ARE 5.0 Construction & Evaluation Exam Prep Beta

Although the project delivery process is, again, similar to design-bid-build, in this case, the construction manager will secure separate contractual agreements with the owner, architect and general contractor. The other arrangement is where the general contractor acts as the construction manager. Here, the owner established a separate contract with both the architect and the general contractor/construction manager at the onset of the project.

We had a ton in our backlog and I needed to try to find a way to buy us some more time to review the submittals and then eventually get the project on track. So on my first call with our CM, I started listing off things that the CM hadn't done like they hadn't submitted a proper submittal schedule, they were giving us 10 calendar days as opposed to 10 business days to review and I was quickly caught off by a much more senior member of the construction team than I was of the architectural team. And he reminded me that the CM was actually owned by the same person that owned that was the owner of the property.

So to recap, when participating in pre-construction, pre-installation, and regular progress meetings with the design team, you will need to: prepare and conduct the pre-construction conference, prepare and participate in the pre-installation meetings, and finally, attend regular process meetings with the project team as necessary.

When assisting the owner in selecting contractors, you will need to, have a thorough understanding of the project, determine how the project will be bid, distribute the bidding documents and monitor the bidding process. Review and evaluate the bids and finally advise the owner on the selection of the contractor. To assure you have a thorough understanding of the project, you will need to first review and confirm the project goals and priorities along with those of the owner.

On our side we took the recommendation of the owner without doing the due diligence of making sure that this contractor actually had the experience required to build this specific building type. So without doing any of that research or any of that due diligence they awarded this project to the contractor and the design process and the construction process started. Very early on into the process, the owner and ourselves recognized that this contractor actually never had experienced building this type of facility.

When assisting the owner in preparing the owner-contractor agreement, you should: review changes in the contract itself, review any changes the contractor wants to make to the contract, and make sure provisions are consistent between all the agreements and contract documents. First, you need to review any changes in the contract itself. You should pull up and review the A101 contract and make sure that it includes all applicable bonds, such as performance and payment.

If part of your site visit is to observe the work in place for payment application requests, you will need to make your own determination of the percentage of work that has been completed. There are a number of things that will help you do this. Knowledge of the construction documents will help you understand the amount of work that needs to be done.

But the funniest thing about this story was the drawing that I had to do for the contractor, showing this big curve in the concrete wall and a big label in capital letters just saying field condition, which the whole office got a real kick out of.

When coordinating testing of building performance and materials, you will need to: define what testing needs to be included in the specifications, review the specifications during the construction phase, determine the timing of the testing, and review results after testing is complete. The requirements for testing of building performance and materials should be defined during the design process and included in the specifications. These would typically include meeting ASTM annual requirements, but there could also be a unique assembly that could require an individual mock-up or a specific performance testing.

And so as we were getting ready to start the water test, we all decided it would be a good idea to stand inside the mock up and watch the water test from the inside. So as soon as they turned on this pretty much massive fire hose, of course, the mock up failed and water was pouring through the facade, we all got soaked. And it was not a good day, given that everybody was four and a half hours away from their house and nobody brought a change of clothes.

When reviewing results from field reports and testing inspections and other test results for conformance with the contract documents, you will need to distribute the reports, compare the testing reports with testing requirements, and notify the owner and contractor of any nonconforming work. The first thing that you need to do when you receive a test or inspection report is to distribute copies to all necessary team members. Sometimes the test results will come from the general contractor, but they also may come directly to you from a third-party testing agency.

Well, there was this one large area of the floor slab that was poured and failed the floor flatness but passed on floor levelness. So essentially the equipment would have no issue sitting on the floor but the slab was curling and buckling around the edges. We knew that if we were to grind the slab down and even out the floor flatness more aggregate would be showing that our client had originally desired.

When you monitor the project schedule to maintain compliant with established milestones, you will review the construction schedule, monitor and evaluate the construction schedule at the appropriate intervals, make any needed adjustments to the project schedule, determine if those adjustments impact contractual obligations, and then formally amend the contract if necessary. The first thing you need to do is to review the construction schedule provided by the contractor. It is important to have knowledge of construction sequencing and critical path scheduling.

