS ALL-ENCOMPASSING
A constructability review evaluates the feasibility, efficiency and practicality of a project’s design plans, specifications, and estimates before construction begins. The goal is to identify potential issues that may occur during construction and to find opportunities, if any, to streamline schedules and reduce costs. The primary purposes are to:
- Identify issues
- Standardize construction methods
- Enhance coordination
- Enhance safety
- Mitigate risks
- Refine cost estimates
- Refine schedules
- Consider future maintenance
With TranSystems, a constructability review can encompass nearly every step ahead of construction: concept development, project design, project phasing, contract assembly and plan layout.
WHEN ARE CONSTRUCTABILITY REVIEWS PERFORMED?
At TranSystems, we conduct constructability reviews at the concept stage, at the design stage and during contract assembly.
Concept Stage: A constructability review can be especially helpful at the concept stage, reviewing what the designer and you have in mind for a project before any plans are drawn up. At this stage, a constructability review takes a high level look at the project:
- Is the alignment the best alignment?
- Can the alignment be shifted to avoid risk areas such as utilities, complicated or costly right- of-way claims, the existence and proximity to wetlands and streams?
- How will traffic be handled and affected during construction?
- Are interim completion dates realistic?
- Could an alternate design speed up construction?
A constructability review during this early stage is perhaps the most beneficial to owners.
Design Stage: Most often, a constructability review occurs during the design stage, once plans are drawn up. At this point, the review examines specific ways to save time, money and resources while still achieving project goals. A constructability review identifies:
- Potential complexities in design that can be eliminated making construction more straightforward, quicker, or in-line with standard practices.
- Conflicting typicals, details, or notes on the plans.
- Areas where more details are needed to clearly show a contractor what is expected.
- Phasing overlaps such as the room between an existing and new structure versus the needed room to construct.
- The need for staging areas or lay down yards.
- Unnecessary project phases.
The list of possible areas that can be bettered via a constructability review is almost endless and is unique to every set of plans or contract.
Contracting: A perfect set of plans and a weak contract does not equal project success. It is important to do a constructability review of contracts to evaluate the timeframes allotted to the contractor. For example, if there is a completion time of 30 days with a penalty of $1,000 per extra day to set 50 boxes in the contract, this would be flagged because it would be virtually impossible to accomplish with a normal crew. A contractor might even inflate their bid to account for the anticipated penalties. This item would be caught in a constructability review, and a realistic completion date could be requested thus allowing the contractor to provide a more accurate bid. A constructability review during the contract stage ensures alignment of schedules, identifies special provisions and establishes agreement upon enforceable intermediate completion dates.
