A30 Tendering/Sub-letting/Supply Checklist

GBE > Encyclopaedia > Code > Checklist > New Build > A > G#1704 N#1605

Checklist: 

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Problems:

• The construction industry persists in adopting adversarial sub-contractual arrangements.
• The result is a self serving industry with a culture of blaming the other guy, which spends as much time covering its arse, as doing a good job.
• Back to back demolition sub-contracts and construction contracts put the demolition sub-contractor under time pressure resulting costly demolition instead of deconstruction reclaiming valuabe materials with a credit to the contract
• Dutch bargaining is used to increase the profit margins of the main-contractor by reducing the profit margin of the sub-contractor, often reducing the priced below cost and forcing the sub-contractor to rush or do an inferior job
• Main Contractors are generally failing to pay their sub-contractors within the customary 30 days of invoicing, putting them into financial difficulty or into liquidation

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Misunderstandings:

• Value Engineering is a posh name for Cost Cutting as practised in the UK
• Instead of cutting the cost of one item Value Engineering should look a the whole element or system to find an alternative method which is resourceful, appropriate, competent, effective, good value for money and ideally saves money.

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Solutions:

• Adopt a contract based on a partnership between the parties to enable them to work together towards a common goal, sustainably serving the Employer/Client
• Give a Demolition contractor one month and it will cost you £100,000 to demolish, give the Demolition contractor two to three months and get paid £100,000 for the materials

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Value Engineering: (stuff into projects, not out of them)

• Give a Demolition contractor one month and it will cost you £100,000 to demolish, give the Demolition contractor two to three months and get paid £100,000 for the materials

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Consider:

• Forms of contracts which try to avoid conflict between consultants and between consultants and contractors.
• Contracts which discourage cost cutting and specification substitution by the Contractor.
  • Stage 1 of 2 Separate out and tender on Preliminaries, Overheads and Profits.
  • Stage 2 of 2 Tender on the building.
  • Since profits are already fixed and safe there is no need for the contactor to seek to increase profit margins by reducing quality or specification substitution for non-sustainable materials.
  • Projects using ACA’s PPC 2000: The ACA standard form of contract for project partnering
  • e.g. Science Research building Devonshire House Newcastle.
• Using local companies and local labour
• Bovis LendLease in conjunction with the local employment office have been very successful in setting up employment offices at their site gates to recruit local people.
• See Also: Bluewater Shopping Centre Dartford Kent.
• Use of training and skill passports enable quick assessment of skills available to match with skills required
• Training courses in local/regional technical colleges have been geared to the demands of the construction and the buildings in use.

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Avoid:

• Separating demolition contract from building contract if there is a risk of not making use of demolition materials in the construction contract
• Splitting responsibilities over demolition rubble and reuse as piling beds. hardcore, subbases, SUDS, resulting in the exporting of materials from site to landfill, and the importing of virgin materials to replace them.

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Minimise:

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Substitute:

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Resource Efficiency:

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Reduce:

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Reclaim:

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Reuse:

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Recycle:

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Recycling:

• Collect, segregate, reuse or recycle all redundant material.

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Recover:

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Waste Issues:

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Waste Category:

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Hazardous waste:

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Waste statistics:

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End of life options:

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Health and Safety Issues:

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Wellbeing: 

• No more dutch bargaining with sub-contractors
• No more bread and butter sub-contracts
• No more surreptitious substitution
• No more late payments to your sub-contractors, pay within 30 days
• No more unlimited retention sums periods
• No more premium payments from supply chain sub-contractors
• No more premium payments before being paid for work done
• No more sub-contractor bankruptcy caused by main-contractors
• No more sub-contractor suicides

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GBE Opinion

• Finance Gap (Opinion) G#41199

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Maintenance issue:

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Precautionary principle:

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Biodiversity:

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Information sources:

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© GBE GBC GRC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ****
5th December 2014 – 3rd January 2024

Images:

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If you wish to reproduce images, feel free, but please acknowledge the source.

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© GBE GBC GRC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ****
6th December 2014 – 3rd January 2024

See Also:

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GBE CPD

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GBE Jargon Buster

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GBE Projects

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GBS Specification

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GBE Library

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GBS Robust Specification

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GBE Links

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© GBE GBC GRC GBL NGS ASWS Brian Murphy aka BrianSpecMan ****
6th December 2014 – 3rd January 2024

A30 Tendering/Sub-letting/Supply Checklist G#1704 N#1605 End.