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The Dreaded Change Order
We have never met an Owner who was happy to hear, “We need a change order.” What we’ve learned over the years is that even though change orders are facts of life in construction, there are strategies to help you avoid them.changeorders-graphic
Change orders (CO) fall into two categories – owner driven and non-owner driven. Both can be mitigated.
Owner driven change orders happen when Owners change their minds, adding a window here or changing the carpet there. We’ve even seen buildings moved and floors added mid-project, which leads us to the first CO avoidance strategy.
Project Documentation: Win the Paper Battle
The primary goal in construction recordkeeping is to manage crucial information to facilitate decision-making. A secondary goal is to document key aspects of the project to provide an audit trail or comply with legal or regulatory documentation requirements. Frequently project participants lose sight of these two important goals; and resort to “wall-papering” the project office with reams of useless documents.
What can BIG DATA Collection and Analysis Do For Your Process Plant Profitability?
By Robert C. McCue, PE and Donald Keer, PE MDC Systems® Consulting Engineers
Process Plant profitability depends in large part on operational continuity or up-time. MDC Systems® has recently become aware of a developing technology to detect and then prevent unplanned shutdowns due to up-set operating parameters in process plants. This capability results from the real time collection and analysis of all reportable operating data…“BIG DATA.”
Process Plants typically produce more data than can be efficiently collected and reviewed by the operators. A plant with 320 tags (equipment items with associated data collection points such as pressure, temperature, flow etc), recording at 5 second intervals, will produce 5 million data readings per day. That is a billion data points over six months. Buried in this cascade of information are subtle leading indicators of up-set operating conditions.
Risk in Construction Estimating
By definition, an estimate is an approximate calculation. This inherently infers that there is a certain amount of risk involved with any estimate. The risk will vary depending on the quality and the detail of the estimate and on the detail of the design information available at the time the estimate is prepared.
The quality and detail of an estimate is usually defined in the requested scope of services. An estimate can be an opinion of cost or a detailed estimate. The opinion of cost is an estimate prepared based on a professional’s best approximation of what a project will cost.