Construction Agreements

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The Marriage Contract, William Hogarth; 1743

Construction Agreements describe the contractural agreements between the parties.  These agreements are generally prepared on standardized forms which are modified to suit the requirements of a specific project. The agreements usually consist of an Agreement Form and a companion document called variously "General Conditions" or "Conditions of the Contract". 

For purposes of our discussion, I will refer to these standardized agreements as Model Contracts (following the usage of the building codes which are referred to as "Model Codes" before they are adopted by a specific jurisdiction).

Many organizations publish Model Contracts . Some familiar examples include the AIA, EJCDC, AGC, DBIA and the relatively new ConsensusDocs.  Most government and public agencies, and some private owners have their own, prepared by their legal counsel.

The Construction Agreement Form records relatively basic information about the contract:  Names and addresses of the parties, description and location of the project, type of contract, method of compensation, signatures of the principals and dates of signing, etc.

The Conditions of the Contract then spell out in detail the legal obligations and responsibilities of the parties to one another and to the project.  Some third party responsibilities are also delineated, in particular, those of the A/E.  This latter fact is necessary to the proper functioning of the Construction Agreement and necessitates the careful coordination of the Owner-Contractor Agreement and the Owner-Architect Agreement.

Many, but not all, of the organizations publishing Model Contracts for Construction Agreements also publish coordinated Owner-Architect or Owner-Engineer Agreements.  When preparing Construction Agreements, the A/E should take great care to review the proposed document with the terms of their own contract with the Owner.

Often, the two agreements are prepared by different attorneys, maybe years apart, and could have varying scopes of duties and responsibilities.  It is very important that the expectations of the Contractor written into his Owner-Contractor Agreement should reflect the duties and responsibilities of the Architect/Engineer as described in their Owner-Architect Agreement.  In the event of a dispute, any discrepancy could become a problem.

In today's illustration, the two gentlemen in rich clothing discuss their contract of marriage for their children with their solicitor, while the young people sit idly in the back, focused on their own concerns.  Do not look away while others prepare your contracts, be involved and alert to the danger of uncoordinated documents.

There is more on this topic in CSI PRM 5.3.

Next Post:  Design and Construction Participants.

 

PS.  It looks like the internet issue which was preventing posting of graphics is repaired.  Posts will continue more frequently now.  Thank you for your patience while this was resolved.

 

 

Specifications in the Project Life Cycle: Design Development

The work of the A/E in this stage includes documentation and design for

  •       Integration of systems and components based on increasing technical details and constructability
  •       Size and Character of entire Project
  •       More Detailed Plans and Elevations
  •       Civil, Structural and M/E/P, other engineering and design disciplines
  •       Project cost estimates
  •       Outline Specifications

o       Often organized by MasterFormat and SectionFormat, these usually do not include detailed information regarding installation of materials and products or administrative processes used during construction.

The Project Life Cycle

Image001

Good Morning:  I have resumed posting images after a brief period of technical difficulties.

 

Today's Graphic is the Project Life Cycle from the CSI PRM.  It is out of sequence and should be referenced with the prior post and the next several as well.

 

 

As I work through the problem, I will get back to more frequent posts. We have a lot of course material to get through before the quiz (humor).

Thanks for your patience.

JG

Specifications in the Project Life Cycle: Schematic Design

CSI's Project Resource Manual describes the Project Life Cycle with a number of stages:

  • Project Conception
  • Project Delivery
  • Design
  • Construction Documents
  • Procurement
  • Construction
  • Facility Management
  • Evaluation
  • Abandonment, Demolition, Sale, Adaptive Re-use (remodeling)

Specification production is concentrated in the Design and Construction Documents stage.  Different types of specification documents are required to describe the work in these various stages.

In Schematic Design, the purpose of the documentation is the evaluation of Owner’s programming
requirements and development of conceptual design documents, including

  • Preliminary Sketches
  • Schematic Plans and Elevations, Diagrams, Renderings and other Graphics
  • Preliminary Project Descriptions, a specialized form of specifications, often organized by UniFormat, and formatted using the new PPDFormat  available from CSI.

Next Post:  Specifications in Design Development

 

Specifications and Design: Does Not Have to be a Tense Relationship

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Echo and Narcissus, John William Waterhouse, 1903

Today's painting illustrates a tense relationship between the young man Narcissus, seen here admiring his reflection in the stream, and the young lady, Echo, across the water, trying to attract his attention.

Something of the same relationship can exist between Design and Specifications.  Design can be distracted by aesthetic concerns and may not give sufficient attention to the technical proficiency offered by Specifications, who turns half away in disappointment.  Specifications and technical concerns may try to recreate what worked last time and not be responsive to the design intent, preventing the realization of the Design.

Echo, in her sadness, eventually left Narcissus by the water and fled away, crying his name over and over, eventually fading away until only her voice remained.  She hides today in distant places, forlornly repeating the names called out to her.

In an ideal world, Design and Specifications are a happy couple, each realizing the importance of the other, mutually supporting the Architect's Dream.

Next Post:  Specification Types by Design Stage.

What Are Specifications?

