ARE 5.0 Construction & Evaluation Exam Prep

You know the expectation, you start studying and if you don't pass exam you feel like you've let all these people down but in actuality we all fail an exam or two and no one is going to think differently of you just because you fail an exam and when you pass it feels so good but you really do need that support, especially if you're at a large firm or even at a small firm where you have a lot of responsibilities, you really need someone to lighten up on you so that you can get it done. If you're feeling overwhelmed just take a step back and then also think about what is it you do all day. Maybe you work on construction documents all day, maybe you work on programming, just what is it that you do all day?

In this course, you will learn about bidding and negotiation, construction contract administration, and project close-out and evaluation. We'll divide this exam chronologically into three parts, which address: the four official NCARB sections of the exam. We'll start with the pre-construction activities.

Triangle Square is a mixed-use development, of almost 300 residential units, more than 20,000 square feet of retail space, and a very large amenity deck for its residents. The site of this project is actually triangular in shape, hence the name Triangle Square, and the unusual shape of the site demanded a unique design approach and the goal throughout the construction administration phase has been to maintain the integrity of that design during construction. Paul is gonna walk us through the structure and the design of the enclosure of this project.

In objective 1.2, which makes up about 5% of the exam, you will need to be familiar with pricing structures and price categories, understand how alternates play into the selection of contractors, and analyze and tabulate bids in order to recommend a contractor to the owner. A classic question might provide you with a matrix of bids and some factors that are important to the owner and then ask you to recommend which bidder the owner should contract with. In objective 1.3, which is also about 5% of the exam, we will review how to adjust project cost when necessary by analyzing which aspects of the contract or the design can be modified.

The chosen project delivery method affects whether and when the bidding process occurs. Design-Bid-Build, or DBB, is the most traditional project delivery method. In this delivery method, bidding occurs after the design documents are complete.

One other important document in the project manual is the bid form, which is a form created by the owner and architect, so that all bidders record their bids in the same standardized format. This makes it much easier to compare bids as opposed to each contractor submitting their own proposal in whichever format they choose. If the bidders all used the same form, the architect can easily perform an apples to apples comparison.

In this video, we'll cover how the bidding process differs for public and private projects, how you will manage questions that arise during the bidding process, and how to evaluate bids to pick the best contractor for the project. First, let's discuss public versus private projects. The goal of bidding is to ensure that a fair and objective bidding process occurs, whether the project is publicly or privately funded.

One is because, if they really want a level playing field with the number of people that are bidding on this project, they as the general contractor have to share the answer to every single question that's asked with the entire bidding subcontractors. So if you as the architect are answering a question to a particular subcontractor and that conversation is not formally documented, then presumably that gives that subcontractor an advantage, which is what you wanna try to avoid. So the answer always is go through the general contractor.

Although the project delivery process is again, similar to design-bid-build, in this case, the construction manager will secure a separate contractual agreement with the owner, architect, and general contractor. During the construction phase, the CM as agent will advise the owner and assist them in completing their responsibilities, and may act as the owner's representative if mutually agreed upon between the parties. The other arrangement is where the general contractor acts as the construction manager.

Paul, as a project architect in some ways is MVP because he is in the weeds in terms of managing our team and our consultants in terms of how we respond to RFIs and submittals and making sure that we keep things on track when we are contractually obligated to turn around RFIs and submittals within a certain amount of time. And it is no small feat when you have in the thick of things dozens of submittals that are all hanging out there contractors waiting to get. So Paul was instrumental in getting all of that sort of organized for our team and responded to in a timely fashion.

At regular progress meetings, the contractor should notify the owner and architect of the upcoming schedule for pre-installation meetings. Pre-installation meetings might only be between contractors and their subcontractors, but the owner and architect might choose to attend some of the more significant pre-installation meetings, such as an exterior wall. Regardless, the contractor should produce and distribute meeting minutes to the project team.

This particular owner was looking for a contractor that frankly was sophisticated enough and large enough to be able to deliver a multi-phase project of this size and quality and Power Construction fit the bill for them on multiple fronts, not the least of which was they had already worked together. And you'll find that when you're not publicly bidding a project that oftentimes that chemistry is sort of integral in making a final selection. So I think the owner, at least when LJC was brought on board already knew that they were going to work with Power Construction on this project.

When helping the owner prepare the owner-contractor agreement, it's necessary to ensure that this agreement, A101, aligns with both B101 and A201 and that all three say the same thing about the project team members' obligations for the duration of construction. Now that we've signed the contract for construction and completed all of the pre-construction activities, and now that the team has everything they need to get started, the contractor is ready to work. In the next section, we'll discuss how the architect performs their services during construction.

