Construction Administration

Construction documentation is complex. Design drawings, details, and technical requirements guide the realization of the architects’ and engineers’ intent—expressing quality expectations, assigning responsibilities, sequencing activities, and mitigating risk. Contract documents, however, do not include directions for the means and methods of construction.

With each trade using their own skill and judgment to interpret plans and determine approaches, professional construction administration is necessary to hire and manage subcontractors, suppliers, and vendors and ensure that proposed materials, products, and implementation plans comply with specifications.

The submittal process is fundamental to construction administration. The procedures to schedule, track, and document submittals lead to a common understanding of how each team member’s scopes of work lead to a successful project. Shop drawings, for instance, provide both the layout and location of the required building components but also incorporate the precise measurements and connection points of the fabricated materials and equipment.

Quality control for any project depends on strong construction administration. If expectations are set and understood before work begins, then field coordination is streamlined, inspections are less confrontational and defects in construction are minimized. As construction nears completion, construction administrators assemble the as-built documentation and warranty information.