Construction stage services cost more if the design is still being done when construction begins.

Target all the design to be done before construction begins.

If that is not possible, try to have complete deliverables packages complete before construction begins.

If design is still proceeding when construction starts, the constructors will require a lot more input from the designers, leading to higher design costs (in construction stage services).

Tagged with: construction stage services • deliverables • work packages

Filed under: Construction • Cost • Design • Planning

If you work on an alliance project or any project where some tasks are done by a collection of organisations, make sure there is a clear and simple procedure for making purchase orders.

A designated group of people should be responsible for this and should know the system. That group should be able to process purchase orders for work even if that work will be paid for by the head companies and not the alliance.

For example, I needed to get some external design work done. I had an external person who could do a set of designs for a set price. Yet it took ten weeks to actually make the purchase order so that work could start, including 10 hours of my time in going backwards and forwards trying to sort the system out.

The process included these steps:

1. Try to find out which head company was paying
2. Get the correct forms for the purchase
3. Find the sub consultant agreement forms
4. Wait until the head company could send me the right forms
5. Fill these out and sending them to the head office accounts department
6. Get them returned to me saying they were wrong and a different form should be used (different people thought different forms should be used)
7. Send the agreement forms to the sub contractor to agree to.
8. Get them back with alterations.
9. Send them to the head office corporate solicitor to check and advise.
10. Get a new form recommended and send them again to the sub consultant for agreement.
11. Get agreement and then get signatures from alliance managers.
12. Send the signed form to the head company for signatures.
13. After agreements are all signed, give these and sub consultant details to accounts department for a purchase order to be made.
14. Get this purchase order signed by alliance managers
15. Get the purchase order signed by head company.
16. Alter purchase order and agreement because different designs are now required (because of the time delay some internal staff had done some designs themselves as they were needed urgently)
17. Get signatures again (alliance, head company, sub consultant.
18. Send purchase order and agreement to sub consultant for work to be commenced.

Many of these steps took one or two weeks for review and responses. It would have been cheaper, quicker, and easier to get these designs done internally and pay overtime to get them done.

Management cost to get these processed $2000

Cost of designs $8000

These costs do not include all the purchasing and accounts department time and costs, only the direct design management costs (my time and my manager’s time).

If there was a division in the alliance office who could do all this, I could have taken the sub consultant details and price to them and they could have done this whole process in less than one hour, at a cost of perhaps $50.

• They would need all the correct forms and agreements from the head companies.
• They would need to know who authorises these forms and have easy access to these people.
• They should know what forms and agreements are used for each purpose.

Tagged with: alliance project • forms • project delays • purchase order • sub consultant

Filed under: Cost • Design • Documentation • Procurement

When you are making important decisions or preparing designs, get a second opinion on them before acting, because you may be coming from a biased or primed attitude.

(Primed is when you are thinking a certain way because of some previous input. It may cause you to think about the topic in only a certain way, and overlook better alternatives).

It is good to seek out the views of other team members on decisions and designs to get a different perspective.

Tagged with: bias • decisions • primed

Filed under: Design

Make sure you allow enough time in your project plan for designs and drawings to be approved, internally as well as by the client.

It is common to need 1-2 weeks for each step of FDR (Final Design Review), IDC (Interdisciplinary Check), Verification, IFC (Issue For Construction) etc reviews and approvals, especially if more than one person must approve these.

It is important to keep track of the approval status of these and follow up on people to review and sign them. I often find that although people get notified, they overlook signing the reviews or it sits on a desk waiting and gets buried.

If all the approvers are collocated, it is often worth having someone walk the documents around personally to each person for their approval, this can dramatically reduce the time taken and stop the documents being buried under other work or being forgotten about.

Tagged with: approval • drawings • review • verification

Filed under: Design • Documentation

Get to know the usual time schedules for producing plans, drawings, and designs in your organisation.
Estimates may be 2 weeks but people with experience in the organisation may know to double this when told 2 weeks by the design department.

Project managers should keep up with the designers for their project regularly to see what they are working on and what their priorities are.
Resources often get pulled onto other tasks/projects, so it important you stay informed.

Possibly escalate to the projects director if necessary.

Tagged with: design schedule • drawings • schedule

Filed under: Communication • Design • Planning

Eliminating unnecessary features in design will give the largest savings in a project.

