The Contractor's Role in Building Cost Reduction AfterDesignAuthor：Waddle,Todd W.Nationality：UKDerivation：Cost Engineering; Feb2008, Vol. 50 Issue 2, p14-21It has become evident from recent news articles that inflationary pressures and increased construction activity are causing many building projects to come in well over owner's budgets. This trend has increased dramatically over the past few years, as much of the construction industry has been impacted by an unprecedented increase in the cost of construction. The historical rate of increase in construction cost has been under five percent per year, as reported by the Engineering News Record. Over the last few years, the industry has seen a significant increase from historical escalation rates, up to 10-15 percent per year in many regions of the US. These increases have been caused by a variety of factors, including the following.• Shortage of steel resulting from rapid growth in China.• Demand for materials in the US resulting from increased hur ricane damage. • Rising oil prices leading to higher manufacturing and transportation cost. • Rising labor cost because of increased construction activity .To be successful in having over budget projects awarded, the building contractor has had to take a proactive role in working with owners and design teams to reduce project cost to amounts that owners are able to award. This cost reduction is normally accomplished through the following methods.• value engineering;• scope reduction;Value EngineeringValue engineering (VE) has been defined as a systematic method to improve the value of goods and services by using an examination of function. Value, as defined, is the ratio of function to cost. Value can therefore be increased by either improving the function or reducing the cost.It is a primary tenet of value engineering that quality not be reduced as a consequence of pursuing value improvements . VE is a process originating at General Electric Company (GE) during World War II. Because of shortages of skilled labor, raw materials, and component parts, engineers at GElooked for acceptable alternates and often found substitutions that resulted in reduced costs and/or product improvement.GE developed a systematic process that they called value analysis. Over the years the name gradually changed to VE. The basic steps of VE include the following：• Information gathering: project requirements defined, function analysis.• Alternates: various ways of meeting the requirements and functions.• Evaluation: asses sment of alternates on how well they meet requirements and costs savings.• Presentation: selection of best alternatives to be presented to client for decisions.True VE evaluates life cycle costs such as initial cost, maintenance cost, operational cost, life span, time value of money, replacement cost, and frequency of replacement. VE can be undertaken at any stage of the building design process; however, it is most effective in the early stages, since it is less costly to make changes to preliminary documents .Scope ReductionScope reduction involves identifying areas of the project scope of work that can be reduced in quality, quantity, or both in a manner that is acceptable to the owner.Scope reduction items of work often consist of material or equipment substitutions that lower the cost of the project, but may not be an equal substitute. An example of quantity scope reduction would be to reduce the guttering system on a pitched roof from the entire roof perimeter to entrances only. A quality scope reduction example would be to provide vinyl composition floor tiles (VCT) in lieu of ceramic floor tiles.After a project has been determined to be out of budget because of high bids, the project is normally either cancelled, redesigned and re-bid, or negotiations are held with the low bidder to reach an acceptable contract amount. For the building contractor that is selected for negotiations, this is anopportunity to move toward project award and to also build a relationship of trust and openness with the owner and design team that could lead to future projects.First, the building contractor should meet with the owner and design team to fully understand the owners project requirements, priorities, life cycle considerations, and budget.Next, the building contractor's role is to use his estimating and construction expertise to analyze various components and systems within the project for alternate solutions. The contractor should also bring in key subcontractors and suppliers who are often able to identify alternate materials and/or systems within their specialties. Each division of work should be examined and evaluated for VE solutions. In past years, this process and service was considered part of the building contractors overhead. However, in today's market, some contractors will negotiate rates and be reimbursed for the time and effort that they spend in this process in the event that theproject is not awarded to them.The work breakdown structure (WBS) can be a helpful tool to the building contractor in analyzing the various components and systems within a building project. The WBS is a tree-type structure of functional systems used to classify the project on a level-by-level basis . This breakdown structure facilitates the evaluation of each system of the project from the building foundations to the completed sitework.Questions to Ask or Areas and/to Consider by WBSThis section provides a list of areas for the building contractor to examine and/or questions to ask in the WBS system level format for cost saving alternatives. Some of these changes can be accomplishedwithout major re-design cost and incorporated into the construction documents in the form of an addendum. Other changes listed would require extensive re-design and time delays.SUBSTRUCTURE—Have alternate types of foundation system been considered?• wood piles in lieu of precast;• drilled caissons vs. piles;• mat foundations in place of piles or caissons.