Constructability Reviews

DTR Advantages

We have extensive experience in developing technical building specifications that comes with hundreds of projects, billions of dollars in construction costs, multiple offices, technical and support staff, along with some of the best resources in the country all in one firm.

Ten years ago we developed the studio approach to providing our clients with the best technical services in the west. We have employed staff from various backgrounds and experience and created an environment which allows us to learn for our experiences, both old and new. Our technical staff are exposed in one year to the experience that a typical Architect would be exposed to in six to seven years. With many of us working on as many as 30 projects a year, from high rises to courthouses, city halls, libraries, mixed-use projects, police stations, research labs, military facilities, universities to pubic education, hospitality projects and large scale retail… we have a lot knowledge to share.

Our Approach

We encourage our clients to clearly show our services and qualifications within their fee proposals and your Response to Client's RFP. This shows both your firm's commitment to quality control and will potential omit you from an Owner contracted Construction Manager constructability/peer review. As we mention many times, these reviews are aimed less at real issues and more with superficial issues which many times, whether intentional or not, make the A/E professional look bad.

At DTR, we approach this work much differently than Construction Managers. First, we contract directly with the Architect or Engineer directly for the sole purpose of integrating ourselves into the team. Our focus is to introduce a new set of eyes into your project analyzing the constructability of the documents, reviewing interdisciplinary coordination, verifying cross-referencing, reviewing specification to drawing coordination, reviewing code requirements and compliance, verifying complete documentation and identifying duplicate or misleading information.

As we discuss many times in our office, we do not "pretend to be the Project Architect or Engineer" when performing our reviews, nor do we try to redesign your project, we simply and comprehensively review the design and bid documents for completeness and accuracy.

We work directly with your firm to assure you that you obtain your firms Quality Control Standards. We do not have to prove to a Building Owner that we are worth our fee by making others look bad, or creating more work for you or your consultants. All our reviews are confidential and protected.

Complete Check Reports

Confidential in-house peer reviews by senior A/E professionals whom have real life experience in the construction field, and have been trained in DTR's quality assurance plan check program "Complete Check". Quick turn-around times, allowing A/E firms time to make adjustments in documents prior to release of bid documents. Reviews include complete review of all discipline drawings and specifications to identify interdisciplinary coordination issues, identification of constructability items, reference checks, ADA/Code plan review, facility building standards verification, and field review to assist in the elimination of potential conflicts, reduction in time consuming questions during construction and potential change order claims.

Our services are tailored to your firms needs, and are designed to assist your firm in maintaining your firm's high quality assurance standards even when your manpower is limited. Our reports are on-line and easy for each consultant to respond to letting you know what items are still unresolved.

Each report contains a summary report, review comments and electronic images of all redline drawings & specifications.

Typical reviews contain reports for the Project Manager, Project Architect, Structural Engineer, Civil Engineer, Landscape Architect, Interior Designer, Mechanical Engineer & Electrical Engineer, Specialty Consultants & other parties, such as the Owner.

Finally, our understanding of the A/E profession allows us to deliver to you material which is instantly ready to access electronically by your internal or external consultants, and project architects for immediate actions. We also can participate in your project team meeting to help identify any larger issues to further assist your team in saving time. Let us share with you our unique approach, and preview our reports & individual comments.

Constructabilty Review Indusrtry Recognition

CONSTRUCTABILITY REVIEWS ENHANCE THE QUALITY OF CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

By: P Douglas Folk, Esq.•

Nationally, multidisciplinary A/E firms have embraced constructability reviews after fining that the maximum benefit of these peer reviews, in terms of their influence on total project cost, was realized 'When the reviews were conducted during the Design Phase.   

Over half of ENR's Top 500 Design Firms have formalized a corporate philosophy promoting "constructability" within their' firms.  Of those firms who implemented a formal review process, the majority started their Reviews during the Design Development Phase.

These firms have reported no resistance from their clients to the implementation of constructability reviews, probably due to the proven cost savings that are achieved, These same firms were also nearly unanimous in their agreement that Value Engineering (VE), is not a substitute for constructability reviews They distinguish VE as a process intended to reduce first cost or total lifecycle cost, not an optimization of the design and construction process.

Constructability Reviews may serve as a precursor to VE, and the two processes can be complementary in their impact on project success When Constructability Reviews were not implemented, the most significant impacts reported by ENR's Top 500 Design Firms were:

• Faulty working drawings
• Incomplete specifications
• Adversarial relationships
• Non-standardization (presumably increasing cost)
• Resistance of the owner
• Budget limitations

The perceived benefits of Constructability Reviews are noted as:

• Better relationships
• Fewer lawsuits
• Better reputations
• Professional Satisfaction
• Efficient design

The good news for clients is that the risk factors contributing to constructability problems are largely within their design team's power to control or influence.  Furthermore, an industry-wide shift towards the design-build, program management, and construction manager-at-risk delivery systems is hastening the adoption of formal QA/ QC processes that assure better and earlier input by the Contractor or Independent Consultant into the design process.  Clients willing to adopt these alternatives to the Design-Bid-Build system can also expect to see better outcomes, both in terms of fewer' claims and disputes, and improved user' satisfaction.