• The design should meet client’s cost expectations — that’s the design team’s professional responsibility. Value engineering of- ten comes up after bidding because bids are too high based on the owner’s budget. This can be avoided if cost estimates are provided to the owner after each stage of the design process using reliable, trustworthy cost information. • Every choice has consequences. A change in one area of a facility can affect any or all other areas of the facility. • Don’t lose sight of function while focusing on costs. Function is the basis of value engineering. The goal is to maximize function at the lowest possible cost, not to trim the bottom line.
or the total cost of ownership — quantifying the cost of the material, system or piece of equipment across the product's entire lifecycle. This step will likely conclude with three options to choose from: the original design, one that costs more now and less later, and another that costs
less now and more later. Step 6: Development
Only the alternatives with the highest likelihood of success should make it to this final step. The project timeline and available resources will determine the actions that are taken during this step. At the very least, the team needs to assemble all recommendations, their advantages and disadvantages, and implementation plans to present to project owners. Following these steps will help to ensure that the value analysis leads to beneficial results throughout the building lifecycle. There are a handful of value engineering tips and common pitfalls to remember: • Never compromise health and safety. Any change that would result in a violation of building code or otherwise jeopardize the well-being of the people who use the facility should be rejected immediately. • Design professionals can often find value in large systems — think HVAC, lighting and electrical systems. This is not to suggest one should go looking for discount systems, quite the opposite. Often, spending more on a higher-performing system early will save in main- tenance costs over the building’s lifespan. It would be wise to conduct a lifecycle cost analysis and get input from the team responsible for maintaining the building to gather the long-term cost implications of major systems.
GILES MUNYARD is Senior Engineer at Gordian.
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csengineermag.com
September 2022
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