The client – designer relationship

Any positive and mutually beneficial designer – client working relationship must comprise at least three areas of common understanding, agreement and support, namely:

• Mutually agreed and supported goals,
• Mutually agreed and supported “value” that each party brings to the project, and
• Mutually agreed measurable

Goals

The designers’ goals for a positive working relationship might include:

• Income that supports personal interest, ongoing professional development, and that provides sufficient discretionary time for a chosen lifestyle
• A comprehensive client service, or at least a long term consulting role on a retainer
• Mutual trust and willingness to negotiate win – win outcomes as new challenges arise
• An outcome leading to positive referrals in the future

A clients goals might include:

• Maximizing asset creation
• Maximizing profit
• A positive and supporting working environment
• A project team that inspires confidence that the clients investment is safe and secure

Although each parties goals are different, both need to be understood and supported.

Values

The value that the designer brings to the project include

• Vision and creativity
• The ability to assemble a suitable project team
• Experience and training in visualization, technical matters, permitting and zoning interpretation
• Practice in managing and implementing a project from conception to occupancy

The value that the client brings to the project include:

• Entrepreneurship
• Financing
• Experience enough to support a successful project outcome

Both designer or client must bring sufficient value to ensure the success of the project.

Measurables

Items that can be used to measure the success of the project as it unfolds include:

• A project program (a time schedule with milestones for stages of the project)
• Assemby of the design team
• Conformation of property ownership
• Confirmation of financing
• Design drawing, reports or specification production
• Permit approval milestones
• Tendering and budgetry approval
• Construction commencement
• Occupancy
• Project completion.

Any positive and mutually beneficial working relationship requires good communication and understanding of both parties goals, and how they can mutually be met.

It’s a paperless world

Both the climate change imperative and the need to improve efficiencies fuel our dream of a more paperless design and project management process. The paper packages of building design, structural, electrical, mechanical HVAC and plumbing, specification documents, geotechnical and fire safety reports, permit drawings, tender documents and project administration files present a daunting challenge and cost for archival storage or recycling. That said, while thumbing through a package of plans, specifications and reports we appreciate the advantage of quickly being able to zero in on areas of interest or pencil notes or calculations in the margin of the page. So how much can we go paperless and still improve efficiency and add value to the client:

1) Be practical not perfectionist about reducing paper.

Adobe portable document format (PDF) is great for communicating between offices. The PDF format has information embedded in the file on the paper size for printing. This means that the recipient can choose whether to print the document, and if so is able to print to the correct scale just by selecting the “Use PDF to choose paper size” option, and “No scaling” when printing. PDFs can be digitally signed or sealed which is the guarantee to both the sender and recipient that the electronic document is the “genuine article”.

2) Use a common sense approach.

Print off a reduced set of PDF documents as a reference copy. Printing off a 24″ x 36″ set tabloid size set of drawings (A1 drawing printed at A3 size), will reduce the amount of paper used by 400%, and while it can’t be scaled it is still legible and easy to thumb through for quick reference and you still have the original PDF document to measuring or calculate areas, or attach comments to and re-distribute.

3) Large plans do not create more value.

Think of how clearly a fire alarm graphic communicates the basic concepts of exits and associated floor zoning, the locations of critical equipment such as extinguishers, annunciator panel location, and standpipes. Often, small simple concept drawings are sufficient to communicate the essences of Building code and zoning compliance for the project while a set of traditional CAD drawings, even dimensioned, is less useful to client, local authority and constructor. The time spent creating a large accurate CAD drawing may be better spent doing analysis and clearly communicating concepts using written specifications and simple conceptual diagrams on a few letter size / A4 sheets. That’s a paper saving right there. Fire compartments, zoning of electrical and mechanical services, details and different partition types can all be communicated in small scale analytical diagrams. Planning data such as floor areas that attract FAR or building coverage are easily described using small analytical diagrams. Consider how your time will best be spent to provide the best value to the client (and it is often not set of large, dimensioned CAD drawings).

4) Embrace raster technology.

Instead of just assuming that you must use your time and resources to create a new large scale CAD drawing of an existing building approach the original designer to use a scanned images of his / her hand drawn plans. In all likelihood you will get that permission for a small fee, and increase your profitability.

5) Don’t think or work lineally.

If you are working ‘fast track’ as municipal inspectors do, create your hand written notes and scan them on site using a portable scanning device. Save paper by making the hand written document the contractors copy.

6) Use multimedia.

Use video to create field reports (which is both a sound and visual record). Use sound recordings as your record of meetings supplement with digital photos of the construction work.

Inspections and field review

Disclaimer:

Ideas and comments on this discussion page are just that; only ideas and comments, and may not be relied upon as suggestions or advice by anyone or for any purpose. If you have any questions about this blog please contact me at my contact page.

