Engineering Management Institute

Construction Projects

What Construction Contractors and Owners Should Do, Today, to Prepare for the Possible Effects of Coronavirus on Projects

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This is a guest post written by Diana Parks (partner at Dorsey & Whitney) and  Ross Eberlein (an associate at Dorsey & Whitney) and was previously published here of the Dorsey website.

Coronavirus on Projects

As novel coronavirus has spread from China to Europe, the United States and around the globe, it has begun to have a debilitating impact on world markets, manufacturing, distribution, supply chains, and the workforce in general. It seems only a matter of time before COVID 19 directly affects U.S. construction projects. What can we, in the U.S. construction industry, do to prepare for its effects and mitigate the potential harm to our people and our projects?  The ultimate solutions may be complex, but there are some simple, initial steps, that construction contractors and owners should take to assess and bolster their ability to deal with the potential impact of an outbreak.

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Who Are Quantity Surveyors and Why Are They Important?

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This is a guest post by Mike Johnston
Quantity Surveyors

Civil engineering is a discipline many people are not really familiar with. This is a real shame since civil engineering impacts our society so much. Namely, it comprises various professions, including structural, geotechnical, environmental, water resources, construction management, and transportation engineers.

One particularly interesting area is quantity surveying, a profession that blends engineering, construction, and economics. The emphasis is on the last part, albeit there are many other tasks that these experts perform.

Word up

To avoid any confusion, let us just provide a quick clarification of terminology.

Those who live in Canada or the US might have heard the term construction cost estimator.  On the other hand, a quantity surveyor is widely used in countries like UK and Australia. The roles of the two are more or less similar depending on the region. For instance, a construction cost estimator in the US is equivalent to a quantity surveyor in the UK, even though there are some extra requirements for each one.

Sometimes, the terms cost managers and cost consultants get thrown around. But, in this article, we are going to use only quantity surveyor, though in a broader sense that transcends local and project-to-project differences.

What do surveyors do?

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TCEP 055: Working with Changes, Claims, and Disputes on Construction Projects

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Construction Projects

In episode 055 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Kevin O’Beirne, P.E. about working with changes, claims, and disputes on construction projects. O’Beirne gives some excellent tips in the this episode which will help engineers to acquire a greater success rate with regards to construction projects.

Here are some of the questions asked on working with changes, claims, and disputes on construction projects:

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