—Evaluate sand base in place of gravel or stone under slab on grade. SUPERSTRUCTURE—Have alternate types of building structures been evaluated?• structural steel, precast concrete, cast in place concrete, light gauge steel framing or wood framing systems.—Compare Alternate Stair Systems.• steel pan stairs vs. precast concrete or cast in place concrete.EXTERIOR CLOSURE—Evaluate exterior wall systems.• Light gauge metal framing in lieu of reinforced concrete masonry units.• Can wall widths or gauges be reduced?—Compare sheathing systems.• Fiber sheathings in place of cement boards.—Review alternate wall insulation systems.• Batt insulations, rigid insulation materials, loose fill block insulation.—Consider alternate exterior wall veneers.• Conventional stucco versus exterior insulation finish system.• Brick or precast in lieu of stone.—Evaluate alternate glazing systems.• Can exterior glazed areas be reduced?• Storefronts in lieu of curtainwalls if code allows.• Painted aluminum in lieu of stainless steel or brass framing.—Review exterior entrances.• Manual entrance doors in place of automatic entrances.• Automatic entrances in lieu of revolving doors.• Cedar entrance doors rather than mahogany.—Examine exterior railing systems.• aluminum or cable systems in lieu of glass;• standard designs in place of custom elements;ROOFING—Evaluate the specified roofing with alternative materials.• Combined metal decking/insulation systems in lieu of separate systems.• Interior batt insulation in place of rigid roof insulation.• Built-up roofing vs. single ply membranes.• Fib erglass or concrete tiles in lieu of clay tiles.• Painted metals in place of copper.• Can the specified gauge of metal roofing be lowered?• Eliminate or reduce the guttering system?• Can skylights be reduced or styles changed?• Are standard warranties specified?INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION—Examine interior wall systems.• Can light gauge metal-framed walls be used in lieu of concrete masonry units?• Can wall thicknesses or gauges be reduced?• Are drywall systems being used in lieu of plaster? Examine inte rior doors and hardware.• Are the specified doors standard sizes or custom?• Have alternate wood door species been considered?• Have alternate hardware styles or manufacturers been compared?• Can manual doors be used in lieu of automatic?• Are the doo rs pre-machined for hardware installation?• Compare pre-finishing doors with finishing on-site.—Review interior specialties.• Have alternate types of toilet partitions been considered?• Prefinished metals vs. plastic laminates.• Can vinyl corner guard s be used rather than metal?• Metal lockers vs. wood.• Have special partitions been evaluated?• Plastic veneers in lieu of wood.• Can the sound rating be reduced?• Defer installation?• Has the access flooring system been evaluated?• Standard floor f inishes rather than custom?INTERIOR FINISHES—Evaluate interior wall finishes.• Painted wall finishes in lieu of wallcovering.• Epoxy coatings in place of tile finishes.• FRP instead of stainless steel.• Are textured drywall systems being used rather than plaster?—Examine interior floor finishes.• Resilient flooring vs. ceramic or wood.• Ceramic flooring in lieu of stone.• Tile or stone in place of terrazzo.• Alternate carpet manufacturers.—Review alternate ceiling finishes.• Standard ceiling vs. custom.• Fiber ceiling vs. metal.CONVEYING SYSTEMS—Review specified elevators and escalators.• Have alternate manufacturers been considered?• Are standard interior elevator cab finishes specified or custom?• Can glass walls be eliminated?• Are sta ndard warranties specified?SITE PREPARATION• Has a site work analysis been performed to balance cuts and fills.SITE IMPROVEMENTS• Can paved areas be reduced or more economical paving materials used?• Has resurfacing existing parking areas been conside red rather than new parking construction?• Have alternate types of enclosure walls been considered?• Have landscaping alternatives or substitutions been considered?• Seeding in place of sodding.• Reduce or change tree and plant materials.• Use existin g trees and other existing landscaping.SITE CIVIL/MECHANICAL UTILITIES• Have alternate utility piping materials been evaluated?• Can existing site utilities be abandoned rather than removed?SITE ELECTRICAL UTILITIES• Have alternate exterior lighting p ackages been compared?• Have alternate utility piping materials been evaluated?CONTRACTOR OVERHEAD AND PROFIT• Can phasing be reduced to shorten the project duration?• Can the start of the project be timed to avoid cost impact of winter conditions?• F or high-rise projects; have crane and hoisting options been compared? • Can the Owner include the Builders Risk policy?.Breaking down and analyzing the components of a building project through the work breakdown structure can aid in reduction summaries also reveal that the mechanical, electrical and plumbing(MEP) systems typically offer the greatest opportunity for cost savings due to their total significance to a project. The MEP systems normally make up between 30 to 50 percent of a building project's cost.The owners of the illustrated projects accepted cost reducing changes ranging from 6 to 14 percent of the original low bids. These reductions allowed them to meet their particular budgets and have their projects constructed by incorporating the changes into addendums. Some projects may be so far over budget that substantial structural and/or building redesigns are unavoidable. However, building contractors can play a major role in bringing projects into budget—using their past experience along with their subcontractor and supplier networks to develop cost reduction alternatives that may not have been previously considered by owners and/or design teams.设计阶段后承包商在降低施工成本方面所扮演的角色作者：Waddle,Todd W.国籍：英国出处：营销的智慧与计划2008.11.05，第14-21页从最近的新闻报道中可以明显的看出，通货膨胀的压力和建筑产业的不断发展使很多工程项目超出了业主的预算。