Most educators are as unfamiliar with design and construction as architects and contractors are unfamiliar with the day-to-day realities of education. This article will introduce you to the basic concepts and processes of creating and renovating buildings and for surviving the inherent cultural conflict of school design and construction.

There are industry standards for the various phases of the design and construction process, although there are also variations on this theme. The most common approach is as follows:

The participants:

THE OWNER is the school district. It should have a primary contact person (such as a facility manager or other administrator) who can provide enough time and availability to satisfy the day-to-day needs of the project. For best results, a wide range of others should also be involved in the design process, often through a design committee or user group representing the diverse interests (teachers, administrators, parents, students, certified staff, board members, etc.) The size of this core group is important. It needs to have broad representation, yet the group dynamics begin to fail when the size exceeds about ten.

One solution to this problem is to have a core group that is very actively involved, and lower-tier or focus groups or design sessions with other interested parties as well as public forums for anyone who is interested in the project, be they the school board, the entire building staff, the student body, the PTA, the electorate, and other interested groups.

THE ARCHITECT is the leader of the design team. Although one individual architect will be legally responsible for the project, and her or his stamp will appear on the final construction documents (drawings from which the project will be built), nearly all projects are created by collaborative teams. The architecture firm leads and coordinates the other firms, who are most commonly consultants to the architects (including engineers for structure, electrical design, heating/ventilating, plumbing, acoustics, and so forth). Within the architecture firm, there is usually a principal of the firm, a lead architect (or project architect), sometimes a separate project designer, and a number of other players. More information on hiring architects may be found here or here.

THE CONTRACTOR may be selected during the design process (using Construction Management/General Contracting or CM/GC, see Contracts), or may be selected via a bid process after the plans for the project are complete.

SCHEDULE OF PHASES

The standard schedule (below) shows the phases involving these parties during the design and construction process. Below is an elaboration on what each of these phases includes.

PRE-DESIGN

During pre-design, the owner, perhaps with the help of consultants such as planners or architects

• establishes the goals and the design criteria of the project
• writes the educational specifications of the project (what the educational programs will be and their detailed requirements)
• creates an architectural program (description of needs)
• selects the site
• hires the architects
• establishes the schedule
• creates the initial project budget

Sometimes pre-design includes conceptual design, in which a design concept or rough sketch of the building is developed. That can be an effective way of developing enough information to present to voters for a bond issue without investing the relatively large sums of money to go through schematic design.

Pre-design is not within the standard industry agreements with architects, yet is an important part of a large project such as a new school. Don’t neglect it, even if you abbreviate it.

DO:

• include all of the elements of the pre-design phase
• make sure that the educational specifications and architectural program

DON'T:

• assume that design decisions are final at this stage
• calculate costs too optimistically (the single most common and serious mistake in this phase)

SCHEMATIC DESIGN

During this phase, the general design of the building is created. Through a variety of means, the architects and the owner develop floor plans and images of what the project will look like. Many issues are as yet unresolved, but the overall shape and style of the project are agreed on, and the interior layout is often nearly finalized by the end of schematic design.

The architect may work intensively with the owner during this period to collaboratively develop the design approach, or may simply present three or more plans for the owner to choose from. If you prefer extensive interaction with the architect to achieve a design more likely to meet your needs, make sure that your expectations are made clear when requesting proposals from prospective architects and when negotiating a contract with the architect. The meetings, workshops, and so forth that this entails are almost always worth the time and money, but not all architects expect to work this way. Some prefer a process that is less interactive, and others are unable to work in a collaborative way with the owner as an active participant in the design process.

Schematic design often represents about 20% of the architect’s fee.

Do NOT take the design process past schematic design before securing funding by way of a bond election or other mechanism.

DO:

• take the time to review schematic design carefully
• make sure that the cost estimate is within your budget, with plenty of cushion in addition to cost escalation to the start of construction
• make sure that all building systems are understood at a preliminary stage

DON’T:

• try to make all of the detailed design decisions during this phase
• It is important that the final schematic design be reviewed and approved (with an estimate of costs) before authorizing the architects to proceed to the next phase. It is even more important that funding be secured before spending increasingly large amounts on the remaining phases of the design process.

QUESTIONS TO RESOLVE

• number, type and size of rooms
• number of stories
• fit of building onto site
• relationship to outdoor areas such as arrival, playing fields, and relationship to the community
• approach to energy, daylighting, heating, and cooling, and sustainable design, which starts with the shape and orientation of the building
• design for security: natural surveillance, access control, etc.
• views
• building efficiency (see Space article)
• fire safety, suppression, and evacuation concept
• heating, cooling, and ventilation concept
• location of main mechanical and electrical equipment and main runs
• structural system and location of main structural elements (columns, walls, etc.)
• sources of utilities
• concept for computer networking
• reasonable expectations about electrical and heating/cooling loads from people and equipment (see Rightsizing Systems (still being written as of 12/05))

DESIGN DEVELOPMENT

During this phase, the details of of the building are filled in. Building systems are laid out in more detail, and the integration and coordination between building systems are carefully investigated. Users need to confirm the floor plans and appearance of the building early in Design Development and "freeze" changes to walls so that changes to the design don’t require building systems to be redesigned.

During this phase, watch out for "scope creep". Many projects grow in cost, quality, and scope during this phase unless you actively resist them. Rather than being rudely surprised by a cost estimate at the end of the phase that far exceeds your budget, try to work against this trend by being frugal in choosing materials and systems that will be within budget. Every time that something is added to the project, find an equal amount to be removed.

It’s also wise during this phase to avoid making excessively customized areas of the project. The building will outlast its occupants and probably outlast its original function. This suggests keeping most or all of the spaces relatively generic except for furniture systems and other elements that are easy to change in the future.

