Articles

The Dreaded Change Order

We have never met an Owner who was happy to hear, “We need a change order.” What we’ve learned over the years is that even though change orders are facts of life in construction, there are strategies to help you avoid them.changeorders-graphic

Change orders (CO) fall into two categories – owner driven and non-owner driven. Both can be mitigated.

Owner driven change orders happen when Owners change their minds, adding a window here or changing the carpet there. We’ve even seen buildings moved and floors added mid-project, which leads us to the first CO avoidance strategy.

Project Documentation: Win the Paper Battle

The primary goal in construction recordkeeping is to manage crucial information to facilitate decision-making. A secondary goal is to document key aspects of the project to provide an audit trail or comply with legal or regulatory documentation requirements. Frequently project participants lose sight of these two important goals; and resort to “wall-papering” the project office with reams of useless documents.

What can BIG DATA Collection and Analysis Do For Your Process Plant Profitability?

By Robert C. McCue, PE and Donald Keer, PE MDC Systems^® Consulting Engineers

Process Plant profitability depends in large part on operational continuity or up-time. MDC Systems^® has recently become aware of a developing technology to detect and then prevent unplanned shutdowns due to up-set operating parameters in process plants. This capability results from the real time collection and analysis of all reportable operating data…“BIG DATA.”

Process Plants typically produce more data than can be efficiently collected and reviewed by the operators. A plant with 320 tags (equipment items with associated data collection points such as pressure, temperature, flow etc), recording at 5 second intervals, will produce 5 million data readings per day. That is a billion data points over six months. Buried in this cascade of information are subtle leading indicators of up-set operating conditions.

Risk in Construction Estimating

By definition, an estimate is an approximate calculation. This inherently infers that there is a certain amount of risk involved with any estimate. The risk will vary depending on the quality and the detail of the estimate and on the detail of the design information available at the time the estimate is prepared.

The quality and detail of an estimate is usually defined in the requested scope of services. An estimate can be an opinion of cost or a detailed estimate. The opinion of cost is an estimate prepared based on a professional’s best approximation of what a project will cost.

The Role of a Construction Claim Consultant

Construction claim consultants provide a crucial role when it comes to standard of care in construction. These specialized experts know every in and out of construction and civil engineering, and can help with project management and legal advice. Because these consultants know the industry well, they can help prevent legal troubles before they start.

Installing a Solar Power System on a Residential House

Amal Kabalan, LEED A.P. MDC Systems® Consulting Engineer In the article “Pennsylvania Solar Energy Rebate on Hold: How Consumers Can Still Save Energy” published in the February 2009 edition of the MDC Advisor®, the steps that homeowners can take in order to reduce their energy consumption were outlined. This article discusses a case study that

The Top Ten Documents Your Expert Will Request and Why

Hiring an engineering expert shouldn’t be an arduous task, although sometimes the process may seem overwhelming. Usually the claim is at the point where you want answers yesterday but because of resourcing, workloads, or budgets you are in a time crunch to find them. Even if you are not initially intending to use the services of an expert, gaining access to certain portions of data during discovery is a proactive way to ease trouble or scrambling down the road. Whether it’s for a third party opinion, an independent design, a mediation statement, or a testifying expert, the engineer you hire will likely need information from the sources discussed below.

Beware of the Gray to be Green

As companies strive to improve energy consumption, promote environmental responsibility and improve the use of sustainable fuel sources to either generate revenues or improve their bottom lines the risks are not always in the determination of capital budgets, project scheduling or execution but in the gaps between technology unit operations. Renewable energy facilities can have a dozen or more process unit operations, each with proven technologies yet at the unit interfaces the process can break down leading to reduced efficiencies, higher than expected start-up costs and lost profits.

How Forensic Engineers Help with Building Diagnostics

Whether you’re looking at residential or commercial constructions, thorough analysis is always needed to assess damages and understand underlying faults within the structure.

Comparative Solar System Performance Analysis

Preliminary Analysis of an Industrial Photovoltaic System and Comparison of Its Performance with a Wind Energy System and a Fuel Cell Power System By Amal Kabalan, LEED A.P.; MDC Systems® Consulting Engineer The purpose of this article is to test the feasibility of installing a Photovoltaic (PV) System on an industrial facility and then compare

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