If your client wants costs cut, look for the most costly features (in design cost and construction cost) that could be eliminated without significantly reducing the final required result of the project.

For example, a client wanted a set of equipment protected from potential flood levels by constructing it on the flat roof of an existing building. However, the rest of the existing plant was below that level so in the case of a flood would be out of operation anyway. To construct on the roof of the building would have taken significant extra structural support costing more than the equipment being installed. It was decided to install the equipment at ground level instead of raising it above the potential (rare) flood level, and installing a simple bypass system for use in case it failed. This saved more than double the price of replacing the equipment in the unlikely event of it being flooded.

Of course this may not be possible with features that are critical to operation, but if they are not critical, eliminating these features at the design stage (early in the project) can save a lot of money.

Tagged with: features • savings

Filed under: Client • Cost • Design • Scope

You must learn to say no to some requests from clients

If change requests from the client will make the design unsafe or unusable, you should refuse to change it. Otherwise you could still be sued as the designer for giving misleading information when your company is the expert (accepting a change could be deemed as approving it, even if you gave a warning that it would be unsafe or unusable).

Another instance to say no is if the client asks for changes that will increase the schedule but won’t approve the increased schedule. Get approval from the client for the extended schedule or cost before saying yes to the proposed change.

Tagged with: change • schedule

Filed under: Client • Contract • Cost • Design • Risk • Safety • Scope

If your project site has potential graffiti problems (or has problems) consider hiring some street artists to paint murals on those walls with graffiti problems.

• When painted well, graffiti is less likely to be put there as there is already good art.
• It makes the site more attractive.
• If it discourages graffiti, it may work out less expensive than continually repainting the areas to cover graffiti.
• An example is the electrical boxes around Brisbane, Australia. They have all been painted with different topical, sometimes funny, always creative pictures. Very little graffiti is put on them now, and they make a very attractive addition to the street.

Tagged with: art • artists • graffiti • painting • repainting

Filed under: Cost • Design

You should make sure that terminology that is ambiguous or unclear is made clear with definitions.

This can avoid mistakes and reduce the time necessary to re-design.

For example:

• “Rail Overbridge”. Is this a rail bridge that goes over something, or is it a rail with a bridge over it?
  • A Rail Overbridge is a bridge over the railway.
  • A Rail Underbridge is a bridge carrying the railway and allowing a roadway, river etc. to pass under the railway.

You may have to get clarifications of definitions from you project sponsor for organizational specific terms.

Don’t assume all your team knows the terms.

Tagged with: definitions • mistakes • terminology • terms

Filed under: Communication • Design • Documentation

Instigate and enforce a good change management system

Change management coordinators and people who have to approve changes spend a lot of time chasing signatures, putting information in to spreadsheets, and general admin duties that could be automated.

It is easy to lose track of changes, or not document them properly.

Documentation for changes often lags a long way behind the actual change occurrence.

Many companies use a collection of spreadsheets. This can be cumbersome because different copies are in different locations, people forget to fill in details. The change coordinator ends up having to fill in all details (when that person may not understand the change).

A very good system would only need the coordinator to set up the initial templates in the system and file hard copies of signatures on approvals as they are received.

Ideally want a system in which the internal instigator can log-in, tick boxes to show effects of changes, type the title and description, allocate who is responsible to enter costs and who should sign. The system should then send messages to those people to review the item fill in details (and attach supporting docs) and approve (all on the system), with printouts available for the person to print, sign, and send to coordinator to file (if required). Ideally want instigators to be able to do all with little work from coordinator except for filing hard copies.

It is even better if your system allows for electronic authorisation, eliminating the need to print and sign papers.

Often the problem with a system is that emails get sent and people don’t notice them, leading to change documentation to be overlooked. This can be avoided with a log-in system that lists what tasks are to be completed for that person.

A system should have a way of enforcing adherence. Ideally where each person who may have to authorise a change has an icon which tells them when something is waiting their authorization.

I system could be a simple database, or it could be a complete enterprise system. Having a system is the important part.

If a senior manager calls up and wants a report on all the changes on a project sorted by cost, with a good system you should be able to give it to him within a few minutes. If your change management system is just on a collection of spreadsheets, this may not be possible. Even better, a good system would allow the manager to log-in and look at the reports themselves.

