Construction Curiosities #97
What does an Architect do anyways?
Hey! Happy Saturday! Matt here.
Welcome to the Construction Curiosities newsletter!
And Happy Mother’s Day weekend!
This weekly Newsletter explores the Curiosities of the Construction Industry. It's meant to help Drag the Construction Industry into the 21st Century by making you think, smile, and become motivated to drive innovation in your realm of the industry.
The Newsletter will focus on 4 primary areas of Innovation:
Technology & Tools
Growth Marketing
Upskilling/ Mentorship
Being People First in all of the Above
We won’t hit on each of these topics every week but that’s what is in rotation!
Summary
This week we will look at:
One Down & Dirty Explainer: Architects
One Article: 12 Technologies for a Safer Jobsite
One Quote: Plant Vines
One Meme: Architect’s Coordination
One Down & Dirty Explainer
Reading through the comments on some meme videos I made about Architects, I realized there are a ton of people who don’t fully understand what all an architect does. I guess it shouldn’t be a surprise as I didn’t realize either when I was on the subcontractor side. It wasn’t until I moved to the Owner’s Rep side and interacted with architects on a near-daily basis that I got a better appreciation of all they are charged to do on a construction project.
So it’s been a while but I thought that called for another Down & Dirty Construction Yeti explainer. So here goes…
Architects do a lot more than just draw architectural drawings. Their whole process can be summarized by 7 steps. To keep things easy this is a typical Design-Bid-Build method. If you need a refresher on delivery methods: HERE.
Architect’s 7-Step Process
Pre-Design
Stakeholder engagement, kick-off meetings
Set goals, research
Schematic Design
High-level design concepts
Conceptual drawings and analysis
Design Development
Detailed drawings, system analysis
Finalize material selections
Contract Documents
Finalize drawings and create specifications (although they shouldn’t wait until this stage to start creating them… but that’s a topic for another day.)
Quality assurance reviews (they should be reviewing at milestones along the way but this is the final coordination review) (teaser for meme ahead)
Bidding/Negotiation
Organize bidding processes
Prepare bid documents
Contract Administration
See below
Post-Occupancy
Evaluating building performance
Warranty reviews and surveys
Since this is a construction newsletter let’s do a deeper dirty dive into what Construction Administration entails. This is, as it sounds, the phase that happens during the actual Construction.
Acting as the Owner's Representative: If there is not an actual 3rd party Owner’s Rep they serve as the liaison between the client and the construction team, representing the client’s interests throughout the construction phase.
(Note some of the items below would be the responsibility of an Owner’s Rep Construction Manager if there is one. If not, it would be the Architect’s responsibility.)
Submittal Reviews: Review and approve* submittals such as shop drawings, material samples, and product data from contractors to ensure they match the design specifications. Act as the submittal manager for Quality Assurance and processing of sub-consultants’ disciplines.
(*If you ask an architect or engineer though, they never “approve” a submittal. It’s only reviewed for contract conformance, or whatever other fancy term they want to use in their submittal stamp)
Issue Resolution: Address and resolve field conditions that may arise during construction, often requiring quick, on-site decisions to keep the project moving forward or through the RFI process.
Site Visits: Conduct regular site visits to monitor construction progress and ensure that the work complies with architectural plans and specifications.
Review of Work: Inspect the work done by contractors to ensure it meets the design intentions and standards of the construction documents.
Change Orders: Review, approve, and sometimes initiate change orders when unforeseen issues require alterations to the originally planned work.
Progress Meetings: Lead or participate in regular meetings with contractors and the Owner to discuss project progress, challenges, and upcoming tasks.
Payment Certification: Certify the work completed for contractors' and subcontractors' payment requests, ensuring that payments are justified and within the contract terms.
Budget Management: Monitor the construction costs, to ensure that costs remain within the agreed-upon budgets and contingencies.
Schedule Management: Track the project schedule to ensure that milestones are met and the project remains on track for timely completion.
Project Close-Out: Manage the close-out process including punch list creation and follow-up, facilitating final inspections, and coordinating the turnover of the building to the client.
So there you have it. I hope you have gained a new appreciation for what they do. Or at least have a better understanding of some memes…
One Article
12 types of technology that can make jobsites safer
By Lena Kenny, Construction Dive
As we conclude Safety Week 2024, this is an interesting article on technologies to make the job site safer. Some of which have received criticism as folks speculate that they might make jobsites more dangerous
Wearables
Virtual reality/ augmented reality
Drones
Artificial intelligence
BIM
Robotics
3D Printing/ additive manufacturing
Predictive analytics
Autonomous vehicles and equipment
Remote monitoring and telepresence
Environmental monitoring and control
Exoskeletons
One Quote
One Meme
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See y’all next week! ✌
