Many years ago I was part of the 11th hour construction documents staff that was added to a hospital renovation design team to meet an out-to-bid deadline. The project, then internally behind schedule, had not been well organized or adequately…
Monthly Archives: January 2014
Constructability Reviews: From The Ground Up
The Whole Building Design Guide (a program of the National Institute of Building Sciences) has published an informative guide to constructability reviews: Performing Efficient and Effective Constructability Reviews by Jason G. Smith. Smith’s Top Five Rules for constructability reviews include…
Design-Build Risks for Architects
When an architect is a sub to a contractor leading a Design-Build team, the architect’s primary allegiance is typically to the contractor and not to the owner. The Design-Build contractor is likely to control the architect’s scope of services and…
SIP Building Performance Depends on Effective Moisture Management
Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) have enjoyed growing popularity as interest in building energy conservation has increased. With its large, prefabricated, factory insulated panels, SIP construction offers nearly continuous insulation, fewer joints than conventional frame construction with stud-cavity insulation, and possibly…
QA and QC inform each other
Until I recently studied for the CDT exam*, I had considered QA (Quality Assurance) and QC (Quality Control) as synonymous – the same thing with different names. They are different, but they are closely related. Considering construction, QA establishes the…