Tagged with: authorisation • change management • change management system • database • reports • signatures • spreadsheets

Filed under: Communication • Design • Documentation • Planning • Time

If you are in the water industry or an industry that deals with pipes, valves, or pumps then make sure you have a copy of the pipe sizes available, internal diameter (ID) and outside diameter (OD), and also the flange types and codes (table, ANSI, etc).

You should pin it to a wall in easy view.

Pipe mismatch mistakes are very common in projects, often because the project manager (or procurement manager in larger projects) did not match the designed pipe ends to the supplied equipment.

If you don’t already have a clear copy of the pipe specifications, most good drafting departments will have one or a source to get one from.

Tagged with: ANSI • flange • internal diameter • outside diameter • pipe • pipe size • pipe specifications • pipes • pumps • valves

Filed under: Design • Procurement

You should document (in writing) any design changes or delays caused by the client.

This is very important for claiming cost or time extensions.

A good change management system is important. Spreadsheets can suffice for small projects with a small number of changes, but for larger projects, a good database system will help reduce the time required for change management.

You will need to record things such as (these are in no particular order):

• change title
• time delay
• extra costs (design, construction stage services, extra construction costs, administration costs, extra workshops, safety)
• who requested the change (which person from the client organisation
• approval status
• risks associated with the change (extra risks arising from changes in the design)
• change details
• why it is needed
• name of responsible person
• associated design drawings or packages
• cost codes (linked to your accounting system)
• date of change request
• change impact (minor, moderate, major)
• consequences
• date completed

It would be ideal if these can all be entered on one page in a system. You should then be able to output reports showing just some parts (say change title and cost), without having to duplicate information into spreadsheets etc.

You do not want to have multiple systems or spreadsheets that all have different versions of the information and are not linked.

There should only be one place where all the information on the change is recorded.

Tagged with: change management • change system

Filed under: Client • Design • Documentation

If your company is the design contractor but not involved in the construction phase you should instruct the client to notify you for your company’s input for any design discrepancies.

If your company has designed something but the field conditions on site mean a change is needed, the client or their contractor may try to back charge your company for the design changes they had to do on site.

You should include language in the contract that they must first give you the option of giving input before proceeding with changes that may result in back charges to your company.

Tagged with: back charges • Construction • design discrepancies

Filed under: Client • Contract • Contractors • Design

Your company should have a set time or point that reviews of the design process are carried out. Often at stages like 30%, 60%, 90%, 100%.

You should do this as part of the quality assurance / quality control system.

Don’t just leave it until the end.

Tagged with: quality assurance • quality control • review

Filed under: Design • Quality

Don’t get blanket approvals on drawings or designs without each one being marked as approved by the client.

A client may send documentation stating that the designs or drawings are approved for construction, but unless they mark each drawing as approved and return them to you, you have no proof that they actually did review each of them. Without the marked approval, the client could deny they saw a particular drawing or design.

Get each design or drawing individually marked as approved.

Tagged with: approval

Filed under: Client • Design • Documentation

Make sure contractors are aware of the details of designs.
E.g. types or colours of pipe, colours of wires, flange types required.

Make sure those details are in the contract between you and them.

Make sure any reminders you give them on details are in writing (and recorded).

Tagged with: details

Filed under: Contractors • Design • Documentation

Make sure drawings have cautionary notes for areas of potential conflict (e.g. electrical wiring near nail fasteners).

Tagged with: conflict • drawings

Filed under: Design

Get agreement on the final designs with subcontractors before submitting them to the client.

You need subcontractor buy-in to the design. This gives you the opportunity to confirm they can actually construct it, and gives them the opportunity to support you in your delivery to the client.

Tagged with: buy-in • subcontractor

Filed under: Contractors • Design

It is important to clarify the ownership of drawings your company produces.
Make sure the contract or agreements clarify the ownership of drawings and documents.

Some clients may expect the drawings or designs to be their property once a project is delivered. If your company’s drawings or designs are proprietary or are designs you use on other projects you will need to state that your company keeps the ownership in the contract.

If you don’t have this in the contract, it can make a difficult sticking point with the client at a later stage in the project.

Tagged with: Client • Contract • designs • drawings • ownership

Filed under: Contract • Design

Make sure your team has a comprehensive project work plan.

This should show details of design assumptions

Tagged with: assumption • Design • plan

Filed under: Design • Planning