Key Players in Construction Industry.

The construction team consists of owner, engineers/ architect and contractor. The team is formed to co-operatively plan, design and execute a particular project. The objective of the team is to execute the owner's project in the best and most economical manner within the stipulated completion time. The owner forms the construction team to serve his interest through the: services of both the contractor and engineers. The functions of the constituents of any Construction team depend upon the scope and nature of the work.


Owner:

The owner may be: an individual, group of individuals, private or public undertaking. The owner has an ultimate authority over the project. The owner is the final holder of major decision-making power regarding managerial, financial and administrative aspects. He approves changes, if any in the project scope or schedules. The owner controls the project resources such as manpower, funds and property. The owner also arranges for proper maintenance of the work, after .the work has been completed.



The owner must have absolute faith on his expert advisers regarding the surety of performance of the project and the estimated cost required for its completion


The consultant

This includes structural, mechanical and electrical engineers, architects, quantity surveyors, specialists such as structural consultants, safety and maintenance planners, soil investigators etc.



The consultant/engineer or architect is a person or a group of persons or a company who gives the owner the technical advice for the project. The primary function of the engineer is to design, do the necessary research work for the design, provide the calculation for the cost, appraise the owner about the pros and cons of the project and impress the owner in a manner that the owner can rely on him regarding all technicalities of the project so as to develop full confidence on him/her. He/she must be well-trained in quality and workmanship requirements, and must supervise the construction daily or periodically as the case may be. In respect of all the duties and related technical matters the engineers must exercise a realistic, thoroughly professional and entirely independent judgement.



An owner or a promoter may engage a consultant for the job in one of the following ways:

1. A single consultant for the entire job.

2. One competent engineer from his own employment to do the job. Many local authorities and government departments employ their chief engineer as the consultant particularly for specialised jobs like bridges and tunnels where they have got their own expertise and the chief engineer gets the design work done by his junior engineers under his own guidance.

3. A consultant for a portion of the job in which his own men are not expert but the remaining portion may be awarded to his own men, e.g., in a building project he may get the architectural design from an architect consultant but the structural design may be done by his own engineers. This is quite common when the owner is a government department or agency.

The payment made by the owner to the consultant is known as the "consultancy fees ". This may vary depending on the volume of work to be done and whether daily or periodic supervision is to be carried out by the consultant. In case, the owner or promoter decides to employ his chief engineer as the consultant engineer then the chief engineer enjoys all the powers of a consultant for design and also works as an administrator for the construction.

The roles of the team members are as follows:

i. Architect: 

The role of the architect is asses the client's functional requirements, design for pleasing and aesthetic appearance and to assist the engineer for proper design.

ii. Structural Engineer. 

The role of the structural engineer is to prepare structural design of structures and to prepare the working drawings based on the architect’s plan.

iii. Quantity Surveyors; 

The role of the quantity surveyors is to:

a. Estimate the cost or work to be done and actually carried out;

b. prepare the bill of quantities and tender documents before tendering;

c. asses the extra cost due to special features;

d. prepare the cash·f1ow statements during construction;

e. Prepare the final account on completion of the project.

iv. Services Engineers

a) Mechanical Engineer: The role of the Mechanical Engineer is mainly concerned with design and preparation of working drawings for heating, ventilating, air conditioning, lifts and other mechanical services associated with the construction project activities during and after construction.

b) Electrical Engineer. The Electrical Engineer is concerned with the design and preparation of working drawings for electrical power and distribution systems during and after construction.

c) Water Engineer. The water Engineer is concerned with the design and preparation of plumbing works, drainage and sewerage works.

d) ICT - These are dealing with information issues such as Internet, telephones, computer networking etc.



The Contractor

A contractor is a person, or a group of persons or a company who undertakes the construction. He offers to do the job for a given sum of money and in case the tender is accepted he signs a contract with the owner or promoter to undertake the construction. He must have the skills and competence to execute the work exactly as the owner wants and the engineer advises. He is to do the construction work as per the drawings, specification and instructions issued to him by the engineer and as per the details given in the contract signed by him.


Specia1ists and other consultants and members:

They carry out soil investigation and collect information regarding special requirements for items such as health, safety, workshop equipment etc. They also suggest solutions to specific problems encountered during construction. –(Land surveyors, Town planners, Product representatives, Suppliers, Manufacturers, Financial advisers and institutions that arrange for the project financing, Attorneys, Insurance advisers and companies that provide risk coverage, Bonding companies, Authorities and regulatory agencies etc.)