A high amount of change orders on a construction job can quickly exhaust contingency funds, delay the timeline as well as boost expenses. While some of them are inevitable, many can be avoided if the team works collaboratively and relies on an in-place system that provides transparency and an established process for approving modifications. Let’s explore some simple ways to decrease construction change orders.
The sources of change orders are almost unlimited, but most fall into the following categories:
- Plan or specifications errors or omissions.
- Unexpected jobsite conditions.
- Requests from the owner.
- Technological innovations.
- Changes in code.
Before an issue or opportunity creates the need for a change to the initial construction agreement, it generally goes through a couple of phases: A problem develops that produces the potential for a change order, a formal claim is created and submitted and the case is approved to become a formal change order.
If a project has a high percent of unexpected change orders, it is highly likely to have cost overruns, delays and other issues that can occur. It damages relationships, diminish confidence in the designer or the general contractor, and deteriorates the atmosphere of collaboration and trustworthiness.
While some change orders are inescapable, others are unnecessary. There are three simple methods to reduce emergency change orders on existing and future jobs and to better handle those changes that can not be avoided, while increasing partnership and transparency and introduce an organized change order management strategy.
Increased Collaboration
Solid team collaboration is at the heart of alternative delivery methods such as design-build, integrated project delivery, bridging and others. Instead of having all team members working in independent silos, these techniques encourage communication and sharing throughout various stages of the building process. The climbing popularity and peaking interest using these techniques demonstrate the worth of collaboration.
Transparency
The more visibility into prospective changes, the faster you can deliver this information to key stakeholders, the higher the possibility that a change can cost less, cause less interruption to the schedule, or altogether be prevented. Transparency of details and also visibility into potential troubles, enable parties to act rapidly. And on construction jobs, time actually is money. The faster the response to the change, typically the cheaper it is.
An Organized Change Management Process
Creating a process to manage possible changes and formal orders can help you lessen their effect on the budget and project timelines or even remove them altogether. It also helps you handle those modifications that are inescapable. A well-thought out change management process will define the stages that a change experiences and the steps to be taken as soon as a possible adjustment is identified. On day one, you have to install the ground rules for how you’re most likely to manage the adjustment.
You have to recognize who has the authority to approve the change for how much. It is necessary to clearly lay out the decision-making order and authorization levels that reflect how evolved the layout is, the range of the project, the kind of contract and delivery system method.
Conclusion
At a minimum, the process has to be well documented and accepted by the team. Beyond that, employees need to consistently regulate the process and guarantee that it is executed properly. It takes a focused technique to implement a procedure and make sure that it is adhered to throughout the project.
Companies can help decrease construction change orders on any type of project, by boosting collaboration between team members early in a project, increasing information transparency among stakeholders that might impact costs and schedules, as well as implementing a limited process to handle change orders.
