Practice Management Member Conversations

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

Dale,

You bring up a valid point of little to no school training in construction CONTRACT administration.  Division 00 and 01 of the Project Manual are often left to the Project Manager or Principal of most firms to handle, so how does a more junior person learn it?  

I was thrown into that deep end of that pool 2 years after graduating college, when both of them left the firm, and since I did the drafting on the two office buildings, was selected to perform CA on both!.

Fortunately, I had taken the CSI Certification classes and at least learnt the roles and responsibilities of the entities involved in our construction industry.

Recommend these folks attend the training, even if not taking the Construction Document Technology exam from CSI.  If they like it, then have them study for the Certified Construction Contract Administrator Exam.

Don

 

Donald A. Koppy, CSI, CCS, CDT, AIA, NCARB Master Construction Specifier / Architect | Architecture & Building Engineering Direct: 813-222-8691 | Cell: 314-568-3363 | Don.Koppy@meadhunt.com" style="text-decoration: none">Transfer Files

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All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

Thank you for bringing up this topic.

I am a solo practitioner who started doing CA work at my first office as a very young professional (late 1980s/early 1990s). I would like to see more on this topic for small firms and small projects as our world's climate is assumedly vastly different from superstructures. It is just as important, but our world has clients and contractors who don't understand its importance, are less patient with meetings, we often don't have suitable places to meet (plywood on top of saw horses), and the formality of submittals, RFIs, ASIs, and documentation can frustrate those who are not familiar with it. 

I'm currently guiding a GC on properly preparing a submittal (no kidding). Any resources for those of us at this level would be greatly appreciated. Even after 33 years, I am still learning - reading people, reading the room, and being disciplined to document everything.

Dale,

You bring up a valid point of little to no school training in construction CONTRACT administration.  Division 00 and 01 of the Project Manual are often left to the Project Manager or Principal of most firms to handle, so how does a more junior person learn it?  

I was thrown into that deep end of that pool 2 years after graduating college, when both of them left the firm, and since I did the drafting on the two office buildings, was selected to perform CA on both!.

Fortunately, I had taken the CSI Certification classes and at least learnt the roles and responsibilities of the entities involved in our construction industry.

Recommend these folks attend the training, even if not taking the Construction Document Technology exam from CSI.  If they like it, then have them study for the Certified Construction Contract Administrator Exam.

Don

 

Donald A. Koppy, CSI, CCS, CDT, AIA, NCARB Master Construction Specifier / Architect | Architecture & Building Engineering Direct: 813-222-8691 | Cell: 314-568-3363 | Don.Koppy@meadhunt.com" style="text-decoration: none">Transfer Files

LinkedIn | Facebook | Instagram | My LinkedIn

This email, including any attachments, is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) and may contain privileged and confidential information, including information protected under the HIPAA privacy rules. Any unauthorized review, disclosure, copying, distribution or use is prohibited. If you received this email by mistake, please notify us by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message.

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

I do not specialize in Contract Administration, but I wholeheartedly agree we all need to learn it better! For a few decades I stayed in medium size offices that did not have that strength. It was not until I joined more complex federal design that I had to get better at it. And I came from developer/engineering childhood background that helped me a lot. That is why now our staff is assigned a rotation of tasks, that include CA and specs. It is a lot to learn when one is starting, but being able to see and experience the whole picture with specs and design results and collaborative problem solving during construction, I believe is key for training a much more well rounded profesional. Of course, a charrette opportunity here and there keeps it interesting. It is to their advantage to build that experience and knowledge power. But I can tell you that many of us can struggle at first... patience, bite size task and good guidance can go a long way...

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

I do not specialize in Contract Administration, but I wholeheartedly agree we all need to learn it better! For a few decades I stayed in medium size offices that did not have that strength. It was not until I joined more complex federal design that I had to get better at it. And I came from developer/engineering childhood background that helped me a lot. That is why now our staff is assigned a rotation of tasks, that include CA and specs. It is a lot to learn when one is starting, but being able to see and experience the whole picture with specs and design results and collaborative problem solving during construction, I believe is key for training a much more well rounded profesional. Of course, a charrette opportunity here and there keeps it interesting. It is to their advantage to build that experience and knowledge power. But I can tell you that many of us can struggle at first... patience, bite size task and good guidance can go a long way...

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

CA is one of the best parts of an architectural practice and should not be missed.  There is great satisfaction in seeing how what is dreamt and drawn can be constructed and in having the opportunity to meet the people that do the work. The process of construction is truly a unique achievement. Often it is people that have never met each other that come together with a common goal to achieve the final product. Amazingly, it works 99 percent of the time.

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?

I frame it to junior staff as the most valuable learning experience they can get -- which is seeing their work in the real world and how it does or does not get built effectively and aesthetically.  Most of them actually do not object, and even request, to make more trips to the field, so that part hasn't been an issue for me.  But overall I concur, junior staff are challenged in doing CA, especially submittals and shop drawings.  Its too big a problem to tackle at once.  I think we should take it on in our offices in small pieces.  Which precise task do you see them struggling at the most?

Related -- I like to insist all members of the design team (in my case, we typically have architecture and interiors) edit specs related to parts of the design they are focused on.  I have assigned as little as one spec section to junior staff to edit.  It did require that I do mini training sessions on the spec editor and explain where to find resources to help them understand the info in the spec.  My hope in doing this is to build some experience so that if they're in position to do CA, the spec is not so intimidating.  I'm not able to do this with Div 0 and 1 -- that just seems way too hard to teach.

All of you who specialize in the construction phase of our professional services will recognize the staff-training problem I am facing: how to get junior staff to want to learn and actually become proficient in Construction CONTRACT Administration?  None of us were ever taught in college how to administer, let alone write, front-end specifications or construction contracts and general conditons, or deal with contractors or clients, or how to perform the full range of potential CA phase services. How do we train staff to overcome their aversion to reading and complaining that "CA has so many words to keep track of"?