Construction projects have a specific start and end time. From the moment the client commissions it, through construction, subsequent occupation, and demolition or deconstruction at the end of its life, a construction project moves through three distinct stages or phases. These stages/phases are named according to when actual work begins on the construction site: pre-construction, construction, and post-construction.
In other terms, they are referred to as pre-contract, contract, and post-contract phases of a construction project. The term “contract” as used here refers to the construction contract that is signed between the client (who is the owner of the project) and the contractor (who does actual work implementation on the site). These phases are discussed below, and each is critical for the success of the project, requiring careful planning, execution, and management:
Pre-Construction Stage
The preconstruction stage, also known as the pre-contract stage, is the phase where the planning of the project happens (meaning the design and preliminary work to prepare it to enter the construction stage).
During this stage, the design and client teams work on defining the scope of the project, identifying the project requirements, preparing a budget, selecting a construction site, and obtaining the necessary permits and approvals.
The main activities here include the acquisition of land, client briefing, feasibility studies, preliminary design and cost estimates, preparation of bills of quantities, tendering and selection of the contractor, and signing of the construction contract (agreement and conditions of contract). Also, budgets, project schedules, cash flow projections, and labour projections are prepared during this stage.
Project quantity surveyors, during this stage, perform a wide array of roles which include the following:
- Developing a detailed cost plan for the project. This involves estimating the costs of materials, labour, and equipment required to complete the project, along with overheads, contingencies, and other indirect costs.
- Involvement in the tendering process, which includes preparing and issuing tender documents, evaluating tenders, and recommending the best tenderer.
- Negotiating the contract terms and conditions with the successful tenderer, ensuring that the terms are fair and balanced.
- Identifying and mitigating risks that could impact the project’s cost, quality, or schedule.
- Performing value engineering which involves finding cost-effective solutions to achieve the desired project outcomes.
When a suitable contractor is selected, they enter into a contract with the client (also known as the employer or project owner) to construct the facility to completion in exchange for a consideration valued at the contract sum. This then moves us to the next phase of the project.
Construction Stage
This is the stage where actual construction work happens on the site. It starts when the contractor takes over the site, mobilising labour resources, construction materials, plant, and equipment, and begins to translate the drawings and specifications into built-up work.
A wide range of activities, including site preparation, excavations and earthworks, building foundations, and erecting the structures. Here, the main contractor works together with subcontractors who execute work described in the provisional and prime costs sums in a bill of quantities. This could be specialist works like electrical installations, mechanical installations, CCTV and structured cabling, solar water heating installations, ventilation, heating, and air conditioning.
The main concerns of the contractor are in the procurement of materials and labour; health and safety considerations, quality control and assurance; supervision of works; payments applications and processing.
A well-executed construction stage ensures that the project is delivered on time, within the budget, and to the required quality standards. It is essential to manage the construction stage carefully to avoid delays or issues that may arise, which can lead to additional costs and possible project delays.
The architect and the engineers closely monitor and supervise this stage to ensure that work is executed according to the drawings and specifications, and good quality workmanship is achieved by the contractor and the construction team. Every key stage is ratified through written approvals by the consultants to proceed to the next stage, with progress inspections and quality and progress review meetings held as necessary to ensure quality compliance by the contractor.
Further, during this stage, the main work of the project quantity surveyor is contract administration and project management. This is done through helping the project parties understand and fulfil their contractual obligations and duties, tracking actual construction spending on site, valuing work done and materials on site to recommend payments to the contractors, preparing appraisals, advising on the cost implications of variations, keeping records of important contractual correspondences, participating in progress review meetings, keeping contractual records of test certificates and commissioning certificate for specialist electrical installations, mechanical components, equipment, and the subsequent signoffs by the sub-contractors.
This stage ends when the contractor completes the construction work and hands over the facility to the client for occupation. However, the contractor remains liable for defects that may arise as a result of poor quality of workmanship or poor quality of materials that were used in construction for a period of time (about 6 months or 12 months, depending on the nature of the project and the type of contract used). This period is called the defects liability period. The contract can be called back to rectify the defects at his cost.
At this point, the project is ready to transition to the next stage of client occupation, which is called the post-contract phase.
Post-Construction Stage
The post-construction stage begins immediately after the project is handed over to the client for occupation, although the final contractual obligations of the client and the contractor are discharged after agreeing on the final account of the project and making all the remaining payments to the contractor.
During this, the client is using the facility, and the liability for the repairs and maintenance work that may be required during occupation rests with the client.
For the consultants, it provides an opportunity to undertake post-occupancy studies on the project to understand how it performs during occupation and whether it achieves the functions that it was intended to achieve during the design stage.
Where corporate clients have many buildings to be managed (such as properties belonging to a university, for example, or a chain of hotel facilities), these hire facility managers to be in charge of the maintenance of the facilities, including doing routine inspections to identify any dilapidations, prepare budgets, and source for funding to do renovations and refurbishments as necessary to retain the value of the projects.
In this stage, the quantity surveyor can do cost-in-use studies to establish how the building performs in terms of the costs of maintenance, repairs, and replacement of parts and components, running costs for fuel for machines and equipment, lighting, power, water, and other utility bills, among others. These are used as a key input into the cost advice for the next project, including influencing the choice of materials for long-term sustainability of future projects. Through this, it supports the life cycle costing approach that is useful for cost engineering buildings to produce low-maintenance high quality structures/facilities.
Conclusion
We have seen the three distinct phases of a construction project, which include the pre-construction, construction, and post-construction stages.
These are distinguished by the specific roles that project parties play in each stage. The actual construction work on site, which requires a construction contract to be signed and discharged, helps to delineate when each phase starts and ends.
It is important to understand the specific roles that are performed by the quantity surveyors in these project stages, as the main focus of the unit is the measurement work done by the QS, which forms a basis for all other cost management work at the contract stage of the project.
Cost studies done at the occupancy stage of the project yielded important building performance data that is fed back into the decision-making loop for a new construction project. This influences the choices of materials, components, procurement methods, and fittings and fixtures to ensure the long-term financial sustainability of the project/facility.
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