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OPINION
Changing your perspective and striving to always be present, aware, and reassuring will inspire confidence during construction administration. Improving construction administration
R ecently, I gave a talk to the staff at FXCollaborative on our responsibilities during construction administration. Knowing CA isn’t a topic that excites some architects, I tried a different tact. In lieu of discussing it as a laundry list of tasks to be accomplished, I turned it on its head and discussed it from the owner and CM’s perspective. Hoping to shift the paradigm, the discussion moved away from what we’re obligated to do, and toward what we want our client and the CM to feel.
Mark Nusbaum, AIA, LEED
Changing our perspective reprioritizes the goal of CA. No longer is it just about reviewing submittals and RFIs or issuing field reports. Now, it’s a leadership role wherein the primary purpose is to always be present, aware, and reassuring. In other words, the goal is to inspire confidence. This means continuously reminding your client and the CM that the design team is fully invested in bringing their project to fruition on schedule and within budget. This is done through actions, not words. But let’s be realistic – CA can be a grind. The endless cycle of submittals and RFIs is repetitive. Add in unexpected field conditions, scheduling pressures, and non-stop value engineering, and it becomes easy
to lose sight of the big picture. For this reason, the design team needs to move away from the minutiae, and instead toward the emotional impact of our work. It’s a small shift in our approach, but one that has the potential to deliver better outcomes for the client, CM, and design team. The following five steps reflect this idea and challenge us to rethink our approach to CA. Implementing these during construction sets the tone that the design team is fully on board. With this new approach, clients and CMs can be confident that goals will be met, and the design team can be satisfied they are adding value to the process.
See MARK NUSBAUM , page 10
THE ZWEIG LETTER DECEMBER 12, 2022, ISSUE 1468
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