Things that Party A’s representative needs to know!

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Everything that Party A’s representatives need to know in order to reduce project costs and control progress! Recommendation: The author of this article draws on their own work experience to summarize the things that those acting as client representatives need to know and do, and shares their own experiences in this field, in the hope that it will be helpful to readers! Upon seeing the title, many friends might ask, “Are you about to reveal the unspoken rules of working for the client side?” Make no mistake – we are only discussing the proper path here, not any alternative routes. The purpose of this article is to discuss, from managerial and technical perspectives, how to be a competent client representative. Maybe some people will look down on this again and say, “Come on, being the client side isn’t that hard; all you need to do is know how to eat, drink, and have fun.” Do you really think so? If that’s true, then you’re trapped in a **misconception. If you approach your work for the client in this way, not only will there be no progress, but it’s likely that you’ll soon be fired by your boss. The reason is simple: no company would spend money to pay its employees for eating, drinking, and having fun. So please be patient and let me explain those things that the client’s representative should do. First, cost and plan control. After graduating in 1995, I have been working in construction management at Beijing Construction Engineering Group. When I made my first career transition by applying for the position of client representative, a manager from the client side asked me, “Do you know what the differences are between managing client-side operations and managing contractor-side operations?” I wasn’t prepared at the time, which left me speechless and covered in cold sweat. I’ve now forgotten how I managed to get by back then. Later, as a client, I gradually began to develop my own insights. In a project, the client is the investor – the one who pays the money. It’s just like spending money in everyday life; what people hope for is to spend less and get more done. The installer is the contractor and is the one who makes the money. Just like businesses in our lives, they hope to make more money while doing less work. This is a pair of contradictions. Perhaps you might say that your view is incorrect – these days everyone talks about a win-win situation, so why insist on creating a confrontational relationship? So, I need to explain that the contradictions I mentioned above are inherent to things themselves, while a win-win situation is a result achieved through certain methods; the two should not be confused. For example, when using a spear to pierce a shield, the spear and the shield are opposing forces. With a spear in the right hand and a shield in the left, fully armored and armed to the teeth, one becomes invincible. At this point, the spear and the shield merely complement each other; where else could they be in opposition? Sima Qian said, “All under heaven are bustling about; it’s all for the sake of profit.” ； All the hustle and bustle in the world is driven by the pursuit of profit. It is very important to understand the interests of your industry and company. Once you understand this, you won’t waste effort, you won’t do good intentions but end up causing harm, and you’ll know where to focus your efforts. As the saying goes: One should handle affairs according to one’s position. So, where exactly should Party A focus its efforts? My view is: “cost” and “solution”. Let’s talk about “costs” first. Any project in engineering involves cost issues. On the premise of ensuring that the objectives of the proposed plan are met, you must minimize the costs. You need to keep in mind that reducing costs is not just the responsibility of the budget department. Let’s talk about the “plan” again. The implementation of any project in engineering involves a \"plan\", and drawings are essentially one form of expressing such a plan. Without an increase in the relevant funding budget, you must consider all aspects of the plan as thoroughly as possible. Of course, this isn’t solely a matter for designers and contractors. Next, taking the electrical engineering aspect of a project as an example, we will discuss how, as the client, one can start working in order to reduce costs and improve the design in actual construction projects The conclusion is: drawings. In the drawings, we must pay attention to two aspects: one is the selection of equipment and material specifications, and the other is the potential issues that may arise from subsequent negotiations due to incomplete drawings. Let’s analyze it in detail: (1) Selection of equipment and material specifications. First of all, you need to pay attention to whether the design involves an excessive selection of specifications for certain materials. This situation may stem from three reasons. 1. The design is overly concerned with safety. Because when problems arise in a project, the investigation usually starts with the design drawings. Some designers, in an effort to ensure safety, arbitrarily increase the safety factors beyond the specified requirements, ignoring the associated cost implications. Such problems usually manifest in the selection of cables, busses, and switches. 2. The designers lack sufficient engineering experience. Due to a lack of engineering experience, designers often increase the specifications and quantity of materials and equipment in order to avoid mistakes and meet the requirements for construction and use. Such problems usually manifest in the selection of cable trays, conduit, and luminaires. 