To recap, these are the key steps to modify the construction contract, determined the change and who initiated it, determine the scope of the change and documentation requirements, handle substitution request, coordinate the contractors proposed price for change and the owner's acceptance or rejection, and finally coordinate the approval of the change in scope, price, and time.

I was working on a $200 million construction budget multifamily project, 500 unit apartment building in Brooklyn and of course the project was over budget and the owner was looking for ways to save some money, so they asked the CM to value engineer and submit their suggestions to the architect's office, my office. One of the suggestions was to revise this steamer and bench, which previously had two levels of seating, so that it only had one level of seating. Keep in mind that this is a 10 foot long steamer and bench on a $200 million construction project.

When responding to the contractor's request for information, you will need to catalog the RFI and assess its validity, determine who needs to provide a response, review the information provided by any consultants and prepare and catalog the final response to the RFI. Catalog the RFI and determine if it is a valid RFI that should be answered. The first thing you need to do is catalog the RFI and determine if it's a valid request.

When managing information exchange during construction, you would need to do the following: review established procedures, align protocols with the contracts, and monitor the process as it's happening. When reviewing the established procedures, you'll want to start by reading the contract. Here, you will find the procedures required by the specific type of documentation and what the time period should be for the response.

However, this GC claimed that there was no electrical scope included in the project, even though the mechanical drawings clearly showed the heat trace. So our position as the architect was that this project, if it had been bid as a multi-prime contract, this item would definitely have been missed. However, since this was bid as a single prime through a GC, they should have performed scope reviews between the various divisions and accommodated that in their bid.

To recap, when reviewing shop drawings and submittals during construction for conformance with design intent, you will need to receive and catalog the submittal, assess the validity of this submittal, coordinate the submittal schedule with the overall project schedule, determine who will be responsible for responding, collect and review responses, prepare your review and then catalog and send out final responses.

To recap, when reviewing application of certification for payment, you will need to: review the draft version submitted by the contractor, coordinate markups and changes with the contractor, and then review and sign the formalized application for payment.

So, I gave him the option to either revise his pay application that day for what material was already on-site or to wait until the remaining material arrived. He chose to revise the pay application and the client avoided risk exposure for tapered insulation floating around on semi trucks around the country.

So in conclusion, when resolving conflicts that may arise during the design and construction process, you would need to; validate the conflict, determine the type and level of conflict resolution required, identify the initial decision maker as applicable, and then finally properly document the resolution.

When managing project closeout procedures and documentation, you will need to, discuss a close up procedures with the contractor, receive the contractor's notice of substantial completion, review the contractor's work and issue punch list, issue substantial completion form G704, finalize all project closeout requirements, and then certify the final application for payment and execute your firm's project close out procedures. The first step in managing project closeout is to have a discussion of the closeout procedures prior to the contractor providing a notice of substantial completion for the project. This can be accomplished by holding a project closeout conference, although in practice is usually discussed in your regular project meetings.

When establishing procedures for building commissioning, you will review and coordinate how commissioning will be performed, coordinate attendance of appropriate team members, and finally be present for all testing and commissioning. The first step in organizing commissioning during close out is to review and coordinate how commissioning will be performed. You should have a meeting with the project team to determine who the commissioning agent will be.

When managing post occupancy issues you will need to address any new additional services the owner has requested, review the products and systems that are near the end of their warranty period, coordinate with the owner to identify any remaining non-conforming work, and if contracted, coordinate a post occupancy evaluation. First you will want to address any additional services the owner has requested after the completion of construction. This situation might occur if the owner discovers that an item would function better in a different location than it was built.

So at the end of a construction project for a new 35,000 square foot corporate office building addition, we were getting into the fall and winter seasons in the Midwest. The building had already been through one winter, unconditioned, before major utilities had been installed. So performance was difficult to base off of, and see if our design intent was met.