Wise and Foolish Builders

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.  The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

– Matthew 7:24-27

The building spaces today requires careful planning before construction, tedious monitoring during the implementation, and thorough review after implementation.

We have anchored our topic in the biblical text at the introduction. There are two types of builders: (1) the Wise and (2) the Foolish ones.

Since building modern spaces to meet client-specific requirements in functionality and adaption to technology while maintaining to be cost-effective is a challenge, it is only imperative that we take heed the lessons from the wise.  However, it is our intention to discuss the approaches of the foolish builders first. We will be learning from their mistakes in the detailed examples and how it negatively affected their project.

Let us start!

The Passionate Don Juan

Don Juan, a building owner, is passionate about integrating modern technologies to the building heavily relied on youtube videos for these designs which “inspired” the owner to deviate from the approved engineering plan. What transpired next is that changes were implemented without approval from the engineers and architects. The floor area became bigger and the provision for the changes were followed. Come inspection time, it was found out that the said changes have no approval from regulatory and government agencies. Thus, the project had to be stopped. The revisions are to be discarded since the implemented plan have already affected the structural design. The owner faces a demolition job so as to remove the existing structure and reverting it to the original plan. A costly catastrophe for the owner.

Bureaucratic Contractor Pepe and Pilar

Pepe and Pilar (PAP), a contractor, prides itself with their Total Quality Management (TQM) approach. The TQM process involves a very bureaucratic system and very tedious documentation requirements. They invite sub-contractors to speed up the delivery of the project while giving these partners their end of the bargain. However, PAP did not give proper orientation to these TQM requirements to their vendors. The subcontractors are then surprised to know that their payment could not be released. Some have waited more than 4 months and some have not been paid to more than a year. The result is that it delayed the work and completion of the project since majority of the workers disengaged from PAP. Further, Pepe and Pilar’s dishonest practices faced major setback with trust with workers, vendors, existing clients and their future clients. PAP had major opportunity losses.

The Wannabee Architect Vexana

Vexana is an Architecture graduate. She doesn’t possess yet a PRC license to practice her trade but she engaged construction works due to strong support of a building owner who engaged her services to design and build a mixed-use building. Delighted that the building owner considered her, she radiated the same promise to the professional designers that will take on the construction project with her. Without a clear direction on what to do, she began to call the experts for coordination meetings and several site visits. She made them prepare initial plans that made use of the latest technology to be integrated in the building and that the budget was not an issue. However due to her lack of knowledge and experience in the engineering trade, she was surprised that her expected costs overshoot that of the actual one. As a result, she panicked and invited other designers to revise the initial designs that was already submitted to the permits and licenses authority without consulting to her original designers. What happened next is that the original designers disengaged from the project, laborers came and helped but later on left without notice, she was alone. Later did she discovered that she wasted everybody’s time. Although the project was finished and was aesthetically fine due to her background, the functionality of the building was questionable. The tenants who rented the space had to redo their occupied space as it did not conform to their expected functionality.

Excited Architect Pedro

Pedro, an Architect, designed a mixed-use building. It involved several designers during the design stage; however during the implementation, Pedro relied on the “expertise” of somebody who has the experience on the engineering trade. These experienced ones usually do not belong to the roster of the professional designers and engineers of the PRC; hence no professional qualification and identification is met. Just bragging rights. The result, the building owner was hospitalized several times due to the piling up of additional costs for the revisions that were to be made. Pedro has lost the trust of her client and a chance to bigger projects. The client incurred additional costs.

The Cost-Reducer Queen Engr. Ana

Ana, a Civil Engineer, took on the position as a project manager. A subcontractor informed Engr. Ana and they agreed to change the approved materials to an almost equivalent one. Without consulting to the specific designer of the trade, she accepted the change and approved it to be carried out in the construction site.  Her company was happy with the derived savings; however, the project owner was not informed of the said changes. During the final punchlisting, the project owner was surprised at the major change that was not coordinated to their office. This change had a big effect on the performance of the property.  The end result, Ana faced disbarment from PRC due to dishonest and illegal practice. Project owner incurred more and opened the business late due to major revisions.

