2007 Annual Survey of Owners Available On-line
The annual joint venture between CMAA and FMI conducts a survey of owners of capital and private projects, and the 2007 Annual Survey of Owners (the Eighth Annual Survey) is now available on-line through the CMAA website.
TheFMI/CMAA Owners Survey, which has become an industry defining and forecasting instrument, “is focused on how owners are accelerating the transformation of the construction process through the use of technologies to enable program management, collaboration, and effective communication strategies.” (page 6)
The report highlights 7 distinct drivers of the construction industry:
- Aging Infrastructure
- Aging Workforce industry-wide
- Struggle to Attrach Generation Y, and retain Generation X’ers and baby boomers
- Accelerated Schedules, globalization, and increased complexity in construction
- the Ability to Learn Alternate Delivery and Financing Systems
- Pressure to Meet Global Competition
- Investment in Purposeful Training
As in every Annual Owners Survey, the 2007 edition delivers a litany of information for the construction industry. Other highlights from the survey are asummaries of CM processes, enabling technologies, and the Use and Practice of Building Information Modeling (BIM). And a quote that sums up the survey best…
From W, Edwards Deming, “It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”
Return to our blog to read more acrticles on these and other subjects related to the Construction Management Profession and the construction industry in general.
Construction Management Fact Sheet
The ConstructionManagement Association of America provides this fact sheet to define and explain the specialized profession of Construction Managment (CM).
You can also read this post for a further explaination of the CM profession.
Tips On Managing Change Orders
In the latest issue of CM Advisor (not yet available on-line), Lisa C. Sachs writes an informative artcile about managing the Change Order process for your projects.
Sachs spells out the three opportunities you have to “embrace the inevitable and minimize the pain.”
The first and best opportunity is in the pre-construction phase before the budget is fixed.
Perhaps, you or your firm was not involved in the pre-construction phase. Sachs states, “You can include language in the front end documents to at least mitigate the battles that will ensue.”
Finally, if the design and bid phases have passed you by without the proper Change Order management strategy in place, you can always make clarifications prior to the construction beginning.
Here is a brief summary of ways to manage the Change Order process and the phase of the project in which is would be best suited:
Design Phase
- Plan an adequate contingency
- Ensure that there are adequate soft costs
Pre-Bid Phase
- Include upfront language in the contracts balancing risk and costs
Construction Phase
- Request all information in preparation for Change Orders and agree on up-front costs
- Resolve schedule issues as they occur
The article goes into specific details that can reduce the amount of conflict and loss when Change Orders arise. Sachs explains how to implement them as part of an overall Change Order Management strategy, and the article is well worth a full read.
photo credit: Multiple fragments of tissue
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