Contractors’ Perception of Potential Causes of Inconsistency Between Design and Construction in Building Projects.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Construction revolves around different activities culminating into a constructed facility borne out of the wish and desire of the client. A construction project is completed as a result of the combination of many events and interactions, planned or unplanned, over the life of a facility, with changing participants and processes in a constantly changing environment (Saqib, Farooqui and Lodi, 2008). The growth of towns has accelerated as a result of high population growth. Large and complex projects have been built, attracting consultants and contractors from all over the world. Most of these parties appear to lack a sufficient understanding of the social, cultural, and physical environment under which construction takes place. This situation, coupled with poor project scope definition, has led to inadequate designs, which often lead to many changes to plans, specifications, and contract terms (Arain 2002). It is in the design stage where the requirements of the client are identified and the constructive aspects and the standards of quality are defined through procedures, drawings and technical specifications. Currently, the work within the design stage is split into several temporary sequences, and it is delivered to different specialists for its execution.
In building projects, first the owner selects the architects who prepare the architectural designs and specifications, and then the structural design and other specialty designs are developed. Generally, the construction stage is the responsibility of a contractor selected by the owner.
The problems of this work sequence have been discussed for many years. The main problems that have been detected are the little interaction among design and construction and among the specialists; this situation compares the following phases to work on incomplete designs. The consequences are suboptimal solutions, lack of constructability and a great number of change
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Construction revolves around different activities culminating into a constructed facility borne out of the wish and desire of the client. A construction project is completed as a result of the combination of many events and interactions, planned or unplanned, over the life of a facility, with changing participants and processes in a constantly changing environment (Saqib, Farooqui and Lodi, 2008). The growth of towns has accelerated as a result of high population growth. Large and complex projects have been built, attracting consultants and contractors from all over the world. Most of these parties appear to lack a sufficient understanding of the social, cultural, and physical environment under which construction takes place. This situation, coupled with poor project scope definition, has led to inadequate designs, which often lead to many changes to plans, specifications, and contract terms (Arain 2002). It is in the design stage where the requirements of the client are identified and the constructive aspects and the standards of quality are defined through procedures, drawings and technical specifications. Currently, the work within the design stage is split into several temporary sequences, and it is delivered to different specialists for its execution.
In building projects, first the owner selects the architects who prepare the architectural designs and specifications, and then the structural design and other specialty designs are developed. Generally, the construction stage is the responsibility of a contractor selected by the owner.
The problems of this work sequence have been discussed for many years. The main problems that have been detected are the little interaction among design and construction and among the specialists; this situation compares the following phases to work on incomplete designs. The consequences are suboptimal solutions, lack of constructability and a great number of change