The Installer Jose

Jose, is an engineering graduate. He tried taking the board examination but was not able to pass it. Later, he decided to advance his career by taking on technical projects in the installation of electrical and electronics equipment inside building premises. Despite the big projects, he decided not to register his business for convenience purposes. The project owners later discovered that Jose switched the prescribed materials into a cheaper and non-equivalent one. During testing and commissioning, the project owner also discovered that workmanship was also an issue. Jose was very confident to take on projects since he was not legally registered and does not have any risks of losing his PRC license as it is non-existent. Jose left the project scene with huge income, but building owner is left with the problem to redo everything.

The Wise Builder’s Ways

The wise puts his attention to building his masterpiece in solid rock. He practices his trade and puts all efforts to the project so he can realize together with his client a meaningful outcome. He does not want to follow the foolish builders’ methods since he knows that the benefits are short-lived.

We have summarized these important reminders to those who would want to wisely build their projects.

During the Design Phase

1. Involve architects and engineers during the planning stage so that your specific requirements are met while your budget is still kept intact.
2. Have the architect draw the architectural plans that should contain the approaches in the general design to make the building look beautiful while at the same time the spaces are maximized accordingly.
3. The designer under the civil engineering practice should make sure that the general plans from the architect are supported by structural computations to ensure that the building will withstand probable loads and stresses.
4. The professional electrical engineer (PEE), professional mechanical engineer (PME), professional electronics engineer (PECE) shall ensure that the building is equipped with the provision for technology to power up, ventilate, and network the said space. These professionals should ensure the safety of the property by installing Fire Detection and Alarm System (FDAS) and Smoke Extraction Device that are UL listed and compliant to the rules set by the Philippines’ Bureau of Fire Protection.
5. The bill of materials enumerating the specific materials for each trade and its corresponding cost are to be prepared by the design professionals.
6. Printed copy of the owner-approved plans are to be signed and sealed by these professionals (i.e. Civil Engineer, professional electrical engineer PEE), professional mechanical engineer PME, and professional electronics engineer PECE). These plans are to be submitted to the Office of the Building Official (OBO) for their comment and approval.
7. Pay dues to the Office of Building Official.

Note: Do not attempt to engage services of individuals who do not possess a valid Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) ID. Chances are they are illegally practicing the profession and that this illegal practice will put a greater risk on the project.

Some Tips During Implementation

1. Be sure that there are engineering supervisors knows how to read an architectural and engineering plan.
2. Hire only skilled workers whom you trust. If you do not know people with that expertise, contact your designer for their recommendation. Usually these designers have a team of their own.
3. Hire a project manager who will see the overall progress of the project. They manage the construction job by using some of the following: carefully placing correct people for the specific job, ensuring that the work falls within the allotted time line set for the project, and communicating other administrative direction.
4. In cases that a project manager cannot be hired, a skilled foreman is given the task but is monitored closely by engineering supervisors.
5. The engineering supervisors oversees the workmanship of the skilled workers doing the construction job. They see to it that the materials used are based on standards, the implementation follows the architectural and engineering plans, and that they ensure that the work falls within the allotted time line set for the project.
6. Since this is a multidisciplinary team, a safety officer should be there to make sure everyone is observing proper protocols, engineering controls are set, and that response to any incidents are in place.  They should conduct daily toolbox meeting to comply with existing Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) rules.
7. Owners are encouraged to regularly visit the construction site to check on progress. If they have concerns on the work, channeling it to the project manager will do the job. It is a no-no to reprimand or call the attention of the immediate worker as this might affect his/her morale.

After Implementation

1. Perform punchlisting. This activity will ensure that minor corrections from workmanship is spotted and that the contractor shall work on these issues.
2. Double check the plan if there were changes from the original plan. If there are indeed any changes, the designers are to reflect these changes in another plan. The new plan is to be submitted to the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA), if the location is within the PEZA zone, and/or to the Office of the Building Official. Please take note that the initial designers are to be the ones to sign and seal the as-built plan.
3. Report to the contractor if there are other issues that may arise within the retention period.

In conclusion, the wise and foolish builder may be old but the lessons from the bible may still hold true up to this modern day and age. Thus, we conclude that building designers and professionals are important to ensure cost-effective, functional and technology-ready spaces. So Build Wisely!