Professional Practice for Architects and Project Managers

David Chappell

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781119540076
• eBook ISBN: 9781119540113
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Architecture
• Subtopic: Architecture General

Explains construction professional practice in an appealing, succinct, and relatively informal way

This book details the management of construction projects from beginning to end, concentrating on the principles underlying what construction professionals like architects do. It covers the entire process—from the initial meetings with clients through the design, recruitment of a contractor, contract management, construction, and handover—all without referencing legal cases, contract clause numbers, laws, statutes, or the complex jargon that can muddle comprehension.

The first part of Professional Practice for Architects and Project Managers offers enlightening chapters that cover: professional standards, perks of the job, bonds and parent company guarantees, office meetings, letter writing, the RIBA Plan of Work, and Building Information Modelling (BIM). The second section teaches all about dealing with the clients, and includes chapters that discuss the extent of services, fee negotiations, conflicts of interest, and more. Next the book looks at such on-the-job responsibilities as surveys, ground investigations, cost estimates, work schedules, letters of intent, etc. The final section goes over everything readers need to know about dealing with a building contract in progress, informing them about advance payments, insurance, site inspections, contractor disputes, terminations, final certificates, and more.

• Details the entire process of managing a construction project, including dealing with clients, the design process, running a construction project, and more
• Highlights what the construction professionals do in their positions
• Shows how principles of construction management are applied in practice
• Written in a reader-friendly and accessible way

Professional Practice for Architects and Project Managers is an excellent resource for architects and other construction professionals such as contract administrators, project managers, quantity surveyors, and contractors.

Section IV
Dealing with a Building Contract in Progress

66
Preliminaries

What are Preliminaries?

Preliminaries are commonly referred to as ‘prelims’. They are the first part of the bills of quantities or the specification which describes the Works in general terms and lists the contractor's general obligations. What exactly is contained in the preliminaries varies according to the method of measurement or the particular ideas of the architect or the quantity surveyor drafting them. Typical headings include, among other things, the following:

• location of the project
• names and addresses of the consultants
• list of drawings
• description of the site
• the form of contract and any amendments
• employer's requirements and limitation of hours of work etc.
• name boards
• management
• site accommodation
• services
• temporary works
• specialist sub‐contractors and suppliers
• work or supply items by or on behalf of the employer
• statutory authorities
• provisional sums
• daywork.

It is useful to include certain essential controls in the preliminaries so such things as quality standards, control, security, safety, and protection should be there.

Pricing

The preliminaries is a most important part of the contract documents and conveys information to the contractor not present elsewhere in the documents. The contractor will price the preliminaries. Sometimes the pricing will be item by item and sometimes the contractor will simply insert a weekly price or even a total amount to cover all the preliminaries costs for the contract period. Very often the preliminaries are priced as a percentage of the costs of the Works. When a contractor writes asking for its ‘prelims’, it is not wanting you to send another copy of the specification. It is wanting to be paid the price it put in the preliminaries per week. Contractors often try to claim prelims (meaning money) as loss and/or expense if they suffer delay. As explained elsewhere, that is not the way to claim (see 99: Financial Claims).

Pricing on an item‐by‐item basis is by far the best way because you can see exactly what the contractor is charging and, importantly, what is not being charged. A preliminaries item for which the contractor is not charging will either simply have a line against it or it will say ‘incl.’ (meaning ‘included’). It is bad policy for a contractor to mark any item as being included without charge because if that item suddenly becomes important, it may cost the contractor money. I recently saw preliminaries in which the contractor had written ‘included’ against scaffolding. Presumably the contractor was confident that the amount of scaffolding was fixed. As the work progressed, it became clear that scaffolding would be required for other parts of the Works but it could not be charged because it was included. Of course, if the reason for the extra scaffolding had been because the architect issued an instruction for additional work which required scaffolding, that would have entitled the contractor to extra payment.

Extension of Preliminaries

One often hears the term ‘extension of preliminaries’. This refers to the way in which the quantity surveyor will adjust the monthly valuation of preliminary items if the project is delayed in a situation where the contractor has no additional financial entitlement. In such cases the quantity surveyor will often reduce the monthly amount of preliminary costs so that the total preliminary costs for the project are extended over a longer contract period.

The situation is different if the contractor has grounds for claiming loss and/or expense due to the delay. In that case, the preliminaries remain the same for the contract period and additional costs are added to replace the preliminaries for the overrun period. Although many contractors and quantity surveyors will just add the weekly preliminaries multiplied by the number of weeks overrun, that is not the correct way to do it. For any overrun period for which the contractor is seeking additional costs, the contractor must show that the costs have actually been incurred. Reference to the preliminary costs in the bills of quantities or specification is not sufficient because those costs are simply what the contractor estimated at tender stage and they may be too high or, indeed, too low. In the case of a financial claim, the contractor is only entitled to the amount of preliminary costs which it has actually lost or incurred.

67
Possession of the Site

What is ‘Possession’?