3. The actual interests of the design institute’s needs. Since the design fee is calculated based on the cost of the drawings, a higher cost of the drawings means a larger base for calculating the fee, and thus a higher design fee. This naturally gives the design institute an incentive to increase the cost of the drawings. Such issues may manifest in various aspects of material and equipment selection as well as quantity. In light of this, Party A’s engineering personnel must eliminate design redundancies when reviewing the drawings. Of course, all of this should be implemented on the premise of complying with current regulations. Any behavior that increases the specifications and quantity of materials and equipment without considering cost considerations, in a principleless manner, must be stopped. In this regard, if Party A detects any issues, it should argue its case with the designer. (II) Negotiations: Negotiations are inevitable in every project. Poor design considerations, along with changes in the client’s requirements, are the fundamental reasons for negotiations. Negotiations not only lead to an increase in the volume of work and costs, but also cause delays and disputes over project timelines. Moreover, many contractors also operate projects on the principle of winning bids at low prices and then seeking compensation through negotiations. Although many developers also employ certain strategies to curb the increase in construction costs caused by negotiations—such as having contractors absorb any change orders within a certain limit. However, due to the time constraints of later-stage construction, most developers will still make concessions regarding negotiation issues. Therefore, the fundamental way to reduce the amount of negotiations is to refine the plan as much as possible during the drawing design phase through drawing reviews. Generally speaking, the interface work between strong current and weak current specialties is usually the most ambiguous and prone to negotiation disputes. To this end, the construction boundaries for the interface work should be clearly described in writing within the contract. Next, let’s discuss where on the drawings consultations are most likely to arise, still taking the electrical discipline as an example. 1. The number of distribution boxes shown in the plan does not match that in the system diagram. Since only the manufacturer’s system diagram is provided when purchasing distribution boxes, any omissions in the quantities indicated on that diagram will naturally lead to additional negotiations and cost increases later on. Therefore, during the drawing review phase, it is necessary to make a detailed comparison between the system diagrams and the floor plans. 2. The forced shutdown of the fire power supply is not designed in accordance with fire compartments. In the event of a fire, all non-firefighting power supplies must be forcibly cut off, and emergency lighting must be activated; however, the areas where cutting off and activating take place should be within the same fire compartment. Many designs overlook the consideration of fire compartments, resulting in failure to pass fire safety inspections later on and the need for revisions. 3. The device has no power supply. The reason for this is usually that the equipment department in the design institute fails to provide timely feedback to the electrical design team after making modifications to the drawings, resulting in equipment that has no power supply. This situation is very common in drawings. If issues are discovered later on, it often causes many problems for the project; therefore, during the drawing review phase, it is necessary to conduct a detailed comparison between the ventilation and plumbing equipment drawings and the electrical drawings. 4. Omissions or errors in the piping for low-voltage fire protection systems. Generally speaking, designers usually have extensive knowledge of high-voltage systems, but often lack sufficient understanding of the diameter, quantity, and wiring methods of low-voltage cables, which leads to design omissions. The most frequent omissions occur in the fire protection section, including: the power supply cables, signal cables, and piping for interconnection wires of the equipment. Additionally, the design fails to take proper account of other low-voltage components; for example, some drawings may feature a series-connected design for the network cable conduits, which makes it very troublesome to lay the network cables ； Appropriate surveillance wiring has not been considered within the building; it is not possible to add wires after the public areas are finished with interior decoration, etc. Therefore, the engineer from Party A must review the low-voltage electrical components in the drawings carefully, and if necessary, involve the low-voltage electrical manufacturers in the review process as well. 5. Omission of wall penetration sleeves in the structural exterior walls. Some drawings may omit the sleeves for power and low-voltage cables entering the building (including sleeves reserved for outdoor power supplies). Since the structural casing requires waterproof steel plates to be embedded in the exterior wall, creating openings later not only incurs high costs and damages the structure, but it also compromises the waterproofing of the exterior wall, leading to leaks. Therefore, be sure to pay attention to this issue when reviewing the drawings. The above are some of the areas in electrical engineering drawings where design errors are likely to occur, as listed by us, but they certainly do not cover everything. To identify more problems, one needs to develop a keen eye for detail, which requires the accumulation of experience and careful consideration. We can summarize the analysis above. We keep the selection of equipment materials within a reasonable range in order to reduce costs ； Then, by refining the drawings, we avoided subsequent discussions. It not only improved the plan but also reduced costs. The focus of the work has been identified, but as the client’s representative, what other tasks are there that you must carry out? Let’s continue from where we left off. Second, the scope of work for the Party A representative: As a Party A representative (taking the electrical engineering field as an example), your main responsibilities include: 1. Submitting applications for power supply approvals (temporary power plans, high-voltage plans, low-voltage plans) ； 2. Procedures for low-voltage services (TV, telephone) ； 3. Formulation of design conditions ； 4. Drawing review ； 5. Engineering technology, quality, schedule, and safety control ； 6. Review and sign on-site negotiated changes ； 7. Coordinate