UNIT II

PROJECT DEMOBILIZATION PHASE

10. As-built drawings
 Most contracts require that the contractor maintain a set of
record drawings, commonly known as as-builts, as the project
progresses. On these documents are recorded actual locations,
dimensions and features that are different from the original
contract drawings.
 Usually the original drawings are used and the changes are
simply overlain onto them. When the drawings are in electronic
format, the contractor may be required to modify the drawing
files and highlight the modifications.
 Examples might be underground utilities located at a depth
different from originally designed, a piece of machinery placed
in a revised location or a highway project driveway with a
modified alignment or location.
 In each case, the contractor would have been directed,
presumably in writing, to make the change, but the design
professional would not have changed the relevant contract
drawing.

 Such changes are the contractor’s responsibility. It is

convenient and useful for the contractor to keep as-built
drawings current as the project proceeds; it is a condition
of final payment that a complete and accurate set be
forwarded to the owner prior to payment.
11. Operating and maintenance manuals
 A typical contract provision requires that the contractor furnish
operating and maintenance manuals for all of the project’s
equipment and operating systems. The main effort involves
simply gathering and organizing the documents as they are
received from the manufacturers. Often they are shipped with
the equipment itself and can be easily lost during unpacking.
 A common practice is to produce bound volumes of these
materials, organised by type – pumps, fans and so on – or by
system – heating, communication and so on – which then become
permanent references for use by the facility’s operating and
maintenance personnel. Like as built drawings, it is usually a
contract requirement that these manuals be furnished in
complete form prior to final payment.
12. Records archiving and transfer
 Project records are essential parts of the project’s history and are
also important in the operation and maintenance of the finished
work. The contractor has two primary obligations in this regard.
First, it must organize and store all relevant project records in a
secure and convenient location for future use by its own personnel.
The list of such records is lengthy, as indicated in our previous
section on project documentation. Among other items, the
contractor will want to archive cost records, schedule reports,
correspondence, various logs and all meeting minutes.
 The availability of project websites and computer-based document
management systems allows the archiving of these materials
electronically. One or more CDs can be used to contain all of the
project’s records exactly as they stood at project completion. Such
information will be useful for the planning of future projects and for
providing data if questions or legal proceedings arise about the
project just concluded.
 The contractor’s other obligation with respect to project
records is to transfer required documents to the owner
and/or the design professional in an organised and
complete manner. In addition to the as-built drawings,
operating and maintenance manuals, keying schedules
and certificates discussed above, such records might
include progress photographs, material and system test
inspection results and any other documents required by
the contract.
 Furthermore, the contractor will probably have an
obligation to furnish the owner with spare parts for
various pieces of equipment, extra materials such as
paint, carpet, plumbing components and locksets, special
tools and in some cases, equipment that has been used to
construct the project.
13. Training sessions
 Yet another obligation sometimes required of the contractor is
to conduct training sessions for the owner’s operating
personnel. Imagine a large dam project, with various gate
motors, pumps and computerized control, flow monitoring and
communications systems. Although the contractor may not be
expert on their operations, the contract may require that
training be provided.
 Thus, it is the contractor’s responsibility to arrange such
sessions, probably led by manufacturers’ and/or
subcontractors’ representatives, after the various components
are installed and prior to owner occupancy. A convenient time
may be just after the systems and components are tested,
when such representatives are already on the site. The
operating and maintenance manuals will be an important focus
of these instructional sessions.
14. Warranties, guarantees and defects liability period
 The terms warranty and guarantee tend to be used
interchangeably in construction contracts to designate the
obligations the contractor assumes for repairing defects in its
work for a specified period after the commencement of
beneficial occupancy.
 The general conditions cover the overall obligation and the time
period, called the defects liability period or the maintenance
period. Common defects liability periods are 3 months
(Standards New Zealand Paerewa Aotearoa, 1998) and 1 year
(American Institute of Architects, 1997) for the entire project,
unless certain portions of the work are required to have longer
periods.
 These exceptions are given in the special conditions and often
require that the contractor furnish a written guarantee for these
elements. For example, a roofing contractor may be required to
provide a written guarantee that its work will be free of defects
for 15 years, whereas a landscaper may have to warrant its trees
and other plantings for 2 years.
 The New Zealand Conditions of Contract for Building and Civil
Engineering Construction (Standards New Zealand Paerewa
Aotearoa, 1998) provide typical language on this topic:

11.1.1 The period of defects liability for the contract works or any
separable portion shall commence on the date of practical
completion of the contract works or separable portion. The period
of defects liability shall be three months unless some other period is
stated in the special conditions.
11.2.1 The contractor shall remedy defects arising before the end
of the period of defects liability in the contract works from
defective workmanship or materials. The engineer shall give notice
in writing to the contractor during the period of defects liability or
within five working days thereafter of defects to be remedied.

11.2.2 The contractor shall not be liable for fair wear and tear
during the period of defects liability.

 This document also specifies that, if the contractor fails to

complete the repairs within a reasonable time, the owner is
entitled to have the work done and charge the contractor for its
cost.
15. Post-project analysis, critique and report
 Internally, the contractor will want to analyze the entire project
to determine what it has learnt that can be applied to the next
such endeavor. This step is probably one of the most neglected
aspects of construction project management, as there is always
pressure to look ahead to the next job rather than backward
toward the work just completed.
 However, a day, or even a few hours, spent with key members of
the project team in a post-project critique, followed by the
creation of a written report, will pay dividends in the future.
Conducted by the project manager, the meeting should cover
such topics as personnel and labor relations, construction
methods and on-site coordination, safety issues, subcontractor
performance, fabrication and delivery matters, cost control,
schedule issues, owner and design professional relationships and
the quality of the project and its components and systems.
 The meeting also provides an occasion to thank the members of
the team for their efforts and to mark, in some fitting manner,
those whose contributions have been especially noteworthy. In
addition to the discussion, several members of the team may be
asked to contribute written analyses and the project manager
will surely prepare their own individual critique. The tenor of
the study must not be negative.
 Questions involving ‘What did we do right?’ are just as
important as ‘What could have been improved?’ Once the
various elements of the discussion and written analyses have
been completed, the project manager is responsible for
compiling the written report, which becomes a part of the
company’s historical record, together with the various cost,
schedule and other reports.
16. Owner feedback
 Many owners provide their contractors and design professionals
with their own project performance evaluations. If they do not,
the contractor would do well to seek such feedback from the
owner. A friendly visit with the company president, the head of
the school board, the mayor or whoever heads the owner’s
organization may be sufficient, to offer thanks for the
opportunity to construct the project and to assure the owner
that any defects will be remedied.
 Such a visit also serves to remind the owner that the contractor
is available for the owner’s next project! Beyond that, it is
important to solicit comments about the positive and negative
aspects of the contractor’s performance from the owner’s
perspective. In that regard, feedback from those closer to the
project, such as on-site representatives, will be important.
17. A closing comment
 Whether that next phase is part of the ‘project’ may be
subject to some disagreement (because by definition a
project has a limited life and must be brought to a
conclusion), but the importance of facility
management, once construction is completed, cannot
be denied. It has been estimated that 5% of the UK’s
gross domestic product is spent on built asset
maintenance (Building Research Establishment, 2001).
 We must have the ability to manage the construction of
facilities, which is what this phase is all about, but we
must also know how to manage them once their
construction has been completed. But that is a topic for
another time and another place.
THANK YOU!