However, there are benefits to be gained from this situation as well. Since funds have already been allocated for construction work, especially if the object is budgetary, the Customer can go to a meeting and spend the saved funds on other work that is necessary or on the purchase of any equipment with its installation, within the freed amount of within the framework of the contract already concluded with you, if it does not contain any prohibitions on this. As a rule, the amount of changes under government contracts cannot exceed 10% of the estimated cost.
2. Errors in the types of work
The second group of mistakes is when they forget to accidentally add some types of work to the estimate. Sometimes such errors violate the technological sequence of work as a whole, which can also lead to losses.
Examples:
We had a facility where work was to be done to strengthen the wall by installing buttresses. Their technological sequence was as follows: earthworks (clearing the work site from the ground, digging pits with an excavator and manually to a depth of 2.5 m), laying footings, installing metal frames and formwork, pouring them with concrete, backfilling pits, compacting soil. So, in the estimate, the very initial earthworks in the amount of approximately 300 cubic meters were completely absent .
You must mount any equipment in the building. But the dimensions of this equipment exceed any maximum openings in the walls; accordingly, it may be physically impossible to bring this equipment inside without temporarily dismantling sections of the walls to increase the openings in them. Not every designer or estimator can foresee such things. Therefore, inspect the place of work before performing work or concluding a contract.
The worst thing is when you have already appointed people, hired equipment and started work, and only then found out everything, because the customer, especially if it is a state customer, may simply not have extra money that he can allocate to complete the data works and all attempts to humanly resolve this issue may lead nowhere . Sue him or incur losses, but do the work, or terminate the contract this decision is up to you.
In any case, remember that all hidden work must be recorded in acts, and if you completed work today that was not included in the estimate, just so as not to stop all construction or some part of it, then the absence of acts of hidden work, protocols for considering these commission issues, etc. will complicate your situation if you decide to prove your case in court or in any other way to resolve this issue.
There are also other situations. I was once asked to mount a turnkey door. I mounted and forgot about this business until the customer called me and asked Where are the slopes?. In his opinion, slopes were included in the concept of turnkey, but in my opinion , if they were not mentioned in principle, they were not in the turnkey, but there was only a door, its delivery and installation. Speak every little thing, and better reflect in the contracts.
3. Errors in materials taken into account or not taken into account by the estimate
In order to avoid misunderstandings, so that both the contractor and the customer clearly understand what is included in the cost of work and what is not i.e. whether materials are included in the cost of work, when drawing up an estimate, it is necessary to accurately describe the materials used and their quantity. If you received an estimate for consideration, deal with this issue paramountly.
So, there are two types of estimated or contractual prices:
1. Prices without the cost of materials;
2. Prices including the cost of materials.
Most often, prices that include the cost of materials are used in state estimates, these are the so-called FER (federal) or TER (territorial) unit prices. They facilitate the accounting of expenses of budgetary organizations, budget planning, and are also adjusted for inflation, etc.
Let's compare two types of rates:
Prices without the cost of materials:
FER15-01-090-03 (approved by the Order of the Ministry of Construction of Russia dated December 30, 2016 No. 1039 / pr ) Arrangement of ventilated facades with porcelain tile cladding: with a heat-insulating layer.
FER11-01-027-02 Installation of cement mortar coatings from ceramic tiles for multi-color floors.
Prices including the cost of materials:
FER15-04-012-02 "Painting of facades from scaffolding with surface preparation: organosilicon".
FER12-01-010-01 Installation of small coverings (firewalls, parapets, overhangs, etc.) from galvanized sheet steel (adjoining the profiled sheet to the wall).
As you can see, it is impossible to determine visually only by the name of the price what exactly it may include: only work or work and materials. Therefore, if materials are not indicated in the estimate, contact the estimator for help so that he unfolds the price and shows what exactly it includes there is such a technical possibility in the Grand Estimate, etc. programs, or look for their decoding on the Internet or in specialized directories.
4. Errors in the number of materials
Example:
The project provides for the insulation of the facade with a 140 mm thick insulation: an inner layer of 100 mm and an outer layer of 40 mm. The total scope of works is about 2000 sq.m. Those. the total amount of insulation will be: 2000 sq.m. x 0.14 m = 280 cubic meters . The estimate turned out to indicate the volume of insulation 380 cubic meters , i.e. with an area of 2000 sq.m. its thickness should be 190 mm, which is 50 mm. more than design thickness. At the same time , from 2000 sq.m. the volume of excess insulation amounted to 100 cubic meters . So someone's mistake reduced the cost of work and materials by about 100 cubic meters . x 8000 rub. = 800,000 rubles, and zeroed out the profit.
Provided that the brackets of the ventilated facade have already been mounted according to the project with a projection of 200 mm. from the wall, it was no longer possible to mount an extra insulation, so the customer terminated the contract for the cost of the insulation mistakenly included in the estimate.
Recommendations:
Absolutely always compare the design data with the estimate before deciding to conclude a contract.
3.2. Errors in project documentation again losses
The attachment points of any structures have not been worked out
Next, we will talk about the most revealing errors in projects. An error of such a plan may be made in the project: the attachment points of any structures are not worked out, or they are made with an error.
Example:
Once we made a hinged ventilated facade on a two-story building, lined with hollow bricks of the boar type. But the designers did not notice this
For fastening the brackets of the ventilated facade, they provided for the use of chemical anchors. According to the project, a chemical anchor was laid, 100 mm long. The technical supervision of the customer warned that we should use only such an anchor and nothing else, because. the project has passed the state examination, and a step away from this requirement for us is execution.
But in fact, it was impossible to use such fasteners, because the wall of the brick is very thin (10-15 mm) and practically the anchor only holds on to it, because the brick inside is completely empty, as in the figure this is the old Soviet brick Kabanchik, which is already have not been produced for a long time.
