{"id":526,"date":"2020-02-20T18:49:13","date_gmt":"2020-02-20T13:19:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/?p=526"},"modified":"2020-02-20T18:49:13","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T13:19:13","slug":"quality-control-tips-on-construction-projects-reducing-infrastructure-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/quality-control-tips-on-construction-projects-reducing-infrastructure-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Quality Control Tips on Construction Projects \u2013 Reducing Infrastructure Failure!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Overview<\/strong><\/h2><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The globe is witnessing a lot of infrastructure mishaps due to lack of adherence of quality control procedure while the whole process from conceptualization to construction and post construction phase. &nbsp;Despite of innovations in the software technologies, the quality of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/architectural-construction-drawing-services.php\" title=\"Architectural Construction Drawing Services\">Architectural Construction Drawings<\/a> and Documents have been declining and the complexity of design is increasing. Documentation of quality processes and procedures and use of checklists are common practices among successful construction companies. There are several drivers that contribute to the need to provide documentation and quality processes.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Steps to implement &amp; improve quality control procedure for construction projects<\/strong>:<\/h3><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Training Rotations and Staff Training<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the first steps to quality in design is to have\nquality people trained well in core competencies. Many companies have innovative\ntraining and mentoring programs for new staff as well as continuing education\nand training in quality processes for existing staff.<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Reporting\nand Feedback <\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Quality processes do not begin and end with review of\ndesigns and contract documents. Feedback and reporting are needed to ensure quality\nin future projects and instil effectiveness and efficiency into processes. Best\npractices and successful solutions within agencies should be recognized,\nreported, awarded, and incorporated into existing processes.<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Regularly\nScheduled Meetings Across Disciplines<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;Almost all construction\ncompanies schedule milestone meetings to discuss issues with design projects,\noften at 30-60-90% complete reviews and for final reviews. However, some with\nstandout quality programs take the extra step to make sure all disciplines\nrelevant to a project are involved in the early stages. For example, it is\noften beneficial to have construction engineering staff involved as early as\nthe scoping phase and throughout the design. This helps prevent\nconstructability issues from arising at a time when design changes cannot be\neasily made. QA does not just occur at the end of the product production. It\nshould take place throughout the design process with all relevant parties\ninvolved. <\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Relationships\nBetween Consultants and the Departments<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Keeping lines of communication open and maintaining\nrelationships between consultants and DOTs is always important in producing quality\nplans. Of course, one way to do this is through regularly scheduled\nproject-specific meetings and early involvement of all disciplines, as\nmentioned above. However, many have come up with innovation solutions to\nmaintaining good relationships between consultants and DOT staff.<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Value\nEngineering<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;VE is not a new process\nand is a requirement of many. However, VE processes can be valuable to quality\nprocesses when feedback is used to make design processes more effective and\nefficient. <\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Third\nParty Reviews<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Often, we may need to hire consultants or outsource documentation and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/cad-drafting-services.php\" title=\"Cad Drafting Services\">Drafting Services<\/a> <\/strong>to create designs and do third-party reviews of design work. These reviews are done for specialty projects or when DOTs do not have sufficient expertise or staff to meet deadlines. Some states have moved to an even more aggressive use of third-party reviews to add an extra layer of QC.<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Plan\nReview and Signoffs<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One other practice followed by many other companies is the\nuse of title blocks on plan sheets that clearly define the designer and the\nreviewers, as well as include signoffs for when reviews are completed. This is\nan easily implemented, simple task that ensures that designers and reviewers\ntake responsibility for the quality of the plans. Plan signoffs or PE stampings\nare done at many different levels, including signoffs on the original design,\nfor reviews, and even for design changes that are done in construction.<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Single-Point\nData Systems<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many are moving to single-point data systems where multiple\nusers and disciplines can look at and analyse documents to determine problem\nareas and make improvements in processes. It seems that most of the\nconstruction companies allow for document management and give the ability to analyse\ntrends in design and construction processes. These data systems can be great\ncontributors to the overall quality of projects.<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Documentation<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&nbsp;When talking about\ndocumentation, the important thing to note is that more is not always better\n(i.e., the amount of checklists, manuals, and processes does not necessarily\ncorrelate with the level of quality). That being said, it is often true, that\n&ldquo;success is being organized,&rdquo; and documentation provides a level of\norganization and consistency in design that is important to quality efforts.<\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Construction\nFeedback and Post-Construction Reviews<\/strong><\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many states that have successful quality programs have\nrealized the need to involve construction staff early on in each project to\nensure that projects are &ldquo;bid-able&rdquo; and &ldquo;buildable.&rdquo; Another very important\ncontribution of construction staff is feedback on the bid-ability and\nconstruction phase processes.<\/p><h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Finally, there are\nsome review and approval practices which can be used by the construction\ncompanies in their QC\/ QA programs: <\/strong><\/p><ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Checklists outlining processes for designers,\nreviewers, and contract document compilation are used for each phase of project\ndevelopment. <\/li><li>Consultants should be rated or graded.<\/li><li>Decisions about the amount and type of review\nare made on a risk-based scale, taking into consideration the type and size of\nthe project to determine the depth of the review. <\/li><li>Although VE is done by all, successful ones\nevaluate the outcomes of these processes and use it as lessons learned feedback\nfor future designs. <\/li><li>Third-party consultant reviews are done for\nspecialty projects or when DOTs do not have sufficient expertise or staff to\nmeet deadlines. <\/li><li>Plan signoffs or professional engineer (PE)\nstampings are done at many different levels, including signoffs on original\ndesign, review, and even for design changes that are done in construction.<\/li><li>Most of the construction companies are moving to\nsingle-point data systems where multiple users and disciplines can look at and analyse\ndocuments to determine problem areas and make improvements in processes.<\/li><\/ul><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are the few steps that the companies should take into consideration while the whole phase of any construction projects. Each design firm should must come up with their own quality control procedure appropriate to its practice. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>OverviewThe globe is witnessing a lot of infrastructure mishaps due to lack of adherence of quality control procedure while the whole process from conceptualization to construction and post construction phase. &nbsp;Despite of innovations in the software technologies, the quality of Architectural Construction Drawings and Documents have been declining and the complexity of design is increasing. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":527,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"featured_image_2":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.teslacad.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}