Quality Management in Design Phase of Construction Project

With the rapid growth of the economy since 1990s, the boom of construction industry has brought a quite new face for Viet Nam. Many large and complex projects are attracting international companies to attend. These multinational companies have introduced the new technologies and modern knowledge on project management in Viet Nam which have created a new and fresh air to the construction market – a more and more competitive market. This has new standards and needs. The customers have more choice. In order to survive in such an environment, the domestic companies have to change themselves to fit them in the market economy with the higher requirements of the customers/ owners.

High quality construction works is always the final target for any customers as well as the relevant parties – contractors, designers, etc. However, people used to imply about the construction process quality more than other factors that have the same affect on the construction works such as setting up investment project, survey and design, etc., –the first phases before execution. Therefore, if there is any problem to a construction project, construction companies is always find at fault due to poor quality. But in fact, people have forgotten a very important part in the chain of a project - the design consulting phase or designer.

In Viet Nam the role of consultant/ engineer in the design phase of the construction project has not been concerned properly, especially in the state own projects or small private projects.

Design consulting is the essential knot to the success or failure of a project. Those who consult in the design phase must be responsible to the owners and the law for the design quality. They are requested to ‘eliminate hazards which may give rise to risks’ and to ‘reduce risks from remaining hazards’. They therefore must consider the materials and process in their design for the construction. They also must concern to the factors regarding health and safety in the project.

Some well-known factors in design phase affecting to the project quality are as follows:
- Misunderstanding the clients’ requirements to develop the design
- Using incorrect/ out-of-date information
- Lack of co-ordination between the co-workers
- Loose or inappropriate specifications

To have a good construction work, it is necessary to have a good design. It has been recognized that each error will cost ten times more to fix in development than it would to fix in planning, and 100 times more if the error actually reaches the customer. (Peter E.D. Love, 2002)

Mr. Nguyen Anh Kiet made a research to identify the activities should be taken to implement the quality management system in design phase of the construction project.

The awareness of the value of quality design would ensure that sufficient time and fees are available to allow designers to provide the needed level of services in order to satisfy customers, save time, cost and finally to maximize the benefits thanks to more projects will be completed on time, within budget, and with less rework and disputes. In addition, implementing the quality management system will help to measure the performance, increase efficiency and to create a more competitive position in the market.

Conclusion

Quality management in the design phase is as important as it is in the construction phase. It will help all parties involved in the project to save their time, cost and assure the project life. Although most of the companies have their own systems to manage the quality of the products and services from conception through disposal, there are still many works need to be done because no study has been done within the company to measure how effective were these quality management systems. The problem is that, companies need a good system to track accurately the causes of the failure and find out where the cost can be minimized.

In order to apply quality management system to the design phase of the construction project, companies need to define the factors that affect to the quality of the design phase in a construction project and set quality as performance to requirements. It depends on the characteristics of projects the quality management should be focused to different aspects. For example, requirements for a brewery project will be different from those for textile factory project. This means that the designs and specifications of the two projects will be different. Therefore the problems (if any) of each project will also be not similar. An experienced project manager will foresee the difficulties and has suitable preventive actions.

Below are the common factors that have serious affects on the design tasks:
- Misunderstanding the clients’ requirements to develop the design
- Using incorrect/ out-of-date information
- Lack of co-ordination between the co-workers
- Loose or inappropriate specifications

To improve the quality in the design phase, the drawings and documentation are considered as one of the most important factors which are assessed by the accuracy, time, completeness and conformance. Besides, the co-ordination between the team members and relevant parties will help to maximize the quality of the construction works and minimize the extra cost and time, by which will reduce the risks of disputes. Improvements in drawings and documentation in the design phase will create the efficiency in the construction process. Improved quality in design phase will lead to less construction waste and optimum performance of project stages. This will lead to significant cost savings both with regards to the project cost and to the cost to the environment.

To implement the quality management to the design phase of the project, there are a lot of activities that the organization must pay attention to.

Common Problems in Design Phase

Many researches showed that the followings are the most important causes of problems in a construction project that generates from design phase.



His thesis abstract is copied and posted.

Abstract

In a perfect quality management system, changes should be confined to the design phase of the construction project. However, in the reality the changes often happen during construction phase and cause serious disruption to the project because the quality management in the design phase. Many researches showed that do the right things at the design phase can improve the overall project performance. The study focuses on the role of quality management in the design phase of a construction project and the factors influencing on the quality management systems.

Mendelsohn (1997) observed that up to 75% of the problems happened on site were generated at the design phase. Therefore, eliminating these problems at the design phase can reduce the problems on site. (Causes of discrepancies between and construction by Faisal Manzoor Arain, Sadi Assaf, Low Sui Pheng).

A systematic research on the effects of design in construction was performed by Design Task Force of the CII, by which the design were evaluated mainly on accuracy and usability. The quality of the design is very important as it influences on the quality of the whole project. The AQSC has published a guideline for quality system, in which “… it should assure that drawings and specifications provide a clear and cost effective design definition that incorporates all applicable requirements”.