Construction superintendent's operations manual

475 Pages·2008·33.513 MB·English

by  Sidney M Levy

Construction
Superintendent’s
Operations Manual
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sidney M. Levy is an independent construction industry
consultant with more than 40 years of experience in the
field. He is the author of numerous books on construction
methods and operations, including Design-Build Project
Delivery, Construction Databook, and Project Management
in Construction, all available from McGraw-Hill.
Copyright © 2008, 2004 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Click here for terms of use.
Construction
Superintendent’s
Operations Manual
Sidney M. Levy
Second Edition
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DOI: 10.1036/0071502416
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Contents
Preface xiii
List of Form Letters xv
Contents of the CD xix
Chapter 1. A Construction Industry Snapshot 1
Union versus Nonunion Shops and Other Labor Trends 1
A Risky Business 2
Developing Trends in the Construction Industry 3
The Organization 3
Changes in the subcontracting industry 3
Human Resources—The Workforce 4
The growing female workforce 5
Project Delivery Systems 5
Technology 6
Productivity 7
Quality Control 7
Safety 7
The Green Building and Sustainability Movement Accelerates 8
The Project Superintendent’s Role 9
Chapter 2. Construction Contracts and How They Are Administered 11
The American Institute of Architects Contract Updates 11
The Letter of Intent 12
The Most Prevalent Types of Construction Contract 14
Cost of the Work Plus a Fee 14
Cost to be reimbursed as defined by A111 15
Costs not to be reimbursed per A111 16
Pitfalls for the superintendent to avoid when administering a cost-plus
contract without a GMP 17
The saga of a cost-plus fit-up project 17
The Stipulated or Lump-Sum Contract 20
Pitfalls to avoid when supervising a lump-sum or stipulated-sum contract 21
Addressing Material Price increases in Stipulated/Lump-Sum Contracts 23
v
vi Contents
The Cost-Plus-Fee Contract with a Guaranteed Maximum Price 24
Pitfalls to avoid when administering a GMP contract 28
Construction manager contracts 29
CM contracts—a two-part arrangement 29
The construction manager and the preconstruction phase 30
CM fees 32
Pitfalls to avoid when administering a construction manager contract 32
Design-Build 34
The bridging contract 34
The contract to form the design-build team—the teaming agreement 35
A contract between owner and design-builder 35
Owner concerns during construction 35
The Joint Venture Agreement 36
Turnkey Contracts 36
Contracts with Government Agencies 37
The notice to proceed in a public works project 37
Public works provisions that can affect subcontractor negotiations 37
Change Order Clauses in Government Contracts—Enrichment and Betterments 40
Looking for Those Onerous Provisions in the Contract with the Owner 41
Bonds and Insurance 43
Three Basic Types of Bonds 43
The bid bond 43
Payment bonds 43
Performance bonds 43
Some Bond Terminology 44
Other Types of Bonds 44
Federal agencies and bonds 45
The letter of credit 45
Subcontractor Bonds Required by General Contractors 45
Subcontractor Default Insurance—a Bond or Insurance? 46
Insurance 46
Commercial general liability 46
Contractor’s professional liability insurance 47
Contractor’s pollution liability insurance (CPL) 47
Umbrella coverage 47
Builders risk insurance 47
Owner- or contractor-controlled-insurance programs—OCIP and CIP 47
Workers compensation insurance 48
Glossary of Insurance Terms 48
Chapter 3. General Conditions of the Construction Contract 51
Article 1—General Provisions:The Contract Documents 52
Article 2—Owner 52
Article 3—Contractor 53
Article 4—Administration of the Contract 54
Article 5—Subcontractors 55
Article 6—Construction by Owner or by Separate Contractors 56
Article 7—Changes in the Work 56
Article 8—Time 57
Article 9—Payments and Completion 58
Article 10—Protection of Persons and Property 59
Article 11—Insurance and Bonds 59
Contents vii
Article 12—Uncovering and Correction of Work 60
Article 13—Tests and Inspections 60
