PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE Il — UAISBA4S3 © Unit 1 — Site management — Notes PES INTRODUCTION Site means and includes the land on which the contracted works are to be carried out. It includes pre-construction activities relating to correct marking of site boundaries, fencing, compound wall, dismantling old structures, diversion of service lines hidden or exposed, bush clearance, and cutting or removing trees present within the layout of proposed facility and ground preparation, etc. While some of these activities are the responsibility of owner, it is the duty of Construction Manager to get these done to enable the contractor to commence the work. OBJECTIVE OF SITE MANAGEMENT The sole objective of Construction Manager is completion of work with least complications. To achieve this objective, he is required to = Study the contract agreement = Study the contents of work order + Identify the issues which are to be decided by Project Manager = What action is to-be taken by the Contractor = Allocate the duties of staff within his office # Identify sub-Contractors-Vendors for the work Study contract document. Note the following: Stipulated date of completion Upfront payment for Performance Guarantee, ‘Various advances to be given by the Owner © Secured advance * Advance payment for work done and yet to be measured. * Plant & Machinery advance * Payment of runningy final bill for work done * Maintenance of site records (Particularly labour clearance) "Obtain decisions to be given by owner/Project manager ACTION TO BE TAKEN BY CONSTRUCTION MANAGER 1. Allocation of duties in his office 2. Projecting likely date of completion1g a date of receipt of bills from contractor, sub-contractor and vendors 1g a date for completion of bill checking in CM's office 5. Coordination with outside agencies relating to local body, fire office, airport authority, water supply and waste water disposal, electrical including lift clearance, etc. 6. Action to expedite works 7. Convening periodic site meetings and preparation of agenda and post meeting records (minutes of meeting) 8. Taking adequate cost control and schedule control measures 9. Safety aspects are to be reviewed periodically 10, Matters relating to.press and public 11. Extension of time issues ALLOCATION OF DUTIES IN CONSTRUCTION MANAGER'S OFFICE Site Architect’ Site Engineer 1 Supervision Taking measurement for the work done, its quality and acceptance preparation of bills, pointing out defects during execution of work. Giving timely guidance for skilled/semi-skilled labour force (preferably before execution of substandard workmanship) Site ArchitecuSite Engineer II Serutiny of contractor's bills Proposing rates for variation items with rate analysis Recovery of advances from contractors bills as per agreement - Preparation of periodic progress reports to be sent to project manager’ owner. Assisting Construction manager to obtain decisions from owner! Project manager. Approval of samples brought by vendors. Office assistant/ reception "Telephone! Fax! Computer operation Fixing engagements, * Maintaining office library and records Accounts assistant I checking and Marinating bill register = Maistaining Contractor's ledger Helper To assist all office staffsACCOMMODATION IN SITE OFFICE The site office should accommodate following units: Reception area, sample room, small meeting room, records room, Library. Tender box, and Notice board Extent of area earmarked for each unit depends on size of the project and commitment made in the contract agreement, etc. It is not realistic to suggest a standard drawing for the same. SUPERVISION Every civil engineering work, whatever be its kind and magnitude requires during each stage of construction, proper superintendence to achieve the set objectives. These objectives may be many and varied. Execution of works is as important as design process for successfull completion of works. The following points are to be borne in mind by site supervisor (whether he is site architect or site engineer): = Itisa.mormal practice to entrust off and on supervision for the Architect’ engineer. * However, in case of large and complex works, it may be necessary to place a resident Architect/ Resident engineer at the site of work for removing bottlenecks, and to give on-the- spot decisions, thereby avoiding delays. In execution of projects, the Architect or Engineer has dual functions to perform: a. As an agent of the owner, he approves or disapproves material, workmanship or part of the work: b. He is required to perform quasi-judicial function while administering the contract to resolve any differences between the owner and contractor, He has to decide whether any issue is approved or disapproved in favour of contractor or owner. When he acts as a quasi-judge, be should apply his mind fairly and impartially between the parties. He should forget or ignore the fact that he is paid by the owner. © Since the opinion, skill and judgment of supervising architect or Engineer may vary from person to person, it is essential that the judgments are to be exercised by only one person. * The purpose of supervision is to ensure that the work executed is reasonably free from all defects, as regards material as well as workmanship. The completed work should be strictly in accordance with provisions made in the contract. "The defective Work means any work or part of the work which is deficient in quality either in respect of material or in respect of workmanship. Supervision means catching the executive staff red-handed and getting the defects rectified forthwith. If the defects are nat detected and ‘got rectified promptly, and if they are allowed to-exist, then itis no supervision at all. reflects ‘on dereliction of duty on the part of supervisor.The proper time for the Architect or Engineer to catch the contractor is at the very first ‘opportunity that presents itself for the defective work, which is during the subsequent inspection of the work. He should then make a thorough inspection of all the works carried since his previous inspection and detect the bad work (substandard work) if any and take action to get it removed and recertified’ replaced. These objectives may be many and varied. They are broadly grouped under three sub-heads