Construction Project Administration

For courses in Construction Management, Construction Contract Administration, and Construction Inspection. Drawing on the author's extensive experience in construction engineering, administration, and education, this text/reference addresses each of the principal contract administration duties in logical order from the hands-on viewpoint of a resident engineer on a construction project. It specifically addresses the responsibility and authority of the Resident Project Representative, unlike other texts which focus on the project manager. The text takes a project team approach for improved job efficiency, outlining a construction team operation in which the administrator delegates to the greatest possible extent all those contract administration functions that can be more effectively done in the field.

The principal objective of this book is to provide those of us who are active in the construction industry with a single source of information that will help address the responsibilities and risks that we are likely to encounter. The book not only introduces students, design professionals, project managers, and owners to the special problems of construction, but also serves as a ready reference to experienced contract administrators and construction engineers as well. The first edition was addressed to students of construction management, on-site representatives, engineers, and inspectors to provide them with a ready source of information in preparing for the responsibilities they could expect to confront on modern construction projects. However, during the many seminars held by the author throughout the United States, Guam, Canada, Jamaica, and Mexico, and in the courses he teaches for the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Transportation Studies; University of Washington, Seattle, Engineering Professional Programs; and the American Society of Civil Engineers, it became evident that the project managers, contract administrators, and other management personnel who worked with or exercised control over the on-site project representatives had special problems that also needed to be addressed if the project team concept was to be realized. Thus, the concept for the second edition was born: to bring together the office and field personnel and present them with a workable system for operating as an effective construction team. The third edition continued the concept of developing the project team approach, with the added consideration of claims avoidance methods to reduce claims losses. Each member of the project team needed to become intimately familiar with the principles of construction project administration. It was toward this end that the author strove to meet the particular needs of the project team in today's changing construction environment. A considerable amount of new material was added, and some of the chapters were reorganized for a more logical flow of information. Later editions provided the updating necessary to remain current with state-of-the-art techniques in construction and to add new material, including references to AIA, EJCDC, and FIDIC documents, so that the book can literally become a single source for most construction-phase activities. As a part of the continuing effort to stay abreast of the state of the art of the construction industry, and in recognition of the federal declaration to make the metric system (SI) the basic system of measurement in the United States and that federal agencies be required to use it exclusively, the fifth edition was updated to emphasize its-use and included supplementary information to assist civil and construction engineers in utilizing metric (SI) civil engineering units in construction. In addition, all of the original material was reviewed and updated, the subject of partnering was addressed, and the index was made more user friendly. The author is grateful to the many contributions made through the years since this book was first published. Contributors to previous editions included Julius (Jim) Calhoun, Esq., Asst. General Counsel for Montgomery-Watson in Pasadena, CA (ret.); Gary L. McFarland, PE, and Charles H. Lawrance, PE, President and Vice-President, respectively, of Lawrance, Fisk, & McFarland, Inc., of Santa Barbara, CA; Wendell Rigby, PE, former Senior Civil Engineer of the City of Thousand Oaks, CA; Harold Good, CPPO, Procurement Manager of the City of Palm Springs, CA; Albert Rodriguez, CPCU, ARM, President, Rodriguez Consulting Group, Inc., Jacksonville, FL; Robert Rubin, Esq., PE, of Postner & Rubin, Attorneys at Law, New York, NY; Joseph Litvin, Esq., PE, Attorney at Law, Dayton, OH; Arthur Schwartz, Esq., General Counsel for the National Society of Professional Engineers, Alexandria, VA; Robert Sm