PROJECT PROTOCOLS
The following items are intended as a helpful guide to our present and prospective clients.
PRE-CONSTRUCTION
We are available for any or all of the following Pre-Construction services:
To recommend and participate in the selection of design and engineering professionals.
To work with you and/or your architect/designer to define the scope, schedule and budget for the project.
To advise and participate in the various “approval processes” such as community architectural review, Inspectional Service Division permitting, condominium association design/engineering review, etc.
Work Rules:
If your project is in a managed building we will meet with the supervisor to establish work rules. Often “contractor guidelines” already exist, in which case we either have them or will get them as a part of Pre-Construction Services. If your building is self-managed we will ask you to provide a contact person with whom we can formulate policies for such things as temporary service interruptions, acceptable work hours, elevator use, cleanliness of common areas, No Parking zones and dumpster placement, etc.
Neighborliness:In a managed building we will provide a copy of the project schedule to the building management and work with them to minimize inconvenience. Projects that include blasting require a visit to abutters before work commences in order to survey and record the condition of their property, discuss schedule, and provide reassurance. Neighbors in single-family homes, townhouses and condominiums will be provided with a schedule and the phone number of the site, main office and project manager. Our project manager will work with the neighbors to keep them informed and address their concerns.
Permitting:Payne/Bouchier prides itself on maintaining a good working relationship with the various state, town and city agencies. If your project calls for community design review and approval, it will take a while to get a permit. While it is possible to apply for, and be awarded a foundation or demolition only permit, we recommend completing the permitting process whenever possible. This and similar intricacies fall under the purview of Pre-construction Services. Permitting is often as much an art as a science; we have a lot of experience with the process and usually get through it quite expeditiously.
Design Completeness:The more complete the design, the better we are able to schedule and budget. Changes and delays, though sometimes necessary, are best avoided! In order to minimize their effects we build due-dates for design details and material orders into our schedules. For example, we would schedule for an electrical plan showing the placement of recessed light fixtures one week prior to the framing of ceilings and tile selection ten weeks prior to installation. These schedules are built in Microsoft Project or on a Lotus spread sheet and are part of our Pre-Construction services.
CONTRACT FORMAT
Cost Plus: We use either the AIA Document A117 (Abbreviated Form of Agreement Between Owner and Contractor for Construction Projects of Limited Scope where the basis of payment is the Cost of the Work Plus a Fee with or without a Guaranteed Maximum Price) or, for smaller projects, our own 1-page contract. As addenda to the contract we provide a line item budget and schedule. Line item pricing spells out the allowances or costs we are carrying for each category of work. Typically we will have written scopes of work and received firm prices from our sub-contractors and vendors before their work begins. Depending on design completeness and existing conditions this can include all the trades and suppliers of doors, windows, counters, shower doors, finish hardware and appliances before we order them. We will not have firm prices for work to be performed by Payne/Bouchier personnel or for materials such as lumber, construction hardware etc. Where design completeness allows, we will treat the Payne/Bouchier shop as a sub-contractor and get firm prices for cabinetwork and millwork before work at those line items begins. Our intent is to nail down as much as possible of the scope and cost of the project before other nailing begins.
For materials from vendors we bill at our cost plus 18%.
For work by sub-contractors we bill at our cost plus 18%.
For work performed on the site by Payne/Bouchier personnel of various skill levels, we bill at their various hourly billing rates plus 18%. An attachment to the contract will list all the employees and their billing rates.
For shop work that is bid, we bill at a discounted bid price plus 18%.
