Approaches to the monitoring of construction processes are regularly changed, supplemented and adjusted in order to improve quality. The need for reliable and durable construction sites is due to the understandable aspirations of the responsible authorities to ensure the appropriate level of safety of the operated buildings. To fulfill this condition, technical supervision is applied today, which is a set of rules and regulations governing the activities of construction experts. The formed commissions, through legal and technological tools, assess the quality of work activities and building materials.
Basic concepts of building control
To understand the implementation structure of the controlling participants in the construction, it is necessary to understand individual concepts. For example, the general customer of the construction is the person who provides financing for the project. This support includes the development of project documentation, and the direct construction of an object with a supervisory function. There is also the concept of a general contractor. Unlike the customer, the contractor is often construction and installation companies, which are legal entities. The range of functions of this construction participant includes the direct technical implementation of capital construction projects. It is the activities of the contractor that are subject to the supervision of supervisory authorities. These functions at a lower level are also performed by the developer, who may be part of the contractor’s organization. This person owns the territory on which the construction is carried out. It also performs construction and installation works.
All listed participants in the construction process are united by a controlling function. In fact, the customer’s construction control of the construction is a regular inspection, the frequency of which is determined by the contract. As for the direct supervision, it is aimed at determining the quality of work in the process of construction of target facilities. According to the results of the survey, appropriate estimates are given based on the requirements of the construction design documentation. In this case, not only basic building materials and installation structures, but also the results of engineering surveys can be subjected to technical analysis. By comparing the obtained data with the regulations and standards, an assessment is made of the quality of ensuring the safety of structures and buildings.
Control in capital construction
Capital construction is the broadest platform for the practice of using control schemes in terms of design and implementation of repair and installation works. This is due to the fact that in the process of implementing such facilities it is expected that most of the construction activities will be carried out, which should be controlled in accordance with regulatory enactments. However, this does not mean at all that the customer’s construction control over the construction should be comprehensive and cover all stages of the project. Often and partly for the sake of economy, developers connect specialists of this profile at specific stages. For example, if you need to control the supply of building materials. In this case, the control service will check the labels, markings and certification documents for the delivered products in terms of their compliance with design recommendations. Conversely, the supply of materials can be monitored by the customer independently, and the supervisory authorities will take on complex and high-tech processes for installing engineering equipment or installing metal structures .
A special place is occupied by the stage of preparation for construction. At this stage, the development of design and technical documentation. That is, a different kind of control is necessary, providing for the analysis of legal properties. In addition, capital construction is completed by the fact that the customer prepares documents for commissioning. In order to exclude formal inconsistencies with the technical passport, an expert examination is also carried out with the supervision services connected before submitting documents for state registration.
Technical Supervision Services
As the requirements for capital construction projects, which make up the bulk of urban real estate, have increased, control over the implementation processes of such projects has tightened. Previously, these tasks fell on the construction control carried out by special commissions from urban planning authorities. The disadvantage of such formations was the extremely low quality of the controlling function. And this is not to mention that the organization of their work did not imply an integrated approach to assessing the quality of the target object. In most cases, the commission visited the site during the analysis of project documentation and after completion of construction. The situation changed dramatically when control began to be carried out in accordance with the new standards of the supervision service. They not only control the capital construction in technical and legal aspects, but can also act as assistants for the project executors. The fact is that supervisory organizations are licensed through registration in self-regulating professional associations, with which specialists in the field of design, surveying, architecture, assembly lines, etc. can also interact. That is, if necessary, such services can provide the customer with a full range of services in the implementation of construction with the basic implementation and the primary task of quality control.
Tasks and functions of technical supervision
Nevertheless, the main tasks of the controlling enterprise are reduced to organizing and ensuring the effective work of representatives of supervision. The supervision service should monitor the implementation of repair and construction measures in order to further confirm the compliance of the result with the established standards. At the same time, participants in the monitoring process are required to compile statements on the volume of work performed, which will subsequently allow the development of budget documentation. It has already been said above that the customer himself can work on paperwork based on the results of inspections. Also, the immediate functions of technical supervision include the implementation of systematic audits of financial costs. The fact is that the complex goal of building control is expressed not only in ensuring the technical quality of the facility. If necessary, the customer can agree with the controlling organization on tracking financial costs. That is, the supervision function in this case will also have the character of a means of optimizing the construction process, which is also relevant today.
Technical supervision
The actions and organization of work of the supervision service are determined by regulatory documents and the contract that was concluded with the customer. Most often, such services are hired in the form of engineering services. In accordance with technical standards, the procedure for conducting construction control during construction provides for the appointment of a responsible person who will oversee a specific object. This person controls the execution of permits for construction, monitors the process of moving out the boundaries of a building plot, participates in the breakdown of the axes of houses, communications and utilities.