And so for that project, we are using the A141, which is a standard form of agreement between an owner and a design builder. The standard form of agreement between this contractor and this owner is a one-on-one. And that's pretty typical for a design bid build project.

In objective 2.1, which makes up about 15% of the exam, you will learn how to evaluate the architect's role during construction activities. This includes site visits and subsequent documentation, including field reports, testing of building performance, and action items for project team members. A classic question for this objective might describe a change that the project team is contemplating, and ask how the architect should evaluate or document the change.

According to B101 section 3.6.2.1 and A201 section 4.2.3, the architect shall keep the owner informed about the progress and quality of the work completed and report to the owner known deviations from the contract documents and schedule as well as defects and deficiencies in the work. These sections describe exactly the type of information that should be contained in field report, which will be distributed to the owner and contractor after they're completed. If you're wondering what you should be looking for on-site visits, B101 section 3.6.2.1 and A201 section 4.2.2, provide some guidance.

Next on this site visit, we're going to go to the club room which is not as far along in construction, and we will be looking for different things through that lens. So we are headed toward the club room, but this is the first time we're seeing the pool in this state, because per the schedule review, we did earlier, we were expecting to see some progress. And we do in fact see that they have installed the liner, and the integral drain.

Per B101, section 5.5 and 5.9, the owner is required to furnace testing of the sub soil conditions, as well as any test inspections or reports required by law, such as the building code or by the contract documents, A201, section 13.4, also covers testing procedures and notes that the contractor shall bear the cost of testing required by the contract documents and by law. This means that if the architect forgets to include a test in their specs, but the test is required by law, the contractor must provide the test at no additional cost to the owner. The rationale behind this is that the contractor should also be familiar with testing requirements in the jurisdiction where the project is being built.

The mock-up showed both the contracting team and the design team, how those windows should be installed in order to make sure that the window passed the water leakage test, there were a couple of things that did change from the manufacturer standard installation methods, however, it was quickly resolved by the entire team as a result of this mock-up. As far as the visual components go, the mock-up didn't result in any significant design changes. However, it did result in a couple of tweaks as it related to how we wanted to address flashing members coming together at penetrations within the rainscreen system, as well as making sure that the, again, the entire contracting and installation team was on the same page as it related to how different flashing pieces and different rainscreen components were supposed to come together.

The responsibility for hazardous materials found on site as well as their mitigation is squarely on the owner, not the architect, for the standard AIA suite of documents. B 1 0 1 Section 10. 6 notes that the architect shall have no responsibility for the discovery, handling, removal, disposal of, or exposure of persons to hazardous materials or toxic substances.

Some specific instances when you might need to consider the project's sustainability goals are during site visits, when reviewing substitution or value engineering requests, and when reviewing submittals. Let's talk about some common instances where sustainability should be considered during construction. One thing to consider is where materials are being sourced from.

That the CMC affects the architect's responsibilities for the project schedule during the design phase, that with FastTrack Scheduling, the line between the design and construction phases is blurred, requiring greater communication between the owner, architect and contractor. And finally that the architect ultimately doesn't have control over the construction schedule. If the architect notices the schedule slipping, they should notify the owner and work with the project team to develop a strategy, to get the project back on track.

What you're seeing here is sort of the gold standard for how almost every contract you work with tracks project sequencing in terms of critical path. So how do you read a Gantt chart? It's pretty simple, really.

In objective 3.4, which makes up around 10% of the exam, you'll learn how to evaluate responses to non-conformance with contract documents, analyze a schedule, and design implications, and resolve conflicts that may arise during the design and construction process. A classic question might describe a non-conformance that was discovered, and ask how the architect should advise the owner to proceed.

Construction changed directives are used for the owner and architect to order a change in the work and adjustments to the contract sum, time, or both without the contractor's input. They can also be used to order a change in the work when the parties do not agree to one or more effects of the change, but the change needs to be implemented immediately. Using a CCD, the contractor begins the work while the project team agrees on the changes, if any, to the contract sum or duration.

Before sending the final RFI response to the contractor, you need to catalog the RFI and your tracking system if it'll pick able. To properly catalog it, you need to document your answer and the date that you and the consultants responded, and then change the RFI status in the log. It's important to understand what could go wrong if you do not respond properly to the RFI.

We've received RFIs based on dimensions missing, our contractor requesting more information that they could not necessarily find in the documents, as well as information related to contractors proposing different ways to complete the project. This is a copy of our RFI log that we use. So typically the catalog RFIs we use a running spreadsheet.

Since Section 3.12.7 of A201 clearly notes that the contractor cannot install portions of the work where submittals are required by the contract documents without approved submittals from the architect is clear why the submittal schedule is of critical importance to the construction schedule. The contractor should include adequate time for review by the architect as well as their consultants, if applicable. They also should include time for revisions, and re-submittals as necessary as well as some contingency time to allow for the unexpected.

