If you’re a construction manager, you can’t make change go away, but you’re not helpless to deal with it, either. New processes and technologies are available today to improve how you manage change. Building information modeling (BIM) — a major example — is known to significantly reduce the number and severity of needed changes during construction because it requires precise geometry and specifications from the start, so problems can be identified and resolved during design rather than in the field. When the inevitable change order does arise, BIM again delivers benefits thanks to a new tool that provides key insight into model quantities and their pre- and post-change variances. Armed with this level of information, the construction manager now can much more effectively manage change.
OUT WITH THE OLD
What doesn’t work effectively today is the traditional process, wherein change order requests often underestimate reductions in quantities and overestimate the additions, and project managers don’t have easy access to accurate data nor the time to track it down. This makes it difficult to develop full estimates and validate change orders against these estimates — and the larger and more complex the project, the more difficult it can be to mind the details of every change.
A BETTER WAY: BIM-BASED CHANGE MANAGEMENT
In construction, change is constant and the opportunities for projects to get off track are endless, so project managers must be constantly vigilant. Relying on the traditional, manual approach to change-order management doesn’t cut it; today’s complex building environment demands much greater insight and control than ever before.
So, let’s face it: Change orders are a necessary part of the building process and the established, legal means of modifying a project once the contract is executed. If you can’t avoid change orders, the next best option is to manage them as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Assemble’s cloud-based platform facilitates collaboration among all project team members, which is critical to communicating changes and ensuring that all parties fully understand and can execute changes properly.
Download the workflow guide to learn more.