relationships among all parties on site ； 8. Coordinate with the bidding process for owner-supplied equipment, and be responsible for specifying the technical requirements for equipment and materials ； 9. Responsible for conducting evaluations of equipment manufacturers for major equipment and materials supplied by Party A or Party B. The above list outlines the key priorities for Party A on site. As a representative of the client, you must have a thorough understanding of your job responsibilities. Because within the project, no one knows better than you what you should do and how to do it in your own field of expertise. If you’re unclear about the scope of your own work, it will directly affect the progress of the entire project. As for how to do these tasks well, it can’t be explained in just a few words. Here, I must point out that the power supply procedures are complex and involve monopolistic interests within the industry. Improper handling of these procedures can significantly increase the company’s construction costs and severely affect the project schedule. It must be given sufficient attention. Since this involves on-site construction management, quality control, progress monitoring, and coordination are undoubtedly key aspects of the client’s responsibilities. Below, I will briefly analyze how Party A should exercise control over the project progress. Section 3: Control of Project Progress. Progress is a crucial element in any project. Military strategy teaches: speed is crucial in warfare. No matter how meticulously and well the work is done, if the project timeline is prolonged, it’s bound to result in losses. Of course, ensuring safety and quality remains a prerequisite for the progress of the project. The key to controlling progress is to have a plan, and to monitor and adjust the progress based on that plan. When progress does not align with the plan, the reasons affecting that progress naturally become apparent. As the client, you must have five plans in hand: 1) Construction schedule ； 2) Labor planning ； 3) Plan for the arrival of equipment and materials ； 4) Tendering plan for equipment and materials supplied by Party A ； 5) Funding plan. The first three items are prepared by the general contractor and reviewed and revised by the client. Items 4 and 5 shall be written by Party A itself. The plan can be formulated according to the following steps: 1. First, Party A requests the general contractor to reverse-engineer the overall construction schedule. It should be emphasized here that the key timeline for the reverse schedule shall be determined based on the date when the Completion Acceptance Filing Form issued by the Construction Commission is obtained. Since the general contractor’s concept of completion often differs from that of the client, many general contractors interpret the completion time of the projects they undertake as the actual completion date. If you schedule the plan based on how a general contractor would interpret it, you’ll find that the actual completion date you requested remains far off in the future. The scheduling plan must be detailed, taking into account as many relevant factors as possible, including various procedures, coordination among different types of work, form filling, and the approval timelines set by administrative authorities, etc. Plans typically also need to take into account the impact of the Spring Festival, rainy-season construction, winter construction, wheat harvest, **, and the college entrance examination on construction activities (including labor availability and weather conditions). Nighttime permits and vehicle driving permits are also under consideration. 2. After formulating the construction schedule, it should be distributed to all contractors, who will then refine their own construction schedules based on the key milestones. 3. Once the general contractor’s construction schedule is determined, a labor plan and a plan for the delivery of equipment and materials should be formulated immediately. The same applies to each subcontract. 4. Based on the construction schedule and the plan for the arrival of equipment and materials, Party A may then proceed to formulate its own bidding plan and fund utilization plan. Once all five plans above are completed, it will be possible to monitor the progress of various tasks as planned and make dynamic adjustments at any time. Upon discovering any problems, the causes should be identified immediately and resolved in a timely manner. Additionally, I would like to remind everyone that since fire safety inspection is a prerequisite for acceptance by the quality inspection station, any mishandling of it could potentially affect the overall progress of the project. Fire safety acceptance requires coordination among multiple disciplines, including fire water systems, fire electrical systems, fans, lighting, elevators, fire shutters, etc. Ordinarily, this task should be led and coordinated by the fire-fighting company; however, since fire-fighting units are usually subcontractors appointed by the general contractor, they lack authority in the coordination process, and their instructions often fail to produce any effect. Therefore, Party A must get involved in the coordination efforts early on; otherwise, it may lead to delays in the project schedule. The integration of utilities in the municipal sector is also a major focus area; it involves numerous entities, including those responsible for electricity, telecommunications, gas, heating, tap water, reclaimed water, and stormwater and sewage. Party A must plan carefully and coordinate closely; this must not be taken lightly. The above is a brief analysis I’ve provided regarding progress control. Due to space limitations, I’ll stop here. Party A, the supervisor, and the general contractor form an indispensable trio in any construction project; they should work together in unity to achieve a win-win outcome ； Instead of scheming against each other, resulting in mutual loss. Since we’re in the same boat, we should pull together to get through it ； We are now interdependent; surely, if the lips perish, the teeth will suffer as well. As the old saying goes, we all just need to do what we’re supposed to do, right?