Article 14—Termination or Suspension of the Contract 60
The 1987 Edition of AIA A201 60
AIA Document A201CMa—General Conditions of the Contract for Construction,
Construction Manager-Adviser Edition 61
Associated General Contractors’Version of General Conditions between Owner
and Contractor—AGC Document No.200 62
The general conditions of the engineers joint contract
documents committee 64
Chapter 4. Organizing the Project—Before and During Construction 65
The Preproject Handoff Meeting 65
Organizing the Job in the Office 66
Coping with Addenda 68
Job Files 71
The chronological file 71
Rereading the Specifications 71
Quick Review of Closeout Requirements 73
Changes in CSI’s MasterFormat® 73
The new Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) MasterFormat® 73
Submission of a Schedule of Values 74
Reviewing Allowance and Alternate Items Included in the
Owner’s Contract 74
Allowances 74
Alternates 78
Shop Drawings and the Shop Drawing Log 78
Abbreviations and acronyms referred to in the specifications 85
Inspections and Testing 86
Job Scheduling 87
The bar or Gantt chart 90
Critical path method 93
The Importance of Float and Who Owns It 95
Chapter 5. Organizing in the Field 97
The Site Logistics Plan 97
Setting Up the Field Office 99
Visitor control 99
Did you remember to bring or order everything you need? 100
Don’t let filing get away from you 100
The daily log and its function 102
Organizing Subcontractor Meetings 104
Management by walking around 104
Coordination—a prime topic for the subcontractor meeting 105
Other subcontractor meeting requirements 105
The kickoff subcontractor meeting 106
Walking the job before the subcontractor meeting 111
Monthly project reviews 116
The request for information (RFI) and request for clarification (RFC) 120
Preparing for project closeout 124
Problem solving 127
viii Contents
Learning Effective Time Management 128
Blunder 1—Inability to deal with drop-in visitors 131
Blunder 2—Lack of priorities 132
Blunder 3—Inability to control telephone conversations 133
Blunder 4—The electronics trap 135
Blunder 5—Reluctance to delegate 136
Blunder 6—The cluttered desk syndrome 138
Blunder 7—Procrastination 139
Blunder 8—The need to achieve perfection 140
Blunder 9—Attempting to do too much 141
Blunder 10—Inability to say no 143
Chapter 6. Working with Subcontractors 145
Negotiating with Subcontractors to Avoid Disagreements 146
Review of the Subcontract Agreement to Become Familiar with Its Contents 153
Verifying agreement with the subcontractor’s field supervisor 153
Compliance with Schedule Requirements 154
Notice of nonperformance 156
Notice to correct 158
Disputed Work or Interpretation of Contract Scope—RFIs and RFCs 162
Safety Issues 166
Job Cleaning and Subcontract Provisions to Enforce This Task 168
A project cleaning checklist 170
Change Orders and the Subcontractor 173
Requests by owner 176
Requests by the general contractor 184
Requests by the subcontractor 186
Subcontractor claims for extra work where there is no owner reimbursement 187
Time and Material Work—Pitfalls to Avoid 190
A daily ticket checklist 191
The superintendent’s limited authority to approve T&M work 193
Limiting exposure to damages for delay claims 194
When the Contract Is a Cost Plus or a Cost Plus with a GMP 194
Reviewing hourly rates 195
The unemployment tax question 195
Establishing some ground rules for T&M work 197
Protocol for change order,T&M,premium work 197
Third-Party Subcontractors and the Lien Waiver Problem 198
Damage to the Subcontractor’s Work or Damage to Work of Others by
the Subcontractor 199
The subcontractor quality control process 199
The weekly subcontractor meeting 200
Preparing Meaningful Meeting Minutes 200
Backcharges—The Right and Wrong Ways to Deal with Them 202
Reviewing The Subcontractor’s Requisition 202
Subcontractor’s request for payment for off-site storage of materials 203
The importance of recognizing second- and third-tier subcontractors 207
Chapter 7. Dealing With Difficult Issues at the Construction Site 209
Site-Related Problems 209
The geotechnical report and its ambiguities 210
Two critical phrases and words 211