Disruption in Construction
At SPF Associates Limited (www.spfassociates.co.uk) when we are asked to work on a project for a client its generally because the change account is out of control or the account is not progressing and the financial impact is being felt.
"Nothing new" I hear you say, and you'd be right. So why is it that we record the impact of the change and yet we see the margins diminish? The reality is the impact of disruption, that non tangible position that is difficult to determine. Working mainly on NEC projects we have to assess the consequential in the compensation event assessment (CE). That includes disruption and risk. Yet many Project Managers or Contractors have a hard time accepting the position of disruption, willing to assess the "direct" impact but consequentials - because of the unknown - are removed and global position entertained or assessed at the end of the month. Yet when it comes to disruption there is still a tangible lack of consideration. The delay can be shown on the programme, if you have access to a good planner, but disruption is not shown on the bars of the programme. It can become a trade off of opinions, and where these are extreme for fear of blame, then disputes arise.
Disruption - easy to prove?
So what is disruption - its that slow start when you have moved your resource from where they were working to another area due to a service clash, or the loss of output in a day because the access arrangements were not really ready and you continued to work around it to mitigate.
These incremental losses in output are then used as the Contractors or Sub Contractors own inefficiencies. So we have to demonstrate a "measured mile" on the project as a bench mark on what could have been achieved. Great, but what happens when you are on a scheme that's not really ready for your works, or political pressures to get the work started, and thus there is never the opportunity to demonstrate your outputs? We have all been on these contracts. Well I am afraid to say your best defence in these positions are good thorough records and recognising the matter from the start. By being able to demonstrate the down time and the reduced outputs due to issues, then the works can potentially be improved. By having the information to present you can, with a good team on both sides, help improve the outputs and hence become less reliant on post impact change. Demonstrating to the Project Manager or Contractor that you are working inefficiently may mean a change in plan where you can effectively improve your position. This is the intent of the early warning so that the parties can work together. I see so many early warning notices of events that have happened in the past, and continue to be recorded as such.
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We advocate honest open dialogue, that can be a bit pointed at times, but also good records so that if needed you can present the evidence either to the employing party or to a third party if things are not resolved.
If you don't have the records look at the digital system we recommend - Memro - www.memro.co.uk. It produces graphical evidence of the impacts of change and non productive outputs as well as being able to locate resources and data by search criterion for work type, resource type, change, location etc.
As users we have found that it cuts commercial time/resource and provides a clear image of costs. It captures deliveries of materials and materials used for wastage and material on site assessments. With measured output facilities being recorded each day in the measured works tab the resource vs works done is easily demonstrable. One of our clients is using it on a Target Cost option to great success.
So I ask for your views as both Employer and Contractor is it better to work together and accept that where you change or do not provide something in the Contract there is a disruptive element to that position. Should you look to add disruption to the items in your contract for the Fee % so that you don't have to determine it, or have open dialogue and work together to minimise the disruption and help each other achieve the goal of doing the work efficiently for all involved?