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Noah's Ark, Edward Hicks, 1846

St. Jerome, Caravaggio, 1606

One of the earliest written specifications that can be identified is found in the Book of Genesis, Chapter 6, verse 14, where the Almighty describes the Ark to Noah and calls out the materials and workmanship in detail (KJV).

"Make thee an ark of gopher wood; rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shalt pitch it within and without with pitch."

St. Jerome is working at his desk recording the decisions concerning the materials and attributes of the ark project.

Specifications are written documents defining the qualitative
requirements for products, materials and workmanship upon which the contract is based.

●Physical Qualities and Characteristics
●Quality of Materials and Equipment
●Standards of Workmanship
●Methods of Installation

Next Post:  Specifications and Design.

Construction Documents and Contract Documents

Today's post will try to explain where Specifications stand in the array of Construction Documents, in order to better describe their content and their limitations compared to the other essential elements of project documentation.

This discussion is shown in greater detail in CSI's Project Resource Manual (PRM).  I recommend you buy a copy to study. (Available from www.csinet.org).  The book has a lot more information than can be compressed into this brief post and you should buy the book.

Today's slide depicts the Construction Documents illustation by CSI called "The Building".  This diagram shows the various documents required to complete a construction project and identifies their grouping as Procurement Documents and Contract Documents.

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Zoom in to see the documents designated as floors in a skyscraper.  The drawings form the basement or parking garage, while modifications like addenda and change orders extend up the side since they can modify both written and graphic documents.

The dotted lines at the left show the various groupings of the documents that occur in different stages of project development with their names.

Please note the subtle distinction in terminology. The generic term "Requirements" is used for overall discussion of the documents by their function.  The more specific term of "Documents" is used to designate the overall "package" of documents of the various types when considered as the whole.  That is, "Procurement Documents" include Procurement Requirements and Contract Requirements. 

Procurement Documents comprise all the Contract Documents except the Clarifications and Modifications since, by definition, Clarifications and Modifications take place after the Contract is signed.  Pre-Contract Revisions such as Addenda are included in Procurement Documents. 

Contract Documents are a shorter pile since the Procurement Requirements are discarded after the Contractor is selected and so are not made part of Contract Documents.  Contract Documents are those which are enumerated in the Owner-Contractor Agreement and form the basis of the Construction Documentation.  This term includes Pre-Contract Revisions such as Addenda, as well as Clarifications and Modifications which occur after the Contract is signed. 

If you plan to take a CSI Certification exam, it is important to know these distinctions in terminology.

Next Post:  The Project Manual Concept.

 

The Project Manual Concept

The Project Manual Concept, briefly described, is that book in which are bound the Procurement Documents, Contract Documents, Drawings, Specifications and Addenda, typically presented in 8.5x11 written form.  The extent of the documents typically included is shown in the sketch in the Last Post with a dotted line.  Addenda and Modifications frequently have written components and are included conceptually as well.

Drawings are written and graphic instruments describing the work in large format and 2D form. These are probably the Contract Document component that everyone thinks of first.

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Today's slide shows the relationship in a slightly different format, the designation of the various groupings might be clearer here in a 2D view.  Also note that the term Construction Documents is applied to the entire package, from Procurement (or Bidding, as designated in this older slide) through Modifications.

Please note that the terminology used is that from the CSI PRM, which is used on CSI's certification examinations.  Knowledge of proper terminology is critical to success on those exams.

As specifiers, we will be primarily concerned with the Project Manual grouping, since the Owner's legal counsel must take responsibility for the Bidding and Contract Requirements in detail, although we may be tasked with minor editing like filling in the Bid Date and similar matters.  Always defer the detailed consideration of the contract and bidding to the Owner's counsel.

Click here to download:
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The last slide recaps the list of written Contract Documents typically included in the Project Manual and highlights the Construction Specifications, which will be considered in greater detail in the next post.

The Architect's Dream: Specifications and Fine Art

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The Architect's Dream, Thomas Cole, 1840, public domain

 

Architecture is the only one of the original Fine Arts with a functional purpose as a defining part of it's  description.  Architecture without a program (Commoditas) is "sculpture" ( a fine art in itself), while architecture without inspiration or that touch of the sublime (Venustas) is simply "building".

Clearly, this fragile element, whose existence can be felt, but which escapes definition, is essential to Architecture as a Fine Art.

Today's painting, made for the architect Andrew Jackson Downing by Thomas Cole, a celebrated artist of the Hudson River School, shows the entire world history of Architecture (through the date of the painting, at least) as inspirations available for the Architect.  Downing is shown in the foreground, relaxing on his exotic cushions with plans in hand, able to select from Egyptian, Greek, Roman, or the brooding Gothic of the European forests.  Nowhere to be seen in this Dream are Owners, Contractors, or Specifiers.

Essential to the completion of this Dream is the written compilation of products, execution, quality, and General Requirements; administrative, procedural and temporary, describing the physical matter of the Architecture, as well as the skilled administrators and mechanics to assemble the pieces.

Art may not reside in the Project Manual, any more that it can be said to reside in the drawings, but both components are needed in order to realize the Facility as it is conceived.  But, it's fair to say that Specifications are applied technology in the service of a Dream.