Firesafing and firestopping is an area that can be overlooked in preparing estimates! The quantity of walls, joints and size of openings that need these materials is very important. The specifications should detail the requirements and what type of product can be used in the different conditions. Firesafing and firestopping are used in conditions that [...]
Risk is a set of variables on a project that usually costs someone money. One part of the variables is the contract type. Depending upon the contract type the risk may be borne by the owner/developer of the project or it can be by the contractors on the project. Contract Types The owner/developer bears the [...]
This is an area that can add up to a lot of money on a project if it is not estimated using the right process. In order to estimate the costs of coring, aside from calling a sub that specializes in it, is to estimate the cost of the equipment acquisition, repair and maintenance costs, [...]
ENR just announced that the AIA is issuing a revised set of Construction Manager (CM) contract documents that include a couple of important features for contractors and owners alike.
So many people called or commented on our May 18th Speed Kills Blog that we decided to get everyone’s opinion. We asked what you thought and boy did you tell us! The Question: Where do you stand on estimators using traditional versus onscreen/digitizer methods? The Results: Traditional Methods are the most accurate: 39% [...]
Each estimator is hopefully finding the problems when it costs the project the least amount of time and money – before it becomes a problem during construction.
Voluntary alternates should only be used after bid day! The apparent low bidder can utilize the voluntary alternate in the negotiation phase. Using voluntary alternates during the bidding phase can make the analysis of the bids harder for the owner and architect. You do not want to make the bidding process any more complicated for [...]
Owners can take a page or two from the contractor knowledge base. This involves scheduling and coordinating multiple projects in a construction program then projecting cash flows for the combined projects in the program. These lessons can be applied on one project or programs with dozens of projects over a multiple year period. The use [...]
If you have a variance that is 5% or greater between the bidders, this is an indication that there may be a problem with the low bidder, second bidder or even the high bidder. For every full percentage point greater then the 5% mark, I would grow more hesitant to use the low bid contractor on the project without a more complete review of their bid and independent estimate of the costs on the project!
Office based staff rates are developed differently from the job staff rates in one major area. This area is the indirect costs associated with the staff. Since the off site staff personnel do not customarily get reimbursed separately for office space, computers and the other supports costs, these are rolled into the billable hourly rates. [...]
