Aligning Expectations in Construction Projects

Aligning Expectations in Construction Projects

Getting & Keeping People on the Same Page

Clarifying and improving performance contracts between critical relationships, such as:

• Architects and their Design Engineers
• General Contractors and their Sub-Contractors
• Managers and Subordinates
• Leadership Teams
• Cross-functional groups

Groups have successfully used AlEx™ to:

• Improve competitiveness
• Deliver more customer-focused solutions
• Deliver a building on-time, on-budget and no legal

issues

• Accelerate and build partnerships
• Integrate new Architects
• Streamline Change Order & RFI Processes

Potential Benefits of the Eternal Triangle: Owner, Architectural Design Team & General Contractor

The Goal: a perfect building with proper design, highest quality, constructed on time and last but not least, built within budget.

 Introduction

What follows are three areas where AlEx™ can potentially help the “Eternal Triangle” of tension and mistrust that pervades many construction project relationships
1. Managing Conflict and Relationship Tension
2. Managing Complexity
3. Improving Building Performance

1.    Managing Conflict – Benefits of AlEx™

1. Helps develop a healthy attitude to managing rather than hiding conflict.
2. Reduces the distracting and destructive products from poorly handled conflict situations.
3. Helps harness diverse views and experience in the project team for the good of the overall project and Owner.
4. Helps handle change as the project progresses and manages the constant flow of information between Owners, consultants and contractors.
5. 5. Addresses the tensions in managing the dynamic and transient nature of the project life cycle process.
6. Recognizes that as work precedes the relative bargaining strengths of the parties are constantly adjusting. Standard approaches to contracting simply do not take this into account.
7. Overcomes, the inflexibility inherent in standard building contracts. For example, one contract assumes that the design is complete at the time of bidding and that the contractor employs most of the resources that will be required for the project. The fact is, design is rarely 100 % complete at the time of bidding and contractors subcontract most of the work.
8. Develops Project Teams while recognizing their different rules of engagement. AlEx™ recognizes and helps facilitate different project needs and rules of engagement, like:

• Changing Owner demands
• Rapid learning
• Generating and maintaining effective interaction between team members so that they can exchange views and debate the consequences of their decisions in an open and honest forum.
• Changing circumstances over the project’s life cycle.
• Shifting relationship tensions between the major members of the project team.
• Building trust for when things do not go as planned.

2. Managing Complexity – Benefits of AlEx™

1.    Designs in flexibility in management structure and style that is essential in dealing with complex and changing business environments.
2.    Deals with the reality that construction contracts are based upon industry-wide standards that often are hastily modified and executed during a hurried design and bidding process. AlEx™ picks up where the contracting process stops. Every project needs a legal contract and a guide to monument – AlEx™ is the formative process to get the contracting parties into alignment.
3.    AlEx™ helps harness conflict that causes the distress and low productivity associated with escalating conflict. AlEx™ helps to develop open, skillful discussion that is needed to turn differences into synergistic gains rather than squabbling losses.
4.    The use of AlEx™ helps project teams build Partnering, a process of building up long term business relationships that reduce the adversarial nature of construction. The expectations approach helps shift the emphasis from a contractual focus to a results orientated management focus.
5.    AlEx™ takes the heat out of how to convert business deals into good contracts which produce lasting positive relationships.
6.    Helps develop the close working relationships needed between all designers and contractors in order to produce an integrated building in which all building services, structural and building elements are fully planned, systematically organized and combined, and brought to fruition as required by an Owner. It really produces teams that actually communicate effectively with each other.
7.    Helps develop the processes needed to cope with the growing complexity of design and Owner needs, e.g. as hospital buildings grow in size and complexity, building services also tend to be more sophisticated and difficult to manage from design to certificate of occupancy.
8.    Helps develop coordination to ensure that services and other building elements are properly planned, managed and coordinated.
9.    Develops protocols for coordinating multi-head Owner, changes of design, conditions of engagement of designers and contractors, division of design responsibilities, allocation of risks, early incorporation of specialty contractors/consultants, forms of contract and quality of design and construction management.  AlEx™ can also have a positive effect on coordination of building services within the General Contractors office.
10. Examines ways in which Owners and various designers, contractors and equipment suppliers can work together as a team in line with the projects procurement path or strategy (The whole process of creation, communication, response and integration in    the context of the project can be defined as procurement).
11. Helps develop Procurement Strategies by guiding decisions early in the project influencing risk allocation, design strategy and consultant/contractor hiring. This ensures that throughout the project the following are all consistent with the selected procurement route:

• Roles and relationships
• Project management approach,
• Communication channels
• Information systems,
• Forms of contracts, and
• Overall management of the project organization

3.    Improving Building Performance – Potential Benefits of AlEx™

1.      Identification of problems and their solutions before they actually occur. This is a proactive approach toward building solutions to performance issues.
2.    Improved space utilization and feedback on building performance.
3.    Improved attitude of building owner through active involvement in the evaluation process.
4.    Understanding of the performance implications of changes dictated by budget cuts and scope changes, add-ons, contract extensions, and government intervention.
5.    Built-in capability for facility adaptation to organizational change and growth over time, including

• Recycling of facilities into new uses
• Significant cost savings in the building process and throughout the building life cycle.
• Accountability for building performance by design professionals and owners.
• Long-term improvements in building performance:
• Improved measurement of building performance through quantification.

1. Exposing and Expelling Pre-Conceived Notions

Project Owners believe Contractors to be _____________.

• Architects believe Contractors to be _________________.
• Contractors believe Architects to be _________________.
• Contractors believe Owners to be ___________________.

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Great, but how can this help me?

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