Yes, this project passed the state examination , it was accompanied by acts of testing chemical anchors for pull-out, which supposedly had to securely fix the brackets on this particular building, but nevertheless, this is what happened.
When performing facade work, it is always necessary to test specific anchors for pull-out from a particular wall or object, which must be confirmed by test reports. Accordingly, we called a testing laboratory to the site, which is very common with manufacturers or suppliers of fasteners. Tested chemical anchors. None of the 5 or 6 attempts to confirm their suitability was successful the brick walls broke under the most minimal (up to 150-200 kg.) Loads.
When asked how the same laboratory (by the way, a world-famous manufacturer, Ill regret their reputation ) gave the designers a conclusion that chemical anchors of such a length can be used on this object, the answer was something like this : We dont know, a person who we have this act issued, it no longer works for us . I repeat, the project with this fastener passed the state examination .
At the same time, we also tested conventional facade anchors with a longer length 250 mm, which successfully passed the tests, because. they were fixed in ordinary masonry, which followed the facing hollow brick. Having received new test reports, we refuted the design solution, for the third time I repeat, which passed the state examination , and received permission from the customer to use extended length conventional anchors. Question substitutions one anchor to another was also affected by an increase in the cost of fasteners, but with respect to other aspects, nevertheless, this allowed us to get out of the situation at relatively low costs.
However, there were some consequences:
1. Due to carrying out all the tests and agreeing to replace the anchors, a week of time was spent, which led to a delay in the completion of work for this period.
2. For the delay in obligations for this week, the customer (and the contract was state-owned) first presented us with a penalty, although in fact he was to blame. In such situations, government customers never accepted the argument that the time it took to correct the documentation was not our fault, but their own. It is not customary for them, otherwise the performers (technical supervision, department heads, etc.) will then receive a cap for violating the deadlines for carrying out work and failing to take action against contractors. After refusing to pay the penalty, the customer sued us and sued her.
3. We used more expensive anchors, no one compensated us for the difference in price, again because there is an estimate approved in the budget please be kind enough to fit into it. This is called replacement without increasing the value of the contract. Although the increase in the cost of fasteners was about 20%.
Prevention measures.
1. Extremely vigilantly compare not only the estimate with the project, but also the project with the real object.
2. Be sure to correspond and notify the customer in writing about the identified errors and inconsistencies in the design and estimate documentation, draw up acts for all, including commission inspection acts. In the future, this can help not only to make changes to the project documentation correctly, but also to justify the change in the cost of work.
3. Carefully read the contract, sometimes it provides for the possibility of an increase in the cost of work or materials upon bilateral agreement with the customer, but as a rule, such an increase is limited to an amount up to 10 or 15 % of the total contract value.
metal weight
Profit can be lost even where you do not expect it at all.
Example:
We had one object where, among other things, we had to make porches or canopies over the entrances to the building. We had an estimate, which included the amount of metal needed for the installation of the porches in tons, and the project did not contain a word about how these porches should look, no diagrams or sketches. If I'm not mistaken, the estimate was about 300 kg. metal without specifying its type, dimensions, profile and thickness. In the estimate, this metal was listed as processed metal, that is, as finished metal products, which immediately increases their cost, probably twice as much as the cost of pure metal. Complete lack of clarity on how to do the job
The technical supervision explained how to be something like this: Do it normally, so that it is reliable and beautiful enough, but without frills
We looked at how this is usually done at other objects, figured out what metal would be needed, its thickness, sketched out how it would all look like, figured out that snow could fall on the visors from the roof It seems everything turned out fine on paper. We bought metal, welded spatial frames, racks, assembled everything, painted it. We are waiting for acceptance by the construction supervisor .
A representative of technical supervision came, measured each element of our porches, measured the thickness of each of their elements. In general, I calculated the real weight of the metal that we spent on the whole thing. In fact, it turned out to be 40 percent less Accordingly, she said that since there is less metal, there will also be less money, and these 40% were cut out of the cost of work.
We went nuts from such a flagrant injustice, because the porches looked quite presentable, reliable. We did not expect this at all we simply did not think that someone could have such an approach to the formation of technical specifications and to the acceptance of work. They conveyed their claims to the customer, explained that there was nowhere to sculpt excess metal, insisted on accepting 100% of the work To which an absolutely logical answer followed, that we mounted exactly as much metal as we were paid for, and no matter what salary we paid workers for this work.
As a result, this money was withdrawn from us and it was useless to prove something, except that it was possible to weld this missing metal somewhere else, but it was just stupid, because. the structures were already absolutely finished, it was already unprofitable to pay for these works anew and spend time on this.
Recommendations:
If you are dealing with weight volumes and do not have a project for the execution of work, check everything in advance using a metal weight calculator or metal weight tables.
Even if you have both a project and an estimate in which the amount of material is the same, still compare, at least selectively, the weight of the metal that will be needed the most, again using the metal weight calculator or the metal weight table.
4. Why it is impossible to deviate from the design on the example of facade work. The right approach to preparing for facade work.
When a customer decides to update the facade of his building, he usually asks: How much will it cost to mount the facade?. Whatever the question is formulated , such is the answer. In this review, we will figure out what questions, how and to whom to ask in order to get the right answer.
The solution of the facade issue is a series of stages that mutually influence each other, and at some point it may be necessary to revise the original plan completely.
1. Preliminary concept
First, the desired appearance and, accordingly, the materials used are determined. It is important to understand that in addition to the main cladding of the building, you will have to plan the cost of installing window slopes and ebbs. Also, the cost of installing a new parapet will come out if the roof is flat, and if you have small cornice overhangs, then they may have to be increased.