By Travelers Insurance
As a design professional, most projects you work on contain significant risks. One way to reduce these risks is to have a constructability review performed in order to increase the likelihood that your project is successful and minimize the potential for a claim of professional negligence. The purpose of constructability reviews is to anticipate and identify issues that the construction of the project could face before the project moves out of the design phase.
These reviews essentially make the design team aware of the construction process and the potential pitfalls the contractors can face as a warning during the design. It also increases the likelihood that the designs and specifications being drawn are easily understood so that the project can be properly and accurately put out to bid. The review can also prevent unnecessary addendums to the drawings and specifications and create clearer understanding of the project goals and decrease delays.
These reviews offer a second opinion to determine if the project can be built based on the drawings and specifications and help identify any anticipated construction problems with the design. These reviews also specify an understanding of the project’s costs, timelines and construction issues so that alterations can be made, if necessary, and the design team has the ability to clarify any questions related to the specifications or drawings. Possibly most important of all the benefits the review can supply is the ability for design professionals to evaluate the results of the review, consult with their client and, when appropriate, make modifications to the design during the design phase rather than during the construction phase. This helps minimize the risks of having claims related to delays and change orders.
The constructability review can result in significant risk mitigation for the design professional team because the review should result in a clear and comprehensive set of bid documents, thereby allowing contractors to provide higher-quality bids due to a greater understanding of the project goals. This should also result in a smoother construction process, which can benefit the design team because there will be fewer RFIs and change orders and fewer issues that could cause the project to go off schedule or off budget.
Overall, changes and disputes should be kept to a minimum. This provides a risk management benefit for the design team because claims often result when a project is no longer running smoothly. Owners often perceive a large number of RFIs, change orders, delays and issues with the budget to mean that there is a problem, and they start to look for someone to hold responsible for the problem. If potential issues can be identified and addressed during the design phase, the project is less likely to face these issues and potentially lessen the likelihood of a claim against the design team.
Constructability reviews are typically, but not always, performed by independent professionals not associated with the subject project who have significant experience and knowledge with the type of project being performed. These independent parties consist of engineers, contractors and, sometimes, owner’s representatives. A constructability review is commenced by the project owner and will likely involve a contract between the owner and a third-party consultant. Therefore, the owner is in control of how and when the constructability review is performed. For projects that are not competitively bid and the project owner contemplated executing a negotiated contract with a contractor, it is not uncommon for the project owner to engage that contractor during the design process to provide constructability review for the design team.
For optimal results, the review should be performed at least twice, the first review occurring after significant completion of the design process and the second review coming after the design team believes their phase is fully complete and before submitting for permit review. Having constructability reviews at these two stages ensures 1) that the design process is on the right track and if any questions are raised or mistakes caught, that it will not be as strenuous of a process to go back and make the necessary corrections, and 2) a complete review of the entire proposed project. While it is still possible, conducting a constructability review any earlier into the design phase typically returns inaccurate results, as there are still many questions to be answered and the value of having the review performed becomes diminished.
These constructability reviews do not necessarily need to be a formal process. The reviewer can draft their own notes or make a spreadsheet to address each facet of the design phase or simply make their notes on the drawings themselves to specifically point out issues or risks that could arise. Of course, as with any part of a project, there are pitfalls to consider. First, the participants in the constructability review need to keep a constant flow of organized communication. Without this, confusion could ensue due to multiple comments and iterations of drawings and specifications as a result of identified issues and recommended changes.
The project participants must also remember that a constructability review is not meant to take the place of a peer review, biddability review or a quality control (QC) review. These vital steps in the design phase should not be eliminated simply because a constructability review is being conducted. As noted above, a constructability review that is performed too soon in the design process could cause confusion and provide inaccurate results. Oftentimes, the contract will include specific language that the consultant is not liable for any errors or omissions that it does not identify. The design professional must not rely on the constructability review to identify potential issues in the design. That is why it is important to also conduct a peer review or QC review, including during the course of the constructability review, to ensure that any recommended changes do not conflict with or cause problems related to other areas of the design.
Overall, with a clear process for a constructability review and clear communication among the project team, a constructability review can be beneficial to all participants in the project. The owner benefits from a clearly defined scope of the project that will result in a smoother project overall, the contractor has the ability to provide a higher-quality bid because it has received a clear and complete set of bid documents, and the design team’s risk of a claim will be reduced because the project will run smoother and issues that could cause the owner to believe there is a problem with the design, such as a significant number of RFIs or change orders, delays or budget overruns, will be minimized or eliminated. The resulting smoother construction process will reduce the likelihood of changes and disputes and increase the potential for a successful, claim-free project.
“The Value of a Constructability Review” was published by The Travelers Indemnity Company, Sealed and Delivered Newsletter for Design Professionals, November 20