The cast-in-place concrete specification found in 03 30 00 might reference specifications 03 20 00 concrete reinforcement 031000 forms and formwork, and other related portions of the work. Part two products, list of required tests that the material must meet. The materials that should be used or the acceptable properties depending on the type of specification.

Another submittal we got for this project was an informational submittal as it relates to the wood blocking system at the exterior window system, this particular submittal was more related to means and methods by the contractor and how they were going to attach the window system to the exterior facade as you can see here, we returned the submittal back as received for information only since it was means and methods, and it was not subject to our review.

Column E lists the amount of work the contractor is saying that they're owed for the portion of the work completed during this payment period. Column F lists separately the amount the contractor feels that they're owed for an item that is stored, but not actually installed. Column G adds up Columns D through F, listing the total amount of money spent on the line items so far.

Part of the review of a pay application is to basically verify that what they're asking for in terms of not just the monetary value, but they're saying that they're done in terms of percentage of completion is accurate. And as an architect, you have a couple of things to do to help with that process. One is your own observation, right?

If this is not to the satisfaction of one of the parties, the conflict moves to mediation, if mediation is not successful, the conflict moves to either arbitration or litigation, depending on what was agreed upon amongst the parties, when they signed the contract for construction. The purpose of this arrangement is to provide initial steps to solve problems, without going to costly and time consuming, binding needs immediately. The goal of using an Initial Decision Maker is a haven, expeditious and fair way of resolving disputes that may arise during the course of construction.

In objective 4.1, which makes up about 5% of the exam, you'll learn how to apply procedural concepts to complete closeout activities. You'll gain an understanding of how to manage substantial and final completion, as well as the commissioning process. A classic question type might ask what items can or cannot be included in a punch list.

When it's determined that the project is substantially complete, the architect also is responsible to inform the owner about the amount of money remaining to complete the punch list items, prior to final completion. Article 3.3 of A101 contains an area to fill in the project's expected substantial completion date. Either by entering a date or by entering the number of calendar days, following the date of commencement of the work.

The contractor will provide the architect with a final payment application, which will amount to the number of funds held back by the owner for completion of the punch list. In our previous example for substantial completion, the contractor would be submitting an application for payment for $40,000 which was twice the estimated cost to complete the punch list, to ensure that the contractor completed the project to his full extent. Section 9.10 further notes the architect's final inspection along with their previous site visits and inspections determines that to the best of their knowledge, the work is acceptable under the contract documents and that the contractor has fully performed their contractual obligations.

So once all the punch lists were completed and the contractor declared that they were substantially complete the whole team including ownership and LJC and power sat down and determined, first of all, what the dollar value was to be assigned to the remaining items that were outstanding on the punch list. And then from there ownership and LJC did a final review to make sure that the project was indeed substantially complete. Compared our lists and compiled a final substantial completion package which included G704 as the cover letter.

Construction, when the agent performs their site visits, acceptance, when systems are tested and post acceptance, when necessary staff are trained, A commissioning agent is typically hired by the owner during the design phase of the project, it's at this time that the commissioning agent will develop a commissioning plan. They will work with the rest of the design team to review the plans and identify systems that should be commissioned such as the HPAC system or the building's facade. Once the systems are identified, they'll design a procedure that should be followed by the contractor to commission each item.

That process should include the development of an OPR or Owner Project Requirements, that help guide the design team and ultimately the commissioning agent on what the owner expectations are in terms of performance of all of the systems in the building. So for example, when commissioning would happen on the systems that serve the main lobby, the air handler that I'm standing below, the commissioning agent would typically test not just the air handler itself, but all of the VAV boxes that are served by that air handler that are actually feeding the lobby adjacent to this space, to make sure that all of the temperature controls are working properly. Since this is a rated wall, every duct has a damper of fire damper on it, which also would have to be commissioned to make sure that, that is working properly, duct ceiling.

If the architect isn't performing a post occupancy evaluation but is simply performing their one-year review with the owner after construction is complete, they should review the facility operations and any maintenance issues that have occurred since final completion. This type of evaluation is less in depth than a post occupancy evaluation. It does not include meeting with any users other than the owner.

When coordinating field testing and inspections, ensure that the required testing is included in the construction schedule and that when monitoring the project schedule, it's important to stay up to date on construction progress so that you can plan your services and advise the owner if the schedule is slipping. In section three, we covered your role in administrative procedures and protocols. Here, you learned how to manage the exchange of information during construction to avoid conflicts amongst the project team and how you handle contract modifications, RFIs, conflicts, and applications and certifications for payment by implementing proactive contract administration practices.