Because construction projects are highly complex, collaborative, interdependent and long-lasting team efforts, the exact final cost is impossible to estimate. It has never been a matter of skullduggery or incompetence that leads to contentious extras, cost overruns or busted schedules, as many industry patrons have come to believe. It’s actually the nature of the construction project. The high risk of those projects is exacerbated when the owner and contractor enter into a one-way, fixed-price contract designed to protect the owner from the presumably unscrupulous, incompetent contractor.
This insanity must stop.
最初，发明了低价，固定价格的合同，以使公务员保持诚实。进化的是一种行业标准的订约系统，导致成本高估，表现不佳和灾难性的失败，否则勤奋，合格的承包商。新利18备用官网登录支持固定价格合同的基础信念从未真正得到真正的重新审查，现在这些相同的信念被重命名和重申，因为新的和改进的合同方法。
The new methods take the form of owners trying to keep contractors “honest” by designing “tougher” contracts. I recently asked Tom Soles, the member services executive director of the Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association, if his members are seeing any changes in the risks they face. His response echoes what I hear from others.
Soles说：“建筑项目的所有者集中于压缩其项目新利18备用网址的时间表。”“他们还敦促提早成本确定性。
结果，承包商通常会在示意图设计时施加压力，要求其承担合同成本，而几乎没有解决较晚变化的谈判。这也导致了设计预算和时间表的削减，从而导致了设计为HVAC和钣金承包商的设计，他们现在拥有比过去更大的风险。”
Then, too, there are crazy government contracting policies. And I say they are still crazy after all these years.
Look at how the New York Daily News reported Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s approval of legislation granting the city the power to streamline capital projects and cut costs through a contracting method known as design-build. Cuomo has actively promoted design-build and credits it for success on the Tappan Zee Bridge replacement.
“大肆宣传技术使得城市机构to issue a single request for proposal and contract for the engineering and construction of capital projects,” the newspaper stated. “The bill also forces contractors to cover any extra costs that come with unexpected changes or delays.”
我们必须停止让政客和律师管理我们的行业。总的来说，如果我们继续与单方面的承包传统一起玩，这使每个承包商都面临更大的风险，那么我们将有错。
签约的设计建造方法将对项目的全部控制权交给团队，仅出于这个原因，这就是一个积极的进步。但是，在所有者的脑海中，Design-Build将团队迅速保持总成本，而无需考虑任何可变风险因素，例如所有者变更和不可避免的时间表延迟。
“What we call design-build or alternative procurement is actually a risk-transfer tool for owners, whose challenge has been to deliver schedule and price certainty,” says Guy Gast, Iowa division president of The Waldinger Corp.
加斯特告诉我：“承包商真正拥有的唯一一次是卖掉工作的那一天。”他说，在那之后，价格和计划不确定性可能会破坏“您的最大努力”。
Don’t be fooled. If you are flattered by being given “total control” of your project by the State of New York (or any other owner), consider this. They don’t necessarily believe you are a better designer; they are just trying to get you to assume more risk. And contractors cannot assume any more risk in a highly complex, collaborative, interdependent, long-lasting team effort whose exact final cost is, in point of fact, impossible to estimate.
如果您有专栏的想法，请联系观点编辑Richard Kormankormanr@新利18备用enr.com.
