Quality Management In The Construction Process

Project Details

Discuss about the Quality Management In The Construction Process.

The main aim of quality management in construction is to satisfy the needs of undertaking construction. Through the determination of the policies of quality, standards, and responsibilities implementations of tasks creates results that improve projects at hand. The successful completion of a construction project involves functions and importance of construction quality assurance and contractor quality control. Under these two key factors, the construction contracts and the design-build contracts. On the basis of quality assurance, the key factor is to obtain a complete construction that meet the requirements stipulated in the contract. Personnel in the various constructions ensure that the functions are properly completed. This project takes an objective analysis on the construction quality by examining project details, project team, quality policy, quality procedure register, audit schedule, procedures and registers, cost control, client variation register, subcontractor variation register, document control, drawing control and site instruction register.

The construction project detail involves direction, regulation, as well as supervision right from the early development to completion. The peek perspective construction follows after the satisfaction of the demands as far as functionality and the budget. The basic details of the construction process include the break ground, excavation, foundation, concrete slab pour, gravel, water barrier, utilities, sewer, water, framing, balloon, roof, roofing, weather resistant barrier, rough plumbing, among others. Therefore, the phases of project life cycle involve project initiation, project planning, project execution, project monitoring and control, as well as project closure. The main purpose of construction management is to control project’s time, cost, and quality.

The construction project team is critical for the overall construction project and it has the structure, collaborative practices, integration, and team management. Under normal circumstance, the construction of a building involves a team comprising the architects, designers, engineers, contractors, subcontractors, engineer, and most importantly the project client. The client defines the aesthetic and functional needs and defines the requirement of the final product. More than that, the architect advises, through specialized consultations and sub-contraction. These involve performance specification and product lists while the engineers define specialists’ requirements. The contractors select sub-contractors based on their capability, availability, as well as price. Eventually, they interpret these to the team and have a great influence on the selection of the products for the project. Understanding each member of the team is very important when it comes to marketing building products, being tailored to suit the specifications of every segment of the construction project (O’brien, 2013).

Project Team

The quality policy in construction industry involves research and development affecting all the activities that are to be carried out in accordance to the construction management system. The aim of the quality policy involves delivering quality service in maintaining excellent relationship with the client, ensuring satisfaction to the team and the client, meeting the requirement and standards of the project. In this case, quality policy involves the degree of excellence that is ever changing based on the dynamisms of industry.  The roles of team members can be constructive or destructive. Constructive roles move the group towards action and accomplishing results, while destructive roles hinder the accomplishment of group goals. Therefore, the constructive roles given towards the team involves following up the quality policy.

The adoption of the quality procedure is an enabling step that helps in resourcing the responsibilities for the output of the project. This procedure involves unique requirements of the whole project and its application throughout the project lifecycle as well. More than that, the procedure prescribes the mechanism the quality compliance benchmark throughout the project. It is also important to note that the project procedures register is key in the provision of specific details for the management of the identified quality issues at the project level, including any relevant forms or checklists.

 Project procedures will always be subject to evolutionary change throughout the project lifecycle as the expected standard of service provision may change. These evolutionary changes are dependent on the environmental, circumstantial, and technical changes that are met in the site of project operation. Project procedures are also used as the provision of compliance confidence within the project itself. This compliance confidence enables both the customer and to ensure all system targets are maintained as enablers to the identified output of the project.

The variation register for the client and the subcontractor involves a document letter that can be used to record the amendments to a contract or appointment that had been agreed upon earlier in the project between the contractor and the employer. Therefore, in the project 4Blue Mountain, any alterations or variation to be made to the original instruction or contractual agreement for the scope of the works in the construction site, any addition, substitution, or omission from the original scope must be done through the Client Variation Register or Subcontractor Variation Register.

Cost control in a project includes the construction costs and all other items that are listed as expenses in the construction process and contingency. The main goal of the cost control is to allocation of budget to the critical elements of the 4Blue Mountain project and providing cover on the basis of the cost control. In summary, cost control in this project involves controlling the costs processes centered in planning, estimation, financing, funding, as well as the management of the costs itself. Cost control are to be done in this project through the evaluation of the menu planning, reduction of waste and theft, cross-training staff, improving quality of the staff, as well as preforming costs calculations at every stage of the projects. Acting as a monitoring and budget allocations element, it is important to take the cost control seriously to ensure that the project is done within the schedule at the projected costs and expenses.

Quality Policy

In any project, documentations is very important as far as monitoring and recording is concerned. If the documentation process is compromised, it would be difficult to specify important aspects with verification on the activities carried out throughout the project lifecycle. The records are real evidences whose work is to show establishments and conformity to the requirements of the project. They also show effective operations of the management quality systems. This is possible because records are readable and easily accessible and maintainable. Based on the project 4Blue Mountains TAFE, the control of data and documentation is the means of giving a guideline in effective management of the construction documents.     Therefore, it is important for the project 4Blue Mountains TAFE management team to maintain the project record that would act as the evidence in the future in compliances with the requirements and procedures.

