common challenges faced throughout the construction timeline

7/24/2019 Common Challenges Faced Throughout the Construction Timeline

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UNIVERSITI TUNKU ABDUL RAHMANFACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND SCIENCEDEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE AND SUSTAINABLE DESIGN

UEBA 2213CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY IIISESSION: 2015/10

TUTORIAL ASSIGNMENT

WRITTEN BY

TAN YING KUAN 13UEB04620

GUIDED BY

MR LEONG HUNG SEK

SUBMITTED ON

06 NOVEMBER 2015



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INSTRUCTION AND TABLE OF CONTENTS

Instruct ion

From your overall Site Visitation and inspection identify the Construction Technology

process at site. What were the challenges faces by the construction team in ensuring

the building was able to adhere to the construction program set forth? Discuss and

highlight the challenges face with the site from the early inception to the final

completion of the building.

Table of c ontents

Instruction and Table of Contents .............................................................................. 2

Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3

Challenges of Constructions ...................................................................................... 4

Stage 1: Inception and feasibility ............................................................................ 4

Stage 2: Planning and Design ................................................................................ 5

Stage 3: Execution and control ............................................................................... 7

Stage 4: Commissioning and Occupation ............................................................. 10

Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 11

References ............................................................................................................... 12



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INTRODUCTION

onstruction of a building, from early inception stage until the final completion, isC

typically complex and involving a lot of decision making process. Usually, it takes

years to build a building as there are numerous challenges have to be overcome by

the design team, as well as the contractor. Architect as the person who is leading the

construction project, should be able to handle problems that might affect the

progress of construction, in order to ensure the building is able to adhere to the

schedule set forth. In this report, challenges that are usually being faced by architect

throughout the construction process are discussed, in chronological order, from the

very initial point until the building is certified as habitable.

The process of construction could be classified into 4 significant stages. Different

activities are carried out in each stage, and each activity will involve different

obstacles waiting the construction team to rectify it. The following chart shows the

general process of a construction:

Figure 1: Stages of Construction Project

Delays on a construction project occurs under two situations:

(a) The construction of a project or a part of the project is not completed within

the time period originally intended and as specified in the schedule; or

(b) The scope of the work as contemplated in the contract increases to the extent

that more work is required to be performed within the original contract time.

Usually, delays must be happened throughout the entire project timeline, and

delays under certain conditions are acceptable. However, the occurrences of delay

must be under-controlled and whenever applicable, the coming schedule should be

speeding up in order to complete the work on targeted time.

Inception andfeasibility

Planning anddesign

Execution andcontrol

Commissioningand occupation



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CHALLENGES OF CONSTRUCTIONS

Stage 1: Inception and feasibi l i ty

In this stage, the objectives of the project are defined followed by production of

project brief. Requirements that related to the project are listed and examined, and

later, to investigate the feasibility of the project. During this stage, activities are

mainly preliminary investigation works that would affect the design of the building -

the site conditions, technical requirements, environmental factors, authority guidance,

rules and regulations are studied. At the end of this stage, a project brief stating all

the requirements and a detailed analysis that supporting the feasibility should be

gained and it must be persuasive enough to get approvals from the authorities.

Problems that probably encountered in this stage are relatively fewer but it would

bring huge impact to the construction progress if there is any problem arisen in this

stage. The followings are some common challenges faced by the team:

1. Land ownership

It is crucial to ensure that the client legally owns the land before any work is

carried out. If there is legal issue having by the owner of the land, typically when

the land ownership transferring is not been done, all the works have to be forced

to stop until the court release the judgement.

2. Conversation related matter

There are certain situation might lead to delay even discontinuation of project,

namely discovery of fossil, artefacts, historical building ruin, etc. The owner of theland is responsible to report to government for further investigation.

Archaeological investigation usually takes years even decades as a lot of

precautions have to be taken lead to slow speed. As a result, the project is not

likely possible to continue. Similarly, if there is existence of historical building at

the adjacent place, special precaution need to be taken and in some cases there

will be restriction applied to the site, this will lead to delay of the project too.



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3. Ground condition matter

Soil test will be carried out during inception stage by land surveyor. If the result of

the test is not satisfied or not meeting the requirements, it needs to be redone

until the feasibility of construction is proven by the soil survey result. The

challenges that normally faced by the team is high density network of

underground water, deep bedrock, huge size of land (require more surveying

works), etc. If the site is on or close to a hill slope, additional survey has to be

conducted to investigate the possible damages that would be happened.

Additionally, in design stage, special measures have to be applied to cope with

the slope. For sure, it lengthens the investigation process.