In this case, the basic work is entrusted to the departments of the supervisory organization, which monitor the receipt of laboratory and geodetic examinations, as well as their results. This part of the work also relates to document control. Separately supervised and production processes during construction and installation works. Based on the results of the completion of certain operations, an act on construction control is also drawn up, which indicates the compliance of the work performed with regulatory or design requirements. Also, an act may be drawn up upon the discovery of defects or the identification of materials or structures unsuitable for quality characteristics. In such cases, the procedure for correcting the detected defect is provided. By the way, this is the advantage of conducting operational control, as it allows you to identify a deficiency before the completion of construction.
Customer Responsibilities in Construction
Prior to the approval of the main documentation for a future project, the customer is required to obtain a state expert opinion of a positive property. Also, by the time the reconstruction or repair and installation activities are commenced, he must have a building permit. However, there are cases of exceptions when, instead of authorizing work operations, there is a certificate from the local town-planning department that allows you to perform work without examination of the project. Again, before starting work, the builder must properly prepare the site. In the future, the customer’s construction control over the construction can be transferred to the supervisory authorities. Along with this, the controlling services should supervise the transfer of documents by the customer, on the basis of which the executors of technical operations will carry out their tasks. In particular, during the construction of a house, the customer transfers to the contractor documentation with the results of engineering surveys, design estimates, as well as the permits mentioned above.
It should be noted that the customer can in some way also act as a controlling participant in the process of project implementation, even if he hired a specialized service for this purpose. It is common practice when the technical supervision in its main part, for example, expressed by the input inspection of materials, is entrusted to the control service, and the documentation itself is still carried out by the customer or his representatives. There is another nuance regarding the interaction of the customer with the direct performers. Often, the workflow is organized in such a way that the detection by the supervisory authorities of violations is only recorded in the documents, but the corrections of the revealed deviations from the rules are not checked. At the same time, control of such situations is not included in the list of duties of the service, but of the customer, who must fix the fact of elimination of defects in the verification documents.
Responsibility of the construction customer
The customer is responsible for almost all stages of the project. To begin with, it is worth noting the provision of the preparation of project documentation, as well as the passage of state expertise. Here, the customer also lays responsibility for the quality of the design solution with the requirements of regulatory documents, including in part regarding the rights and obligations that were granted to him by contractual agreements. Further, this person is responsible for conducting construction control in the sense that he appoints a general contractor involved in the process of performing the work. In addition, the customer in some cases accepts works whose quality may not be confirmed by supervisory services. In such situations, the responsibility lies with him in terms of quality control of the object.
Responsibilities of the construction control service
Representatives of the expert service at the first stages of the project implementation carry out incoming control of estimated documentation, which also studies in detail the technical materials for the future facility. In particular, experts evaluate the documentation in terms of sufficiency for the implementation of construction and general competence. If necessary, the control service takes measures to revise design estimates, oversees the elimination of detected defects, does not allow the deterioration of technical solutions and an unreasonable increase in the value of the object. As required by the regulation on construction control in working with capital facilities, responsible services must also monitor the relationship between the general contractor and suppliers of materials.
In this regard, the main task of the control service is to prevent builders from using structures and materials that do not meet the requirements of project documentation for their characteristics. The same applies to engineering equipment used in installation work during repair operations. In practice, these tasks are achieved through the organization of the mentioned input control, the verification of which allows you to cut off defective and inappropriate building products. That is, the construction and technical control monitors not only the finished results of the work performed, but also creates the conditions for ensuring proper quality in solving the tasks.
How to choose a supervisory company?
Different criteria are taken into account from the history of the work performed to the qualifications of specialists who will perform specific operations. The practice of using experts from different fields working individually is also practiced. For example, such a group will individually analyze technical documentation, geodetic surveys, and monitor the quality of installation operations and building materials. From the point of view of quality, this is a good solution, but a company that comprehensively covers the entire range of works still benefits from a more efficient organization of the control process. You should also consider what documents establish the construction control in a particular organization. It is desirable that the organization focuses on the main set of rules that apply to the standards for the control of capital construction. But, licensed organizations included in SROs may also have special standards for fulfilling their tasks, which, however, are also enshrined in existing regulatory documents. In any case, at the exit, the customer receives a comprehensive set of production and technical documentation, in which there is a work progress log, laboratory control results, certificates for building materials, etc.
Conclusion
Often, real estate market participants complain about the large volumes of technical and expert procedures that must be followed from the launch of the project into construction to commissioning. However, in terms of monitoring the quality of the implementation of basic construction and installation operations, such requirements are justified. Properly organized construction control of the customer over the construction allows you to documently confirm the proper level of safety of a particular object. This is very important, first of all, from the point of view of the future operation of the building, but the benefits are not limited to this. Controlling organizations today provide an extensive list of services that makes it possible to optimize production and construction processes. This is done through more efficient management of design estimates and a rational selection of technical solutions by people who are really interested in obtaining a quality result.