The control of document involves electronic and paper records that are protected differently. The electronic records are protected through backups in the computer systems that are run from a steady supply of power. On the other hand, the paper records are protected safely in files and document stores that ensure their safety and accessibilities.

The importance of protecting these documents by any means necessary is for future requirements of quality management systems.

Therefore, the daily records form a special type of documentation that may be controlled within the framework of stated requirement in the project. In this case, a documented procedure that has been firmly established for the project completion must have an approval for adequacy prior to the issue, review and updates which is a necessity, and ensuring changes are updated within the current versions of ordeals. More than that, a documented procedure must be eligible and identifiable with the current versions readily, the information that originates externally must be identified and their distribution controlled as well as being able to prevent the use of unintended documents that have been determined obsolete. Such documents must be cross-checked with the current updates in identifying the relevance of the documents to suit any possible purpose within the current frameworks.

Valdes-Vasquez & Klotz (2010) noted that architectural aspects of the construction project are the most important aspect in the project 4Blue Mountains TAFE. The different versions and specifications as wells as drawings are in this project electronically controlled within the 4Blue Mountains computer systems.  In this designs and data are stored the classified technical aspects of the whole project and constructions managed through the manner of catalogue of the whole project. The contractors and the sub-contractors as well as some management team members of the project have some access to the mainframe drawing information. Through these drawings and their controls, an accurate depiction of the requirements of the construction project is done.

Quality Procedure Register

The site instruction register in the project management provides the mechanism through which track of all instructions in the site are kept. These are the instructions that have been identified and raised in the project site for a specific project and their contacts, locations, as well as status are known within the site.  Within the perspective of the project 4Blue Mountain, the site instruction register does not provide an authorization for extension of time or variations of the contract as well as any claim that might arise in the site of the project but all of these are made in subjection to the general conditions of the project contract signed between the client and the contract manager (Munns, & Bjeirmi, 2016).

Site instruction on the other hand stipulates administration of the work, the parties involved and the requirements. It shows the site meetings guiding the safety, security, engineering, materials, resources of the contractor, progress, interface, quality, as well as the contractual basis within the site. It also contains the site communication, cooperation with others within the site, supervision among others. In this way, it is safe to conclude that the instruction register gives meaning to the tasks being performed, the data that is accessible in the site among others. Each of the instruction register has input and output with shifts that hold information that are at every moment used currently.

This is generally a formal request that is made being asked by one of the member in a contract on a construction project to the other party. Most of these queries are asked concerns some information concerning the contracts documentations as well as providing the information that might not have been completed or agreed upon and the time when the contract was signed. More than that, most requests for information stipulates the whole detail of the project, the details of the parties involved, especially the party making the request, the time period when the query was made, as well as the nature of the information being sought with the supporting explanatory document associated with the information (Mainul Islam, & Faniran, 2005).

Making request for information register follows a generally agreed pattern with the parties involved in the Project 4Blue Mountain. More than that, request for Information Register must be processed fast to understand the process and effective reply without undue delay. Without causing resource conflicts, the RFI indicates the work preferred and a good impression on the contract on the request be made. The RFI must also have enough detail to make a good and satisfying answer to either the party that made the inquiry (Kerzner, & Kerzner, 2017).

Client Variation Register and Subcontractor Variation Register

According to Sobotka & Czarnigowska  (2005) noted that under the context of construction control, planning and process procedures are very critical at this stage. Items testing as well as inspection of their functionalities are key in ensuring efficiencies and effectiveness in the construction project. In testing and inspection procedures, there is a deterministic procedure and test plan or checklist followed. In this process, non-conformity to the expected standards of the items of products for constructions are detected and identified. After detection and identification, rectification in based on the 4Blue Mountains compliance control is done (Laufer, & Tucker, 2017). In this case, therefore, the issue of project requirements inspection and tests plans in construction involves identification, planning, as well as providing records of the various significant tests and inspection of the project from the start of the project to the end. In the end, the tests and inspection controls acts as control mechanisms for all the activities that are carried out throughout the construction lifecycle and are later on used as a gauge or evidence of fulfilling the needs of the customer or project client. It gives more confidence to the project client that service is delivered or provided effectively.

There are minimum standards for the inspection and testing project for the project 4Blue Mountains involves site surveying and setting out as well as preparation and excavation. The ITPs (inspection and testing project) also involves concrete construction activities including barriers of vapour as well as tightening penetrations. The other standard of inspection and testing project is structural steel construction supply of works, storage as well as installation. Insulation and insulation of barriers within the installed items in the construction project are also involved. The supply of roofing and installation products and items are also other forms of inspection and testing in the project to ensure effective project that steer confidence (Harris, & McCaffer, 2013).

The supply to the windows and the doors, storage and installation facilities, the supply of external cladding and their storage and installation, the certification of the hydraulics and their testing, the certification of electrical works and their installation or storage, the mechanical installation and their various testing are all included in the inspection and testing project in construction. During this process, there certain information that is important to the overall body of the project’s performance and quality. They include, the information on the product concerned, the credibility of the sub-contractor, the verification of their compliances, who carries the inspection and tests, the characteristics of the tests, the method used in the construction inspection, frequency and timing of the inspections as well specific criteria holding the key points of inspection and tests (Francis, & Miresco, 2006).