namely (a) Quality aspects: Juram (1974) defined quality as fitness for use. Crossby (1979) defined quality as conformance to requirements or specifications. ASCE defined quality as conformance to pre-determined requirements. In this context, extract of relevant clauses related to quality in General Conditions of Contract (GCC) adopted by CPWD is given below: Clause 11: The contractor shall execute the whole and every part of the work in the most substantial and workman-like manner, both as regards to materials and otherwise, in every respect in strict accordance with specifications. The contractor shall also conform exactly, fully and faithfully to the designs, drawings, and instructions in writing in respect of work signed by the Engineer-in- charge. Clause 16: Action in case work not done as per specifications: the work, materials, or articles complained of notwithstanding that the same may haye been passed, certified and paid for forthwith rectify, or remove and reconstruct the work so specified. Clause 19: The contractor at all stages of work, deploy skilled/ semi-skilled tradesmen whe are qualified and possesses certificate in particular trade from CPWD taining Institute/industrial training institute, ete. (b) Cost optimization aspects: * Allefforts should be made both by client and contractor to minimize scope wariations since it will have a direct bearing on costs (increase or decrease). "Proper organization and the effective coordination of activities among various key players. "To avoid wastage and infructuous expenses, (c) Safety precautions: Civil construction projects are becoming large in volume and complex in design. The demands of economy, accuracy, quality and timely completion of works dictate the se of construction machinery, sophisticated instruments, computers, ete. Use of machinery needs to be made more safe. Construction industry is highly accident prone; many of the accidents are due to unsafe working conditions. More attention is needed in transport activities, storage and ‘material handling. Very little attention is paid for safety education and training. The common causes of accident are = Fall from heights (high rise buildings) * Cave in/fall into pit (deep foundations, piling, ete.) * Slip and fall from the same level (slippery conditions)Struck by speeding, falling. or other moving objects. * Electric shocks = Unsafe scaffolding, lack of proper fixing of elements. ete. Duties of Architect or Engineer Supervising the work Constant supervision is called for im respect of large or complicated works. An Architect or Engineer alone cannot ensure constant supervision, His supervision would be off and on and it ‘would be essential to position an assistant such as clerk of works in case of building works or resident engineer in ease of other major engineering works. They disapprove inferior materials and/or workmanship, and get the defects rectified. An Architect or Engineer should not implicitly depend on the efficiency of the clerk of work or resident Engineer and he must himself exercise reasonable supervision Duties of an architect or engineer are: and controlling the execution of work, 2. Should be vigilant and be on lookout for breach of contract in general and quality of work in particular. 3. Whenever the work is not executed as per design. drawings and specifications, he should stop the contractor from proceeding further with the work and direct him to remove sub-standard Work. If this action is taken at a later stage, it gives rise to disputes, delays at avoidable costs. 4. Inventory of material flew/use. The architect, while supervising, has to check for material, structural and execution defects of various types before passing bills of contractor, especially the final bill. Patent defects relate to items which the architect need to have recognized and forwarded to the contractor for replacement, before certifying final bill, but has not been don so, Hence, he is liable to his client for patent defects. Even though his liability expires after two years after the completion of that/each part of the building that is completed; he should check all the items for work of execution before certifying final bill, Latent defects normally relate to those defects emerging after the issue of the final certificate, e.g, wrong fixing of slabs resulting in uneven levels later. But wrong specification or design the architect is liable while regarding material or workmanship the contractor is liable to the employer even after. Appearance of the defect, merely after issue of final certificate, does not become latent defect; as the failure of the architect 10 ice it earlier would make it a patent defect and the architect would be liable to the client; especially so when he uses new untested technologies whase performance may take time in real time situations. In spite of best efforts by architect before the issue of final certificate if defects appear they become latent defects for which contractor is liable, but if the tect has failed to notice them before issue of final certificate he becomes liable as it may be a patent defect. ‘An architect or engineer has dual functions to perform and act ‘AS an agent of the owner, he approves or disapproves material, workmanship or work.As a quasi-judge or quasi-arbitrator he has to decide whether the matters ought to be approved or disapproved When he acts as a quasi-judge, he should apply his mind fairly and impartially between the parties. He should forget or ignore the fact that he is paid by the owner. SITE OFFICE It is the first temporary structure to come on site and the last to be dismantled before handing over the site to the owner. This is the venue where all site records are preserved and acts as an office accessible during the construction process at all times. Charts, records, graphs, one set of complete drawings, etc., are to be displayed in the site office. Today, the trend is to install readymade units available in the market, which are standardized, easily moveable to any other site, with a facility of adding units to the existing one as and when required. This saves time, cost and effort, Looks elegant, Similarly, even toilets in moulded plastic ‘material are also available in the market that can be installed instantaneously on the