DO

• finalize interior wall and door locations early in design development (changes later can be time-consuming and expensive)
• ensure that the building will be affordable to operate as well as to build
• insist that the final design development cost estimate is within your budget
• if you are using CM/GC for procurement, have them on board before you begin this phase

DON’T

• assume that any other design issues will be worked out later other than details like color selection, furniture selection, and so forth. It will only get harder and more expensive to make changes later.

QUESTIONS TO RESOLVE

• detailed design of all building systems
• final locations of all interior walls, doors, windows, entrances, etc.
• room numbering
• interior finishes: walls, floors, ceilings of each room
• review project with local government to ensure code compliance
• work actively against "scope creep" with a zero-sum approach to changes
• initial approach to construction access, phasing, logistics, etc.

CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS

During the construction documents phase, the design team draws the final plans and specifications from which the project will be built. There is usually less contact with the owner than in previous phases, although careful review of the plans and specifications is an important role that the owner must play during this phase. See Plan Review Checklist.

DO

• take the time to make sure that the final drawings are carefully reviewed before bids are solicited or building permits applied for. If you don't have technical staff, you should hire an outside professional (engineer, contractor, architect) for a third party review, especially with respect to areas that affect operating costs disproportionately such as heating and ventilating systems, finishes, roofs, and grounds. Establish a system for tracking your comments to ensure that they are incorporated in the final plans.
• leave plenty of time in the schedule at the end of this phase. Your architect will probably think they are finished before you will.

DON'T

• assume that the drawings and specifications are complete and perfect. They never are. That's why you need to have a contingency of 7% to 10% for changes during construction (change orders).
• assume that corrections to the plans or specifications will happen later. If so, it will be expensive AND on your nickel.

QUESTIONS TO RESOLVE (for owner):

• final materials choices (interior finishes, exterior skin, etc.)
• room keying/mastering
• construction access, contractor use of the site (esp. for remodels)
• what items to include as additive or deductive alternates in the bidding process

BIDDING

During the bidding phase, the architect will have a pre-bid conference for bidders at which the owner should be represented. Questions will probably arise which will need to be answered by an addendum to the contract documents.

In a conventional bid process, the bids are opened at a public bid opening, and entered onto a bid tabulation sheet prepared by the owner or architect with a line for each bidder and a column for the base bid and one for each alternate. After the bid opening, the architect and owner meet to determine the low bidder and whether their bid is a valid bid that is within the budget. If the bid is awardable, the owner or architect notifies the contractor and prepares a finalized construction contract. It is often several weeks between bid opening and the start of construction.

Once in a while, the low bidder discovers that they have made an error on their bid. It is wisest to allow them to withdraw their bid (but not to change it) if they notify the owner within 24 hours of the bid opening and if they have documentation of their error (such as in their bidding spreadsheet).

If the CM/GC process is being used and the contractor has already been selected, the CM/GC takes bids from subcontractors and must bid against them for those parts of the work that the CM/GC wants to perform in addition to managing the project.

DON"T rely excessively on changes by addendum. This often leads to confusion, misunderstandings, and problems later in construction. It’s better to finish the plans before bidding them.

CONSTRUCTION (or construction administration)

The owner needs to be represented during construction, preferably by one individual who refers questions to the appropriate person on the owner’s side. Other direct contacts between Contractor and Owner should be discouraged or forbidden to keep building users from requesting work without authorization and thereby adding cost, sowing confusion about lines of authority, and so forth. Construction starts with a preconstruction meeting, and regular meetings of architect, contractor, and owner continue, usually weekly, through the entire construction process.

Some construction projects get out of control from the owner’s point of view during construction. This typically happens because of architects being slow to respond to questions, owner adding items to the project, or a contractor with an excessively low bid trying to save his or her shirt. It is essential to identify these as problems as soon as possible and correct them, as leaving them unresolved can lead to very high cost overruns.

At the end of the construction process, the project is deemed substantially complete, and a "punch list" of incomplete or incorrect items is prepared by contractor and architect. It is very unwise to move into areas that don’t have a punch list, and far preferable to achieve final completion (no more punch list items) before move-in. That prevents mixing construction workers with occupants, and makes the end of the construction process much more smooth.

After substantial completion, some owners undertake a commissioning process before occupancy in which key building systems are tested and demonstrated to be in proper working order. This is most often done by an outside consultant. If you plan to do commissioning, start planning for it (and setting aside budget dollars) during schematic design.

DO

• make sure that the owner has an employee designated as owner’s representative
• have the owner included in weekly meetings
• have the owner notified in writing of all changes that have cost or design implications
• take regular snapshots of the project budget to make sure that you will end up in the black.

DON’T

• assume that the project doesn’t need active participation by the owner

OCCUPANCY

After completion of the project and issuance of a certificate of occupancy by the building code authority, the project is ready for move-in. There will be an initial period of furniture setup, and a shakedown period during which small problems inevitably emerge. If you have managed your resources wisely you will have some money left in construction contingency to deal with these.

WARRANTY

There should be a twelve month warranty starting with the acceptance of the project by the owner. Maintenance is the responsibility of the owner, but many maintenance problems should be referred to the contractor. Before the end of the warranty period, the owner, architect, and contractor should walk through the project to identify any warranty repairs needing to be done. Be prepared to remind your architect eleven months after occupancy of the need to do this.

POST-OCCUPANCY EVALUATION

If you want to learn the most from your project that can be applied to future projects (either in your district or elsewhere), you can conduct a post-occupancy evaluation. This is best done by someone who wan’t very involved in the project in order to keep bias from the results. POEs can range from asking a few simple questions of selected building occupants in a focus group to detailed surveys of all participants. In my experience, shorter, more focussed POE efforts are often more effective.

updated 1/06
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