Cost Control

The non-conformance register are used in addressing corrective actions and this is under circumstances of noncompliance with the terms and conditions of the contract made with the company. When the company fails to meet the specifications made by a particular client, it is recorded in the non-conformance register in order to look for corrective actions for the issue at hand; and the non-conformance procedures will include, report, tracking and correction (Chan, Scott, & Chan, 2004).

A variety of the projects program will be managed electronically via the computer database of the company. All the programs will be managed in a catalogued manner in every project that will be undertaken by firm (Assaf, Al-Khalil, & Al-Hazmi, 2005).

The program register will contain a variety of program elements. The elements will include, goals and objectives of Construction Company, project specific quality management plan, document control, reviews and approvals, roles and responsibilities, policy and objectives and general quality management (Love, & Li, 2000).

Every construction contracts normally allows for the construction period to be extended and this is when there is delay in the completion of the project. Such an extension of the construction period is called the extension of time. When it suspected that a delay will occur, the contractor administrator will be provided with written notice and this may involve the identification of relevant event which is likely to cause the delay and later grant an extension. In the register the   relevant events indicated may include; terrorism, adverse weather, strikes, changes in statutory requirements, delay in supply of materials and delay in part of the sub-contractor (AbouRizk, & Mohamed, 2012).

According to Arditi & Gunaydin (2007), internal procedures are series of audit programs that are periodically required and done in the site.  The information obtained from the audit procedures such as internal audits are very critical for the investors in the project, the clients, and the contractors. They are basically important in ensuring that the project is completed within the framework of the requirements and the agreements in the contract. More importantly, in the construction projects like the 4Blue Mountain project, the internal procedures like the internal audit are very important because they help the parties involved, especially the management team to detect and identify any impending problem that might be faced in the future or presently. More than that, they are important in identifying the misappropriations in the past as far as costs are concerned that are reflected in the overall budget. The internal procedures helps determine the completion percentage, the materials factors (deficit or surplus), the environmental issues that might not have been envisaged earlier, safety and security issues among others (Findley et al., 2004).

Document Control

The filling system will constitute a central record of all the information and data to help keep records of various contracts and clients. All the files will be organised in a systematic and efficient manner to enable accessibility of information by all the relevant personnel. The alphabetical filing system will be type of filing system which will be used such that the files of various clients and contracts will be arranged in alphabetical order. The numeric filing system will also be used and it will involve assigning different numbers to particular file and later arrange them in sequential order (Halpin, 2010).

References

AbouRizk, S., & Mohamed, Y. (2012). CEPM 1: optimal construction project planning. In Proceedings of the 34th conference on Winter simulation: exploring new frontiers(pp. 1704-1708). Winter Simulation Conference.

Arditi, D., & Gunaydin, H. M. (2007). Total quality management in the construction process. International Journal of Project Management, 15(4), 235-243.

Assaf, S. A., Al-Khalil, M., & Al-Hazmi, M. (2005). Causes of delay in large building construction projects. Journal of management in engineering, 11(2), 45-50.

Chan, A. P., Scott, D., & Chan, A. P. (2004). Factors affecting the success of a construction project. Journal of construction engineering and management, 130(1), 153-155.

Findley, M., Smith, S., Kress, T., Petty, G., & Kim, E. (2004). Safety program elements in construction. Professional safety, 49(2), 14.

Francis, A., & Miresco, E. (2006). A chronographic method for construction project planning. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering, 33(12), 1547-1557.

Halpin, D. W. (2010). Construction management. John Wiley & Sons.

Harris, F., & McCaffer, R. (2013). Modern construction management. John Wiley & Sons.

Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. (2017). Project management: a systems approach to planning, scheduling, and controlling. John Wiley & Sons.

Laufer, A., & Tucker, R. L. (2017). Is construction project planning really doing its job? A critical examination of focus, role and process. Construction Management and Economics, 5(3), 243-266.

Love, P. E., & Li, H. (2000). Quantifying the causes and costs of rework in construction. Construction Management & Economics, 18(4), 479-490.

Mainul Islam, M. D., & Faniran, O. O. (2005). Structural equation model of project planning effectiveness. Construction Management and Economics, 23(2), 215-223.

Munns, A. K., & Bjeirmi, B. F. (2016). The role of project management in achieving project success. International journal of project management, 14(2), 81-87.

O’brien, J. J. (2013). Construction inspection handbook: Quality assurance/quality control. Springer Science & Business Media.

Sobotka, A., & Czarnigowska, A. (2005). Analysis of supply system models for planning construction project logistics. Journal of civil engineering and management, 11(1), 73-82.

Valdes-Vasquez, R., & Klotz, L. (2010). Considering social dimensions of sustainability during construction project planning and design. Int. J. Environ. Cultural Econ. Soc. Sustainability, 6(6), 167-180.