site both for labour as well as staff. The accommodation required for various units depends on size of project. SITE MEETINGS Construction Manager/Projeet Manager presides over the site meetings. The agenda for the site meetings is prepared by Construction Manager All key players or their representatives will be present forthe site meeting. Suggested agenda is as follows: + Review of minuies of the las site meeting and action taken = Present status of work. Likely date of completion is compared to stipulated date of completion. = Likely cost of completion as compared to contract value. * Decisions awaited from owner or statutory authorities. = Extent of resources mobilization by the contractor. = Comparison of physical progress with that of financial progress, = Suggestions by contractor or owner to expedite the completion of werk and/or cost reduction. = Reasons for delay or stoppage of work and corrective measures to be taken. * Preparation of minutes of meeting and its circulation among all participants and filing of the ‘same in site records. ESSENTIAL SITE RECORDS The following records are to be maintained by the field unit executing works through a contractor. Ifrequired, it may be modified to suit the particular organisational requirements. In some projects key players exchange mails (electronic form) in liew of site records.(i) Site order book: Observations of owner or contractor or their representatives are recorded in site order book. Reply or action taken should also be recorded by the concerned person. Defects and quality contro! matters may also be recorded. This book is to be maintained at site office. This book should be perused the time of making payment. It has to be signed by the architect and engineer in charge in government or private sector projects and copies of any instruction/order should be issued to all parties — owner, contractor, site supervisors and for office record (ii) Hindrance register: Hindranees caused by owner, by contractor, by third parties and force ‘majeure are to be recorded in this register. This is a reliable document to decide extension of time im cases of delayed completion. (iii) Works diary: It is a record of daily progress. It is useful to ascertain whether the work is proceeding as per schedule. This is also to be seen while taking a decision on extension of time for delayed completion to be duly approved by the architect or engineer. (iv) Material register: Receipt, issues and balances of important materials (Issued by owner or procured by contractor) are recorded in this register. Periodically, physical verification may also be done. Total issues are to be reconciled with the material consumption plus permissible variation im respect of materials issued to the contractor. (v) Bills register: Payment of advances, running bills and final bill is watched through this register. This register also indicates the status of recoveries. (vi) Register of advances: The contract provides for payments of various advances, Recovery is to be made as per stipulation made in the agreement, This register will show the status of outstanding advances-at any point of time. MONITORING, COORDINATION AND CONTROL OF WORKS Monitoring In order to keep a track of the project's status and ahead off problems before they occur, monitoring isessential as it involves watching the progress against time, resources consumed and performance achieved during execution of work. Monitoring enables an afchitecvengineer a continuous review of implementation. It is the process of ensuring that performance takes place in conformity with the plans. It involves matching the progress against time, resources and performance schedules during execution of work. It is the process of ensuring that performance takes place in conformity with the plans. Itis a group effort, A simplified format is desirable to report both physical and financial progtess. Following monitoring reports are suggested: © Overall status reports (monthly or weekly or daily) * Delay report assessment * Value reports (Value of work done and value of work to be done for completion)= Contracts (stipulated date of completion) likely date of completion * Inventory status report. (Inventory is treated as usable but idle resource. It is vis necessary evil.) Manpower report * Finance. (Funds position) lized as a Coordination Coordination is defined as an effort to bring parts into proper relation for harmonious functioning, Coordination meetings are held periodically to resolve disputes and restore harmony. It restores 1g link and avoids duplication of work/activities in very large offices. Control Control involves a regular comparison of performance against targets, a search for the causes of deviation and a commitment to check adverse Variances. Without control, scope may vary, costs may increase and schedule slippage is likely. Control is the process of ensuring the efficient accomplishment of an enterprise objectives. Mader approach to control is performance analysis, Is the project on schedule? or behind the schedule or ahead of schedule. Is the cost as per the estimate more or less? What is the likely cost of completion and what is the likely date of completion? What action is to be taken and by whom? Similarly regarding cost, have we exceeded the budgeted cost? What should we do to minimize excess cost? What are the contractual implications? Control serves two major functions: * Itensures regular monitoring of performance * It motivates project personnel to strive for achieving project objectives = Types of control, schedule cost, quality, harmony. * Fourstages of control and Establish standards: Measure performance, compare with standards, take corrective action for deviation, Without control, costs may increase, schedule slippage may occur and quality may suffer, risk may increase. VIRTUAL COMPLETION OF WORK Work is treated as virtually completed when "Application is made to local authority for occupation certificate " Itis possible to occupy the building for the purpose for which it was designed and built. * Listofdefects is communicated to contractor for rectification prior to issue of final certificate. "Defect liability period commences from the date of issue virtual completion certificate FINAL COMPLETION OF WORKPES UNIVERS| SO