4. Special requirements requested

For certain cases, the building is design for some special purpose, for instance, a

manufacturing factory of radioactive metal, a zoo which accommodates various

species of animals, a theme park involving large scale of landscaping, a building

targeted to be “green building”, etc. All this situations are requiring specialists

who have particular knowledge on respective sectors. Recruitment of suitable

specialist takes time as for certain field it is difficult to find them locally.

5. Slow or hesitate decision making

In principle, client is the person who makes decision, advised by consultants.

Therefore, when the client has no clear idea on what sort of outcome is aiming to

achieve, it will slow down the progress as the programme cannot be carried out

without a clear instruction. It comes to worse when the client is hesitate about his

decision and keep changing his mind; it will result into reworking on design and

planning.

Stage 2: Planning and Design

t this stage in the project the execution and full implementation of the project brief is A

started. Design consultancies start to come out with design of the building, along

with consistent communication with client, at the mean time produce planning

drawings and submit them to authorities to get approval. Technical design is started



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to be prepared and once the project is approved, design consultancies will produce

tender documents for tendering. At the end of this stage, it will be the tender process

that selects the most fitting contractor to take the responsible of construct the

building. It could be done in three ways: selective tender, negotiated tender or open

tender.

There is a lot of decision making process involves in this stage. Therefore, it is

most likely to face a lot of problems if there is any interruption happened in the

decision making process. Problems arisen in this stage are usually not costing a lot

of money to resolve but undoubtedly it leads to waste of time. The followings are

some typical problems that might postpone the completion time of a project:

1. Communication between parties

Design team itself is involving architecture consultancy, engineering consultancy

(of different roles), quantity surveying consultancy, land surveyor consultancy, etc.

The design of a building requires high coordination among the members of

design team, therefore, if there is any miscommunication happened, it would

takes time to rectified and redo the work. For instance, structural engineer

misunderstands the architect’s drawing and produce a wrong drawing; quantity

surveyor is not getting the latest drawing and could not estimate the materials

and costs, etc. Similarly, communication between client and consultancies are

crucial at this stage too. Architect must ensure the client’s ideas are completely

understood and mutual agreement on the final design must be established.

2. Approval from authorities

In general, getting project approval from authorities takes longer time. Primarily,

all the planning needs to be approved by municipal or town hall, and there are

numerous requirements have to fulfil. Other than that, approval from some other

departments is required before the construction start, namely fire requirement,

sewerage requirement, drainage requirement, road requirement, etc. In some

cases, changes of requirement will cause the design team has to redesign the

building in order to comply with latest requirement, thereafter it is extremely

crucial to ensure that before the design start, the latest requirements are studied.



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3. Leadership matter

When it comes to the operation of a team, it always associates with management

strategy. Architect or project manager, the leader of the team is requiring

capability to command the team in order to reach the objectives effectively. The

common problem with leadership matter is when the leading person is lacking of

knowledge regarding his/her members’ sectors, the team is very likely to be

losing direction due to the reputation of the leader is not respectable. Meanwhile,

if the leader has limited knowledge on other fields, it is difficult to share common

sense among members, and they will hard to understand each other. As a result,

the bad leadership makes the decision making takes longer time.

4. Problems with tendering

Tendering is the process where most suitable contractor is selected and given

the responsibility to construct the building. If there is no mutual agreement

between client and architect on the criteria of selection, it might be lead to dispute

when client not agree with architect’s decision and for sure, it delays the overall

schedule. If negotiated tendering is applied, it would be time consuming to

negotiate with the contractor to achieved agreement that satisfy both parties.

Stage 3: Execut ion and co ntro l

his stage is where the actual construction being implemented. The contractor isT

given the job to arrange labour to work on the site, and seeking for subcontractors

for certain specialist’s works. During this stage, architect has to keep coordinate with

contractor to ensure that the drawings are interpreted correctly and run within the

schedule; meantime, contractor is required to finish the work stages by stages in line

with the contract and they will get payment stages by stages.

Challenges that might be encountered during this stage is relatively more as

many issue will only surface when the building start to be physically existed instead

of representing using lines and drawing. Also, more parties are now involving in the

construction progress thereafter more communications is needed. The following are

some of the common issues faced during the execution and control process:



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1. Severe weather condition or natural disaster

When the weather condition is worrying for days, it would slow down the progress

of the construction as works are forced to be pause. It comes to worse when

there is natural disaster occurs at the site, namely flood, mudslide, earthquake,

etc. It not only interrupts the overall progress, but also causes extra works to be

done for repairing or reworking. It is costing time and money, and would be a

major problem to the client.

2. Financial issues

Client should perform obligation of make payment to contractor according to the

contract. If the client refuses to pay, it might lead to recess of construction as the

contractor could not continue the work. It becomes a major problem when the

client is bankrupt and the sudden loss of financial support will set aside the

project. Similarly, if the architect or the contractor is bankrupt, it takes time to

transferring the project to replacement architect or contractor, which causing

wastage of time.

