TABLE OF CONTENTS In this chapter, we paint a fundamental picture of the way a construction project is conceived, planned, and executed and give you insight into the role that you and your employer will play. This example is largely related to engineers who will work in the consulting industry, as well as those who may become employed by owners, such as government agencies, land developers, or industrial organizations that may ask you to be their representative to a construction project.
The procedural path for an engineering project will vary from firm to firm and from project to project. In Chapter 25 on project delivery systems, we described multiple variations of types of systems. In this chapter, we will focus on the most common form of project delivery system, design-award-build (DAB, also known as design-bid-build, or DBB).
In a design-award-bid scenario, the key parties are the owner (client), the design engineer, and any subconsultants or experts engaged by the engineer in support of the project. The role of the owner is to set the goals and objectives of the project and to finance its design and execution (construction). The engineer's role is to furnish predesign services (studies, project-planning documents, conceptual alternative documents, preliminary opinions of probable construction costs), plans and specifications for construction of the project, and contract documents (contract, general conditions, etc.).
A typical project begins with an owner's perceiving a need and seeking an engineer's assistance to develop the details and construction plans to convert the concept...
