Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007 - (Page 31)

Professional Practices of the job of the design professional is to assist the owner with the contract document review process. Usually, the only item of contention in an Owner requested CO is the cost of the change. If the changes are significant, an Owner requested CO can require additional design effort and project delay, all of which adds to the project bottom line. Schedule change A Schedule change CO generally comes from either the owner or the contractor. The reasons for such a CO can be the desire of the owner to accelerate the construction process or a response from the contractor to weather or other site conditions. In any case, the primary feature that distinguishes a Schedule change CO from other types is that the only thing in the contract being changed is the time of completion of the construction. At first glance schedule changes may seem simple, but the costs for such changes can be significant. If the schedule change extends the construction interval, the contractor typically is going to request additional money to cover increased costs for equipment, site expenses, insurance, etc. If the schedule change compresses the construction interval, the contractor may incur increased expenses due to overtime, additional manpower, and costs associated with expedited delivery of construction materials. The best way to avoid Schedule change COs is to carefully plan when the construction is needed and to cover reasonably expected events—such as bad weather—in the contract documents. Concealed condition Sometimes referred to as a “discovered condition,” this type of CO results when the instructions given to the contractor in the contract documents do not match what actually exists on the job site. The most common type of concealed condition is something that is covered by existing construction on a renovation type project. Except for the possibility of hidden underground items, Concealed condition COs are almost never seen on new construction. The Concealed condition CO is probably the most common type; it’s also the most difficult to eliminate. In order to eliminate Concealed Condition COs in a renovation type project, the designer must know what is behind or within all floors, walls, and ceilings. In most cases an owner is unwilling to allow the type of demolition that would be required to obtain this information. Under these conditions the design professional uses the best information available: old drawings, information from building maintenance personnel, and experience gained from previous projects with similar construction features. In some cases, when a concealed condition has been uncovered, it will be suggested that the design professional should have been aware of the problem and should have structured the contract documents to avoid the additional expenses. This situation is always difficult to resolve, because there are usually personalities as well as technical problems at question. There are certainly cases where designer errors have been classified as concealed conditions and vice versa. Concealed condition COs tend to be expensive in terms of both time and money. For example, the discovery of a waste line concealed inside a wall that is to be demolished can result in a major expense to the project. In some cases discovery of a concealed condition can be so severe that the entire project is put into jeopardy. Obviously such potential for harm to the project requires the utmost vigilance of everyone on the design team. ©2007 The Metraflex Company Dance lessons Metraloop® expansion joints let your pipe move without thrust loads. Use it for thermal expansion and seismic movement. Boogie over to our web site for CAD downloads, case histories and more. Seismic movement Thermal movement Fire sprinkler systems Designer error When most people think of COs, this is the type they have in mind. While it is obvious that a designer error occurs because a designer makes a mistake, it www.metraflex.com Input #219 at csemag.com/quickResponse http://www.metraflex.com http://csemag.com/quickResponse

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007 Contents On the Web In the News M/E Roundtable How To Beat the Energy Codes Professional Practices Codes & Standards A Capital Job on Engineered Buiding Systems Going Green in Data Centers Overcurrent Protection: Fuses or Breakers? Third-Party Liability Management Report New Products Product Spotlight Jobs/Classifieds Specifier's Notebook

Consulting-Specifying Engineer - October 2007

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