3. Soil condition is not as expected

If the soil survey that conducted is not carefully examined, it will become a major

problem during the construction of foundation. The dissatisfied actual soil

conditions require the design team to move backwards and start over again from

soil surveying, and the design stage has to be redone too.

4. Late information from design team

Contractor is instructed by design team through drawings. By referring to the

drawings, with specifications stated, they will know how to construct the building.

It is crucial for detailing as without detail drawing, the contractor might interpret

the design wrongly. Thus, late production of details from design team might

slower down the construction, as the contractor has to wait the instruction from

design team.



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5. Changes of design

In some circumstance, either the client or architect change their mind and want to

change the design of the building. It will be a big issue if that particular part has

been constructed – it means that it has to be demolished and start over again. It

is not only charge twice to the client, but it also double ups the works that need to

be done, plus the additional work on demolishing what that has built.

6. Accidents on site

Construction site is a dangerous place that full with matter that could cause injury

and death. If they is accident happened on site, particularly involving death of

workers, the site is seems likely to be closed for police ’s investigation. Related

parties need to carry legal liability as well, especially when the accident is

involving unrelated person, a more complex process has to be gone through to

resolve the problem.

7. Poor workmanship or non expertized labour

Contractor is responsible to carry out the construction work carefully and must

reach the expected quality. Poor workmanship will result into failure of structure

especially when the concrete is not pouring correctly, or when the formwork is not

been done correctly. Reworking on fail structure extends the construction process

as well as increase the cost. Similarly, if the labour has no enough experience in

carrying out certain job, the outcome of the work might not achieving targeted

quality; therefore it is crucial to ensure that the workers are qualified for the job.

8. Unavailability of labour, material or equipmentEspecially when there is special requirement apply on the project, there will be a

need for specific labour, material or equipment. Most of the time, it is difficult to

get them as their availability on market are relatively low. For instance, if the

client request for a bare brick wall finishing, skilled labour that experienced on

handling facing brick and flushing is necessary. The idea is applied on material

and equipment too. Difficulties of obtaining resources lengthen the overall

schedule.



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Stage 4: Comm ission ing and Occupat ion

he final stage of the construction indicates the completion of building. Once theT

physical building is completely constructed, there are plenty of certification works

and follow ups need to be done, namely, BOMBA, IWK, JKR, municipal or town hall

need to be invited to investigate the quality of the building, to check whether the

building meets with all listed requirements. After gone through all the investigation,

and until getting the certificate of completion and compliance (CCC), then only the

users accommodate the building.

The challenges that faced by the team at this phase are usually related to

cumbersome paperwork and documentation. Non-effective management would

cause delays to the project.

1. Authorities investigation

It is necessary to get approval from authorities before the occupation. Whenever

there is any unsatisfied part, authorities have the power to order the team to

reconstruct that particular part of the building. Going through this process will

consume longer time if the requirements are not well studied before the

construction.

2. Client extra demands

Client has the right to instruct contractor to make changes on unsatisfied area,

and the contractor will only able to get payment if architect signs the certificate of

completion and certificate of payment to them. Extra demands from client will

cause extra works and ultimately the project could not be finished on schedule.



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CONCLUSION

n conclusion, it is unavoidable to face with various kinds of challenges throughoutI

the entire construction process. The key that all project managers and architects

needs to keep it in mind is, they must be flexible enough to handle all these possible

challenges, to ensure that commitment of time can be achieve as per stated in the

contract. At this level, the ability they need to have, is no longer related to their

knowledge, neither design nor construction technology; but it is all about their

management techniques and strategy, in leading a large scale team, that consists of

members from different sectors.



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REFERENCES

CCPM. (2010). Complete Construction Project Management . Retrieved from

http://www.complete-construction-project-management.com/index.php

Chapman, N., Davis, L. C., & Parkman, W. H. (2014, April 30). Resolving problems

and disputes on construction projects: Tackling contract performance delays.

Retrieved from http://www.lorman.com/resources/resolving-problems-and-

disputes-on-construction-projects-tackling-contract-performance-delays-15142

Ip, S. (2012, October 31). An overview of construction claims: How they arise and

how to avoid them. Retrieved from

https://www.cwilson.com/publications/construction/construction-claims.pdf

Muir, B. (2005). Challenges Facing Today’s Construction Manager . Retrieved from

http://www.ce.udel.edu/courses/CIEG%20486/Challenges%20Facing%20Tod

ay's%20CM.pdf

Proverbs, D. G., Holt, G. D., & Cheok, H. Y. (2002). Construction industry problems:

The views of UK construction directors. Retrieved from

http://www.arcom.ac.uk/-docs/proceedings/ar2000-073-

081_Proverbs_Holt_and_Cheok.pdf

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