This month’s discussion will focus on the importance of foundations when ready to construct a building. Our focus is not on the building’s concrete foundations but instead on the foundation before the foundation.
There is an administrative foundation before construction that, if not prepared thoroughly, can become catastrophic. No matter how the crack in this foundation is discovered, it is usually expensive and sometimes worse than anticipated. This is an often overlooked part of building construction, as is the operation and maintenance of a building, whatever its use is or will be.
Before construction plans have begun, some preliminary items must be investigated and documented first. To follow are just a few items to consider:
Whose responsibility is this? This question has various answers among different people. Some have a portion of the needed information, and others don’t have any of the required information. Some of these items fall under the umbrella of pre-construction services, and some do not. What is included in “pre-construction” services must be clearly defined.
While we want to believe that we have all of the information and that spending a small (in comparison) amount of money for these services is an unnecessary expenditure, making that decision can turn into a colossal error in judgment.
Case in point: The property owner hired a design team after the purchase of a property which was assumed to be correctly surveyed and investigated for liens, encumbrances, easements, utilities, zoning, etc. Then the design team took over and began drawing plans, defining applicable zoning and municipal ordinances, and clarifying jurisdictions of the various portions of the project.
Based on the information provided, the design team assumed all investigative work had been complete. Plans went through the Plan Review process in all three jurisdictions. All parties involved stamped the plans approved for construction, assuming all of the preliminary investigative work had been thoroughly completed.
Having approved plans for construction, the selected General Contractor commenced building a construction team of suppliers and subcontractors. In the bidding process, all subcontractors, suppliers, and even the General Contractor assumed that all preliminary work was complete and the project was ready for construction.
Having built a team and contracted with selected subcontractors, the General Contractor mobilized and went to work on the project. One month later, the adjoining property owner declared there was a parking easement recorded and that the construction seemed to be encroaching on that easement.
The moral of this event is that proper preparation should never be based on assumptions. The most important lesson in this scenario is that a small investment in pre-construction services could be worth more in the long run than the expenditure of the entire project.