All posts in Architects

in category Architects, Certificate for Payment, Change Orders, General Contract Administration, Request for Information, Schedule of Values, Submittals, Supplemental Instruction, Transmittals and 0 comments.

Process is the answer, now what’s the question?

Have you ever had to deal with:

  • Marking up a set of drawings, only to find out that really basic information is missing time after time; North arrows, references, sheet titles not matching the index page?
  • Each employee re-inventing the wheel or doing it their own way when it comes to contract administration forms? Everyone having their own special template or spreadsheet tracking system?
  • Looking for information on the office server, only to find out that it was saved locally on a personal computer and that the employee is not around when you need it?

Read More…

in category Architects, Change Orders, Contractor, Dispute resolution, General Contract Administration, Request for Information and 0 comments.

Can’t agree?

The renovation of a heritage building started with preparations to demolish some walls to accommodate a new room layout. Unfortunately, during the preparations the general contractor discovered that the building structure had deteriorated to the point where there would be serious structural problems if  the walls were removed.

This discovery would result in additional construction costs, and delay the project completion date. The architect with the consultant team drafted a Proposed Change Order. The general contractor provided a very expensive quote for the  work of the change, and a notice in writing of a delay claim.  The owner responded that he could not accept any change in the schedule and that the proposed change order quote was crazy and bordered on extortion!

What would you do, if you had a dispute that looked like it could not be resolved? There are 2 possible strategies that you could use. Read More…

in category Architects, Architectural Projects, General Contract Administration, Tender and 0 comments.

Bonding or insurance?

des office

An addition to an existing school valued at around $1M was out to tender. This was Robert’s first major project after starting his own firm, and as a newly registered architect he was still feeling his way around the world of tendering and contract administration. This was also the first time he had written specifications by himself.  

Everything was going pretty well with the tender, until Robert received a call from one of the bidders on the morning before the closing. The bidder asked if  instead of providing a bid bond and the other bonds listed, could he just include a copy of his builder’s risk insurance policy?

It was a pretty good policy, he was paying a lot of money for it, so what was the use of doubling up on the insurance with bonding? The contractor explained that the contract security (bid bonds, performance bonds and labour and material bonds) were just different forms of insurance and that he could save the owner a lot of money by not having to provide them. “Trust me,” he said, “insurance was all that was needed.” Robert started to question himself and the spec he had written. What should he do? Read More…

in category Architects, Architectural Projects, Contractor, General Contract Administration, Submittals, Transmittals and 0 comments.

Shop drawing review – contractor essential

Florida Polytechnic ConstructionSometimes there is a bit of anxiety on the part of consultants on how far to go in the review of a shop drawing. This anxiety can be reduced by understanding a little bit of the purpose and intent of shop drawings along with the responsibilities of the contractor in the process. Read More…