The construction sector is characterized by sufficiently strict legislative regulation. There are a large number of norms and standards developed by government bodies and mandatory for use by the developer. However, in a market economy, just following them may not be enough from the point of view of building an effective business model by a construction company. The company should pay great attention to its own monitoring of the quality of work performed in addition to those requirements that are prescribed at the legislative level. What is the specificity of this area of activity of developers? What could be the key criteria for assessing the quality of work in construction?
The essence of quality control systems in construction
For starters, we study the specifics of terminology in the framework of the topic in question. Organization of a quality control system for work in construction is an activity aimed at ensuring compliance of the activities of the builder and its partners with technical, economic and other standards adopted in the legislation or defined at the level of civil legal relations.
By the quality of construction objects it is customary to understand the list of their properties, determined on the basis of the purpose of the erected buildings or structures. In addition, the quality of construction can be evaluated based on the provisions of regulatory sources of law, such as GOSTs. Where applicable, foreign standards may also be considered.
Classification of quality levels of construction objects
It is customary to highlight several levels of quality of construction infrastructure facilities. Consider them.
Firstly, this is the normative level. Here, construction control is carried out on the basis of the compliance of the object parameters with the standards of GOSTs, TU and others, which are used in that segment of economic activity, to which the work of the builder and its results are related.
Secondly, this is the actual level. It allows you to evaluate the quality of work in construction based on the available measurements upon the construction of a building by the developer on a contract basis. As a rule, the actual level depends on the extent to which the developer met the criteria determined on the basis of the provisions of regulatory sources.
Thirdly, the so-called operational level of quality of construction objects is distinguished. It involves a consumer assessment. Its presentation can be largely predetermined by the conformity of the quality of the building object with standard criteria, but a subjective approach is also quite possible. As a rule, only normative indicators are fixed in the contract between the developer and the customer. Therefore, a potentially low assessment of the results of the first based on the operational characteristics of a building or structure, as a rule, has no legal consequences. But it can, of course, affect the prospects for concluding new contracts between the customer and the developer.
Integrated approach as a criterion for business performance
In modern companies, quality control systems in construction, as a rule, take into account the criteria at all 3 levels of evaluating the results of the company. What is this expressed in?
First of all, those divisions of the developer company, which are responsible for the quality of the buildings and structures being built, set as their task to ensure the maximum compliance of the actual results of work with both regulatory requirements and customer expectations.
Increased attention is also paid to the preliminary study of the terms of the contract of the company with partners for the desired quality criteria and methods for assessing the results of the developer. As a rule, both parties are interested in this. The customer - in terms of obtaining a construction project that meets all the desired quality criteria. The developer - from the point of view of strengthening positive relationships with a partner and the possibilities of concluding new contracts with him.
Construction supervision
Monitoring the quality of the results of the builder's work can be carried out in the framework of activities such as construction supervision. What is its essence?
Technical supervision in construction is carried out by competent organizations that carry out actions aimed at identifying the compliance of certain stages of the builder's work with regulatory requirements and other established criteria. In some cases, the activity in question may be associated with assessing not only the quality of the product - at one stage or another of its production, but also with determining the degree of suitability of the materials used in construction, assessing the level of qualification of employees of the developer. It all depends on what formulations the provision on the quality control system in construction will include - the main internal corporate document, which records the criteria for evaluating the results of the builder's work, as well as methods for their analysis.
But, as a rule, the most typical functions of supervisory structures are in determining the conformity of the finished building or in assessing the intermediate results of the builder's work based on regulatory requirements. The activities of the relevant organizations can be sufficiently laborious already at the very beginning of interaction with the construction company. So, technical supervision can be connected to work on an object already at the design stage. Specialists of relevant institutions can take part in the development of documents related to design estimates, to draw up a schedule of construction work. At the same time, many experts consider this stage to be one of the key, because, as we noted above, the actual level of quality of the results of the builder’s work is largely determined by the firm’s compliance with the standards. Which are largely recorded in the design estimates.
Thus, the functioning of the quality control system begins already at the time of compilation of documents used in construction. How detailed these sources will be worked out, to a large extent determines the final result of the developer.