For shop work in the cost plus model we will bill you at a discounted shop hourly billing rate plus 18%. ON-GOING PROJECT ADMINISTRATION Job Meetings: Our normal procedure is to schedule a weekly meeting with the client and the architect/designers. An agenda, produced by the job supervisor, is made available to attendees prior to the meeting and includes up-coming meetings with sub-contractors, requests for the resolution of design details, and progress updates. (A typical agenda is available upon request). Applications for Payment: We will issue Applications for Payment on a bi-weekly basis. The requisition amount will be based on the sub-contractor/vendor bills received and the hours worked by Payne/Bouchier personnel. Applications for Payment will be accompanied by a breakdown of labor charges, material costs, and sub-contractor costs as well as a Labor Detail that details hours worked at specific line item categories. In order to keep the project on track we require that payment be made within five days of receipt of our Application for Payment. Prompt payment to our subcontractors and vendors is critical to maintaining a schedule. If payment to Payne/Bouchier is delayed, we risk delaying ordering and receiving critical path goods or services. Retainage: Our Applications for Payment will be for 5% less than the earned amount. This retainage is to ensure that you maintain some financial leverage through the course of the project. Retainage Release: When we have completed 50% of the project, as defined by us having billed you for 50% of the then current budget, we will ask for a Retainage Release of half of the then retained money. At Substantial Completion we will ask for another Retainage Release of half of the then retained money. If as we approach Final Completion there is an item or two that is going to linger for reasons beyond our control, we will ask you for a Retainage Release of the balance of the retained money less twice the cost of completing the incomplete tasks. This provision is intended to protect us from having to wait for our money for such things as ten-week delivery of an obscure piece of hardware that we will then install in ten minutes. Deposits: We will ask for a deposit of 10% of our estimated budget at the beginning of the job, which we will credit back to you through the first four Applications for Payment. During the course of the project we will ask for deposits for specific line items to facilitate ordering such things as; millwork, cabinetwork, counters/slabs, stone/tile, plumbing fixtures, appliances etc. Project Management: Large projects will have a two-person management team consisting of co-Managers. One of the managers will have main duties that are primarily administrative the other’s will be more hands-on. Their responsibilities will include: laying out framing, laying out for sub-contractors, helping with design detail resolution, interacting with neighbors and building management, co-ordination and scheduling of sub-contractors, materials and hardware ordering, supervising Payne/Bouchier personnel, liasing with Payne/Bouchier shop, reviewing shop drawings, and record keeping. These two will be your day-to-day contact with Payne/Bouchier. The managers will be involved in the on-going design process and will be a critical part of detail resolution. We do not expect them to be making major design decisions or doing the design development for significant scope changes. Project Administration: Other project administrators with whom you will have contact, will be: A Site Administrator whose responsibilities include: producing the project phone directory, obtaining the building permit; special permitting such as for after hours work, police details, sidewalk permits; liaison with City Hall, DPW, ISD, public utilities and the like. A Site Administrator will also work with your management team to collect and collate warranties and owners’ manuals for the various elements and systems in your project. This information will be handed over to you at the end of the project. A Site Administrator meets with your management team to issue the Applications for Payment.
Our Office Manager whose project specific responsibilities include: documenting our insurance coverage, arranging the installation of project phone lines, purchasing, and paying sub-contractors.
Partners, who will attend most or all job meetings and who would be involved with you and your designer in design development if you have chosen that option.
Project Direction: It is advisable to establish a chain of command, so that the Payne/Bouchier management team understands from whom they should take direction. If your architect/designer is going to be involved in construction administration and/or with the project in any sort of ongoing capacity it is good idea to have that person be the one issuing instructions. As problems arise and their solutions arrived at, it is the person who designed the project who is in the best position to foresee any adverse ripple effect of design solutions. No matter whom you decide should be issuing instructions it must be clear to all parties who that person is and who it is not, so that we don’t end up working at cross purposes. Requests for Information: No matter how carefully crafted the design, we will have questions. Some of these will be answered easily and quickly with a phone call or two. Most will not. Occasionally we will issue a Request for Information. This is a form that helps us sort out exactly what the questions are, and allows us to prioritize for you and your designer which answers we need first. Timely answers to design questions are critically important to staying on schedule. Change Orders: We will write Change Orders to you for work by sub-contractors that is a Change Order to us by virtue of being outside of their original scope of work. Where possible we will get firm pricing on the new work before it begins. This is, however, not always feasible, because of the schedule impact of deferring some necessary correction or amendment. We will not necessarily write Change Orders for work that is to be carried out exclusively by Payne/Bouchier personnel, although we will alert you to significant budget or schedule impact of work outside the original scope. PROJECT CLOSE-OUT Warranty Binder: Our Site Administrator will provide you with a binder holding all the warranties and owners’ manuals for products we have installed. This binder will also include other information that we consider pertinent such as the legend for the circuit breaker panel, the location of unit water shut-offs, the room-by-room schedule of final paint selections, and contact phone numbers. Project Accounting: Our Site Administrator will provide you with a binder holding all of our accounting information. This will include a copy of every Application for Payment, a copy of every Requisition, a copy of every Labor Detail, a copy of every Material and Subcontractor detail, and spread sheets, as required, to detail costs and charges. We will have available, and furnish at your request, copies of invoices, receipts, and change orders from sub-contractors and vendors.