Introduction
Every Stakeholder Wins in the Unanimous Pursuit of the Owner’s Success!

A Constructability Review should be a value-added endeavor for the Developer, Building Owner, and the end user. Generally, a Constructability Review (CR) is an independent and coordinated review of the construction documents by seasoned and experienced design or construction professionals. It is carried out before bidding to improve the quality control of the documents, to make certain they clearly communicate the work, and are coordinated amongst themselves and across the multiple disciplines. In essence, by reducing down-stream conflicts it will support the mission to improve the success of bidding, construction, and project administration.

An effective CR improves the owner’s success by reducing frustration, saving time and money by revealing errors, omissions, and potential conflicts that would have been encountered during construction. When conflicts are minimized, the result is fewer RFIs, less field orders, reduced change orders, thus eliminating disputes. All resulting in fewer delays and less surprise costs to be borne by the owner.

Let Us Count the Benefits
Why Constructability Reviews Matter

Below we highlight the many ways an effective CR approach will benefit the Developer-Owner.

1. Pays for itself ten-times-over: Recent research has estimated that $10 worth of savings is gained for each $1 spent on a quality CR. The cumulative result of all the value-added features we list below can definitely add up to costs saved and time redeemed by the Owner. One other estimate states that an average of 3-5% savings in construction costs can be realized. We have declared in a previous article, that resolving problems during the construction phase is always more costly to the budget, the most compromising to the finished product, and the most disruptive to schedule.
2. Sets Expectations and Standards Up Front: Scheduling a CR into ever project project prepares the design and build teams for expectations of quality that will be demanded by the owner’s representative.
3. Provides Another Layer of Quality Control: The design team typically appreciates additional sets of eyes on their construction documents. By ferreting out drawing conflicts, errors, and omissions now, reduces disagreements and delays during construction.  The CR provides welcome support to the design team, setting them up for increased success. Domus University’s Article Quality Control in Commercial Construction
4. Reduces Surprise Costs and Construction Delays: Better quality drawings reduce the number of clarifications and require fewer conflicts and disputes. Making for a smoother construction phase, equating to less added costs and fewer delays. The best building solutions never occur during construction.
5. Holds The General Contractor (GC) Accountable to Execute Their Own Drawing Review:
   The pre-scheduled pause for a CR provides the perfect opportunity for the GC to perform their own drawing review, begin to write scopes of work, and prepare their bid documents prior to bidding. A productive CR process should engage the GC team to address questions raised about materials, detailing, and general constructability issues.The CR procedure should also set the tone for the GC to hold their own drawing coordination reviews between the MEPFP trades and the framing plans.  Reviewing mechanical pathways and clash detection before construction begins. The subcontractors should also be held accountable to perform their own reviews and coordinate their work with other trades.
6. Identifies Unwanted Language That Could Shift Risk onto The Owner: An Experienced CR reviewer will identify Phrases like To Be Determined, Contractor To Field Verify, Furnished By Others, Work By Others, Etc., and request that they be corrected. These drawing notes invite ambiguity about who is responsible for the work. If a subcontractor or supplier has plausible deniability due to unclear language in the documents, it opens the door to risk by the Owner, in the form of change orders. Drawing notes should be crystal clear about who is responsible for each and every component.
7. Reduce Costs by Adding Value to the Bid Packages: The seasoned CR reviewer can capture opportunities to include Add Alternates, Lump Sum Vs. Unit Pricing, Delegated Design, or Design-build opportunities into the drawings and bid packages.
8. Increases Quality of the Bids: High-quality drawings increases the caliber of bids in many ways, resulting in tighter spreads between subs and lower costs:
   1. Attracts higher quality subs and suppliers
   2. Provides for more accurate and competitive bids
   3. Reduces the “Unknown” contingency-factor bidders add to unclear drawings
   4. Reduces opportunities for down-stream, change orders

9. Reduces RFIs: The RFI process is necessary but time consuming for everyone. Recent research claims the average RFI consumes 7 hours to review, resolve, and document.If you imagine that every question raised during a competent CR eliminates an RFI raised during bidding and construction, that should result in a lot less time spent and fewer risks for change orders.
10. Reduces Change Orders; Which Reduces Added Costs And Lost Time: Hopefully the picture is becoming clear. Without being repetitive, Items 2 through 9 above demonstrate how finding errors upstream through the building development process reduces costly changes.In a previous article, we stated: “To reduce the size and impact of construction change orders, we must first recognize that they are Lagging Indicators resulting from previous missteps, drawing conflicts, and oversights.” Domus University’s Article on how to reduce Construction Change Orders.  Additionally, we have seen various research that states the average change order demands anywhere from 3 to 23 manpower-hours to review, resolve, and document.  Wouldn’t it be nice to invest those valuable hours on things more profitable!
11. Improves the Project Quality: A competent CR provides a major, last-chance to review the design, building materials, product life cycles, and maintenance impacts in a slowed-down, controlled setting. Expending time to second-guess design decisions and material selections during the construction phase almost always cause delays and provides the owner with the fewest options.
12. Improves Schedule adherence: By reducing confusion, conflicts, and changes because of Items 2 through 11 above, the result is going to be a positive impact on the timing of the owner’s occupancy of the project.

The Execution
When and by Whom Should Your Constructability Review be Performed?

The CR is best performed at around 85-95% construction document completion. And, definitely before the project goes out to bid. The project manager or owner’s representative should stand firm on this point. Eliminating, or reducing the scope of the CR is tempting, especially when everyone is anxious to break ground on a project that may already be behind schedule. The Overall Project Schedule must allow sufficient time for both the CR and for corrections to be made, prior to the release for bidding.

Your CR will be most impactful if performed by someone or a team that possesses the following strengths:

1. Vast experience in both the A+E and construction side of projects
2. Insight and experience in real estate development, asset management, building material life cycles, and capital maintenance and improvement costs
3. Knowledge of construction and material specifications and building codes
4. Experience in design, 3-D visualization skills, and conceptual estimating
5. Be 3^rd party, independent of the A+E design team

It should be noted that design and material reviews, best practices, and value engineering should have already been occurring as early as the schematic design phase. The CR will provide one more round of oversight, to confirm that any previous, agreed-upon changes have been captured and correctly rendered in the documents.

The owner’s representative should also ensure that the project team are executing the following quality control (QC) tasks of their own throughout the drawing phases:

1. Performing their own internal QC reviews
2. The Design-assist general contractor should perform their own reviews with their expertise of means and methods, logistics, phasing, and trade coordination
3. Site Visit should be performed with drawings in hand by the 3^rd party reviewer, engineers, GC, and all bidding subcontractors

Utilizing CR checklists is a great way to assure the review process is as thorough and inclusive as possible. We utilize our own Checklists in conjunction with our Lessons Learned Log that builds upon itself and creates a built-in feed-back loop and continuously improves with each project completion.

In Summary
Form your Team and Swarm the Task

The CR reviewer is not directing changes to the drawings, specs, means or methods, but bringing to light drawing coordination questions, constructability concerns, and cost-savings opportunities on behalf of the owner. Ultimately the owner, architect and engineers should agree as to the final content shown in the construction documents.

When your Constructability Review is performed by the proper team with appropriate experience and skill sets it will support higher quality drawings and specs, higher-quality bidders, smoother construction, and less administration time. All resulting in lower cost and earlier occupancy of your building project.