To find out about my work, view examples or browse my links, please go to my home page. Hope to hear from you.

I was recently asked by a colleague for a list of items I review at field reviews or inspections. Some discussion of the background assumptions for inspections or field reviews is warranted, together with a list. Field reviews, whether by the designer, consultant, building inspector, site supervisor or client / owner, is always valuable as a “second”, “third” or “fourth” pair of eyes looking at the project to achieve a good result. Inspections or field review will never on their own make up for less than conscientious construction. In the same way that it “takes a village to raise a child”. it also take a conscientious team effort to construct a building with merit. No amount of third-party review can make up for less than conscientious workmanship or lack of understanding of applicable codes and local bylaws. Much of inspection or field review requires professional electrical, plumbing mechanical, structural, geotechnical and building envelope review that are beyond the scope of a general checklist. Much of general field review is also collection and verification of product quality, listing or correct installation from third-party testing organizations, product manufacturers or professional consultants, that must be provided by the contractor, for items such as elevators, roofing, curtain wall or cladding products, firestopping, and structural attachment of guards or seismic bracing for ceilings or equipment. That said, here is the starting point for a general checklist of items when reviewing the construction project:

• Is the site secured, clean and well managed. Are potentially dangerous or significant trees protected. Is fish habitat protected. Are measures in place to limit sediment from polluting creeks, storm water ditches or municipal storm systems. Are measures in place to ensure worker safety (guards, harnessing, suitable gear). Have hazardous materials like lead, asbestos, creosote or hydrocarbons been removed from the site. Is there a program in place to recycle construction waste
• Surveys Verifying encroachments or setbacks, and critical elevations such as the main floor slab, or top of slab over Basement elevation
• Correct number of storeys (is this a 31 or 32 storey highrise)
• Fire department access – has the building been correctly located in relation to the street or streets that will provide fire department and emergency access to main entrance of the building. Has the fire department connection been installed in a location obvious to fire fighters (at 3:00 am in the morning), and is it located the correct distance from the a hydrant that is beside the street
• If the building address clearly visible from the street (not poorly lit or obscured by trees or shrubbery)
• Have the correct number of parking spaces been provided and are they correctly sized. Are clear height minimums met for parking basements, to the underside of structure, insulation, ducting and servicing.
• Is there a clearly articulated, level and wide path from an accessible parking space, and from the street, to the main entrance of the building
• is a fire alarm annunciator required, and if so has it been provided. Is it appropriately located
• What is the building construction (combustible, noncombustible, heavy timber, regular framing or post and beam). Are service pipes and ducting that run in chases or penetrate fire separations noncombustible or a suitably listed product.
• Are fire separations correctly identified in the design and are they continuous and firestopped at their edges and at service penetrations. Are they constructed according to their listed design. Do penetrations for electrical outlets and light fixtures meet the limits for size and distribution (for example, no back to back electrical outlets). Are fire resisting membranes continuous around large openings for electrical panels, fire extinguisher cabinets or medicine cabinets in bathrooms.
• Are automatic door openers, or speaker phones required at main entrances.
• Are closures appropriately rated and installed according to their listed specifications. Are rate-of-temperature rise limits required, and if so are they provided. Do door closers, door latching and door stopping function correctly. Do unlisted closures (solid door core doors, where permitted), have maximum 1/4″ gaps at the base and maximum 1/8″ gaps at the sides. Have ventilation grilles been installed in closures (that should not be there)
• Which doors are exits, and are they appropriately identified with signage. Have fire alarm pull stations been installed in appropriate locations. Is appropriate hardware and locking installed.
• Do the lower exit doors of high-rise buildings have an elephants foot or permanent ventilation for pressurization against smoke ingress.
• Are standpipes required and have they been appropriately installed
• Are elevators correctly sized. Do elevators and exit stairs in parking basements have pressurized vestibules to limit smoke and fume migration to upper storeys.
• Correct functioning of emergency pressurization, exhaust or door release mechanisms, and their coordination with sprinkler or fire alarm systems
• Are combustible limits for areas such as interconnected floor spaces, exits or corridor ceilings being met.
• Are bathroom and kitchen areas finished and backed with suitably moisture proof materials
• Are there requirements for accessibility or aging in place, and have they been met (for example, blocking for grab-bars or wiring for strobes and suitable seating areas in theaters or restaurants
• Are stairs suitably finished, with guards, handrails, non-sip finishes, visually contrasting nosings and tactile warnings
• Are required energy efficiency measures in place, including insulation that is continuous over framing members or exposed floor slab bands.
• Do exterior finishes and colors match approved development permit drawings

Richard Dohmeier 2011-12-13