Normative documents when assessing quality in construction
Since the regulatory aspect in construction control is one of the key, it will be useful to study the specifics of the documents in which those standards that are taken to assess quality are fixed. It is customary to refer GOSTs, building codes, proper design and estimate documentation, instructions, industry standards to sources of the corresponding type. As a rule, a particular source has a relationship with others - at the level of the subject of regulation or interdependent provisions. It is important that those norms that are recorded in sources adopted at the departmental or sectoral level do not contradict those reflected in federal legal acts.
What is the practical significance of regulatory sources?
Construction control involves the application of the provisions of the relevant laws, firstly, by virtue of their obligation, and secondly, the developer can follow it, solving problems of a socio-economic nature, taking into account the environmental factor and other criteria that are not directly related to business, but important in terms of positioning the developer in the community.
The documents in question contribute to the solution by the participants of the construction market of such tasks as:
- ensuring the conformity of the results of the work with the goals that were set initially;
- stimulation of socially responsible construction in the city, region, in some cases - at the federal level;
- creating a high level of reputation of the developer in the business community, in the sphere of interaction of the company with government bodies, private individuals;
- assistance to the developer in increasing the level of environmental friendliness of the work performed, in the technological modernization of activities;
- stimulation of improvement of quality control systems for construction projects in specific enterprises, in the business environment as a whole.
Objects of regulation in the sources of standards and rules
The main objects of regulation in the construction documentation are considered:
- organizational, technological, methodological rules and standards that are necessary for the construction work of the developer;
- specific types of buildings and structures erected by construction firms;
- building materials and other types of industrial products used by developers in the process of work;
- socio-economic standards that determine the cost of construction, the investment attractiveness of the scope of the builder, the prospects for employment of citizens at a particular enterprise or industry as a whole.
Let us consider in more detail the essence of those sources that are involved in assessing the quality of construction work.
Normative documents in construction control: classification
The documents in question are divided into the following main categories:
- federal sources of law;
- regional legal acts;
- territorial legal acts;
- industry and local regulatory sources.
Quality control systems in construction, organized by modern businesses, require a consistent review of all types of these documents - each of them may be important from the point of view of an effective assessment of the results of the developer. We study the features of each type of source of norms in more detail.
Federal Sources of Norms
As for the federal sources of law, these primarily include GOSTs and SNiPs. As for state standards, they contain mandatory or recommended provisions that determine the parameters and properties of certain elements of buildings, building materials and are designed to provide a unified approach for real estate market participants to ensure the quality of work performed. Construction Norms and Regulations define mandatory requirements for consideration by construction companies to the work carried out during the execution of contracts, as well as the key principles that developers should be guided by.
Another variety of federal sources of norms, the observance of which requires the organization of a quality control system for construction work, is a code of practice. Their specificity is that they fix mainly the recommended provisions regarding the observance by developers of norms and standards.
Demanding sources with jurisdiction over the entire territory of the Russian Federation are also guiding documents. They record both mandatory and recommended norms governing the application of certain rules and standards.
Regional NAPs
Implementation of construction control also takes into account the provisions of regional regulatory enactments. The main type of sources of law related to the category in question are territorial norms in the field of construction. They contain provisions that are mandatory for use by firms operating in a particular subject of the Russian Federation. Territorial norms can take into account the peculiarities of the geographical location of construction projects, socio-economic, climatic characteristics of the region, and therefore they are important for the quality control system in construction.
Industry and local sources of norms
Industry and local sources are another important type of document for the developer. These include, in particular, the standards of enterprises and public associations. They establish requirements for specific production sites: for example, regulate how the quality control system of electrical work in construction should work. Must not contradict the provisions of federal and regional regulations.
Summary
Thus, construction documentation can include both mandatory and recommended rules and regulations. Following them is the most important criterion for a firm to build an effective business.
Quality control systems in construction, organized by developers, usually require a sufficiently detailed analysis of the provisions of industry and local sources of norms, since they often affect how high an assessment of the quality of the company’s work will be at the operational level, which determines in many respects how much the company’s services in the market will be in demand.