All posts in Change Orders

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?

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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 Certificate for Payment, Change Orders, Contractor, General Contract Administration, Schedule of Values and 0 comments.

Quick guide to cash allowances

Cash Allowance 1

You are designing a renovation to an airport departures terminal, and a constant problem in the design process has been the excessive amount of time required to obtain approvals and finalize details from the many stakeholders in the project (including airport authorities, security agencies, airlines and many others). You are behind schedule, the tender deadline is nearing and the design for the ticketing counters is still in progress. It doesn’t look like you are going to obtain review and approval to proceed in time to make the deadline. What do you do? Postpone the tender? This is a case where a cash allowance may come to your rescue. Read More…

in category Architects, Change Orders, General Contract Administration tags , , , , , , , and 0 comments.

Less is More: Three tips < Change Orders

John Pawson home

Minimalists ask the question: How much can you strip away from an item — painting, sculpture, building, furniture — without losing its essential purpose and identity?

Your projects don’t have to look like John Pawson’s Home but applying a minimalist frame of mind to design and construction drawings can lead to a reduction in the number of change orders during the contract administration phase. Read More…