Many building contracts refer to a ‘date of possession’, some merely refer to the ‘commencement date’. Most architects think they know what these terms mean: they mean the date on which the contractor may start work on site. But what do we mean by ‘possession’. To have possession of a piece of land is to be on the land. That of course is not the same as ownership. The law says that if someone has possession of land that person has a better right to it than anyone except the true owner of the land. That gives rise to the interesting situation that, in principle, the contractor in possession of the site may refuse access to anyone except the true owner. Therefore, building contracts usually make clear that the architect has the right to go onto the site and to authorise any other person, such as the clerk of works, to enter the site.

How does the Contractor get Possession?

Even if the building contract says nothing about possession, it will always be implied into every building contract that the contractor must have possession of the site in sufficient time to allow completion of the Works by the contract completion date. Therefore, if the contract simply refers to a commencement date, the contractor must have possession of the site in order to commence and carry out the Works. It is very obvious that if the contractor cannot go onto the site, it cannot even begin to construct the building. Therefore, if nothing is said about possession of the site, once the contractor is appointed, it has the right to possession.

The law would say that the contractor has a licence to occupy the site. The employer has no right under the general law to remove the contractor from site, but most contracts allow the employer to do so for a good reason specified in the contract. The degree of possession is important and, in most cases, unless the contract specifically states otherwise, a contractor must have complete possession of the site to be able to carry on and complete the Works. I once had to deal with a contract under which a local authority had agreed with a contractor to refurbish about 100 council houses. There was a date for possession and the council thought it could get away with just handing over the houses into the contractor's possession a maximum of 12 houses at any one time. The idea was that when practical completion was certified for a house, the contractor received another house in exchange so that work could continue, theoretically at the same rate. It was useful for the council who need only provide alternative accommodation for a maximum of 12 families at a time. Unfortunately for the council, the contract did not adequately spell out exactly what degree of possession the contractor would have and it was able to argue successfully that it required possession of the full 100 houses in order to properly progress the Works on site.

Make Things Clear

Many avoidable disputes occur simply because the architect or the quantity surveyor or the employer does not make crystal clear in the contract what is intended or required. You cannot get away with introducing things at the pre‐start meeting (usually erroneously called the ‘pre‐contract’ meeting) which are not agreed in the contract. Many architects just do not appear to understand that. They call a pre‐start meeting and, at that meeting, they try to introduce all kinds of extra rules with which they expect the contractor to comply. I once heard an architect tell the contractor that he expected to receive the contractor's application for payment seven days before the certificate was due and if he did not receive the application, the contractor would not get a payment certified that month. That was quite contrary to the particular contract in use which left it entirely to the contractor whether or not it submitted an application and made clear that the duty of issuing the certificate lay entirely with the architect.

More than One Party in Possession

If a domestic property is to be refurbished or extended and the owner of the property wants to stay in it, it can be written into a contract, but it is not a good idea. Every architect knows that having the employer based actually on the site is a recipe for trouble. Quite apart from the fact that the employer and contractor may become bosom buddies to the exclusion of the architect, the presence of the employer may hinder the progress of the Works because employers seldom seem to understand that it is essential to comply strictly with the contract, which means that the employer must do exactly what he or she has agreed to do with the contractor.

For example, it may be in the contract that, at the request of the contractor, the employer will move from occupation of one part of the dwelling and take rented accommodation until the Works are completed. When the time comes to move, the employer may regret agreeing and refuse to move, entering into some unworkable ad hoc arrangement with the contractor which, to the contractor's delight, will provide it with lots of opportunities for claiming extra payment for disruption. Sometimes, ad hoc arrangements do work but living in a house which is partly a building site is never a good idea and where there are children it is positively dangerous.

Normally, the contractor will have exclusive possession of the site. In plain terms, that means that the contractor alone controls the site and anyone who comes onto the site. When sub‐contractors are engaged by the contractor, they do not have exclusive possession because they have to work alongside the contractor's operatives and other sub‐contractors.

Failure to give Possession

Some contracts allow the employer to postpone the date for possession. Sometimes this is referred to as deferment of the date. Whatever it is called, there will be consequences. The contractor will be entitled to an extension of time, which may have to be longer than the postponement period itself. That is because, if the contractor is geared up to start on a particular day and the day is postponed for, say, three weeks, the likelihood is that the contractor, having stood down operatives and equipment, will not be able to start exactly on the new date. Moreover, the contractor will almost certainly be entitled to successfully claim loss and/or expense because it will undoubtably cost it more money if possession is postponed. Even where a contract allows that kind of postponement, a maximum period of postponement is usually stipulated, otherwise the employer might try to postpone the date of possession indefinitely.

If the employer fails to give possession on the date specified, then, unless the contract allows the employer to delay possession, the contractor is entitled to claim damages and the date for completion may not be enforceable. Many architects think that if the contract allows them to issue an instruction to postpone the Works, that allows them to effectively postpone the date for possession. That is wrong. Possession of the site and the carrying out of the Works are two entirely different things. An architect has no power to change the date for possession, which is something either agreed between the two parties or implied by law. The contractor will want to fence off the site and establish materials storage compounds, accommodation, and health and wel...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Section I: This and That
• Section II: Dealing with Clients
• Section III: On with the Job
• Section IV: Dealing with a Building Contract in Progress
• Index
• End User License Agreement