COSC 153 Exam 2 Vocabulary

Open Book Philosophy

A practice of information transparency among all the project parties which benefit the client by leading to open dialogue, a better understanding of the design, and its impact on budgets and schedules

Commitment Management

The practice of being aware of each team member’s tasks and deliverables, checking in with them periodically, and helping when needed for the success of the project

Vulnerability-based trust

Establishing honesty among team members through authentic check-ins and providing the support needed to make sure all team members, and thereby the project, succeed

Committed Listening

Listening intently to another person to make sure that you clearly understand what they mean by the words they are speaking without judging, assessing, or negating what they are saying

Committed Speaking

Speaking with intention and purpose, using words specifically to clearly convey your exact meaning

Reliable promising

Developed by the LCI, reliable promising and personal commitment making show respect for people and build trust among team members. Creates ownership and responsibility and help shift the culture from one of “holding people accountable” to a culture of “being accountable”. Reduces rework, defects, and waste and increases productivity

Integrative Thinking

The ability to face constructively the tension of opposing ideas and instead of choosing one at the expense of the other, generate a creative resolution of the tension in the form of a new idea that contains elements of the opposing ideas but is superior to each

Teaming Enterprise

Finding ways to establish a reciprocal working environment among your most trusted and align business and trade partners to create efficiency and effectiveness

Integrated Project Leader

A title intended to clearly distinguish the primary accountability associated with leading a design-build team. Although every organization is different, an IPL may take the place of a traditional project manager in a design-build, or the project manager may be a subordinate to the IPL

Procurement

Acquisition of goods and services

Strategic Foresight

A planning-oriented practice based on the study of futures and statistics

Emotional Intelligence

The capacity to be aware of, control, and express one’s emotions, and to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically

Land Development

Changing the landscape to alter landforms, subdivide existing property, or changing current property usage for new purposes

Land Entitlement

The legal process of obtaining approvals from a governing municipality to allow for the development of a certain building type

Pre-construction services

Anticipatory planning, analytical, and evaluation activities that occur before construction begins, often during the design phase when at-risk CM, or design-build is employed as the project delivery method.

capital project

A long-term investment project to build upon, add to, or improve a capital asset.

capital expenditure

Funds used by a company to acquire, upgrade, build, and maintain physical assets such as property, buildings, or equipment. Capital expenditures can include everything from repairing an air conditioning system, to putting on a new roof, to purchasing a piece of equipment, to adding onto an existing building, or constructing a brand-new facility.

due diligence

Obligation of the contractor, usually written into the contract, to complete the construction project with reasonable care and avoid harm.

feasibility study

An analysis conducted at the very early stages of a project to help the owner determine if it is a good idea to invest their time and money to follow-through with the project or whether an alternative solution should be pursued.

cost model

The working budget to guide the design process by allocating budget limits to the various elements or systems of the design.

return on investment

A financial ratio used to calculate the benefit an investor will receive in relation to their investment cost.

life-cycle cost

Long-term cost projections for a particular building investment over its useful life cycle.

decommissioning

The process of shutting down a building and removing it safely from operational use.

lead time

The amount of time it takes for a product or equipment to be delivered to the job site. Products that have a long delivery time are called long lead-time items and require special planning considerations.

liquidated damages

A daily amount of money paid by the contractor to the owner for each day that the project fails to meet the completion date specified in the contract. Not all contracts contain a liquidated damages clause.

ROM

Rough order of magnitude

query list

A list of questions and needed clarifications compiled by an estimator as they review the plans and specs during the estimating process.

work breakdown structure (WBS)

A tool used by estimators to organize the work of a contract in a hierarchical fashion.

work package

Detailed items of work bundled together under a particular trade. This is also called a bid package.

takeoff

A term commonly used in the construction industry to describe the process of measuring the plans to quantify materials, labor, and equipment.

quantity surveyors

Individuals who are responsible for counting up and calculating all of the quantities of materials, labor, and equipment necessary to build a construction project.

scope sheet

Similar to a work package, describes the items of work to be performed under a particular trade heading. It often accompanies a subcontractor's bid or a request for quotation.

add-ons

A term commonly used in construction estimating to describe the taxes, overhead, and profit added to the estimate after all other costs have been calculated.

digitizer

An electronic pen-shaped stylus or mouse curser used in conjunction with software to assist in the quantity takeoff task in estimating.

partnering

A team-building technique, calling upon the parties to the construction contract to establish a common set of project goals and objectives and develop a mutually acceptable protocol for communication and conflict resolution through a formal agreement.

request for information (RFI)

A written request for clarification regarding the details presented in the plans or specifications. The requests are usually made by subcontractors through the general contractor to the architect.

submittals

Data, samples, details, colors, and product literature required by the terms of the contract to be presented to the architect by the contractor for approval prior to ordering and installing them.

mock-up

Physical models or small samples constructed to allow the architect and owner to review the appearance and function of materials, colors, textures, and other aesthetic features before incorporating them into the actual project.

shop drawing

A supplemental drawing to the plans and specifications that details fabrication methods, materials, and models of a product or installation associated with the project.

schedule of values

A budget template established early in the project against which progress payments are measured. The schedule summarizes the total project cost by the various divisions of work.

retainage

A certain percentage of money owed to the contractor for work progress that is held back by the owner to encourage completion of the project.

claim

An issue that occurs during construction and remains unresolved after the job is complete.

Mediation (Third party) - Minitral (Executives of each firm involved) - Arbitration (Attorneys are presented) - Litigation

More professional/expensive

will-call

acts as a verbal confirmation of an order that has been placed prior to the date it is actually due for delivery. The will-call, generally made by the superintendent, occurs just before the scheduled delivery date.

concrete washout station

A temporary container installed on a construction site to collect all water runoff from the washing of trucks, tools, and equipment associated with concrete. The container may be prefabricated and delivered or built on-site.

straw wattles

An erosion control product made of compacted straw or other materials such as geotextile fibers, bound into a tight, tubular roll that comes in 10- to 25- foot lengths.

back charges

An amount of money charged against a subcontractor for work that the general contractor performed because the subcontractor failed to do so.

dry shacks

These facilities may be constructed on-site or brought in as modular units equipped with tables and storage lockers. They provide a dry place for workers to eat their lunch and change their clothes. Union agreements often require that the contractor provide a dry shack on-site.

project staging

A layout plan identifying the placement of all temporary facilities needed during the construction stage of the project, such as the office trailer, storage, security fencing, dumpsters, and portable toilets.

laydown area

A designated area on the building site where large orders can be stored and sorted in an organized manner so that the parts can be easily identified for use on the project.

transmittals

A tracking document that serves as a cover notification to any communication, submittal, or shop drawing being transmitted among the project participants.

Gantt charts

Considered revolutionary when Henry Gantt first published this planning tool around 1910, a Gantt chart is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. It illustrates the start and finish dates of the various activities of a project.

network diagrams

A common type of construction schedule, also called the critical path method (CPM), which depicts a continuous chain of activities showing both activity durations and the relationship of the activities. There are two types of network diagrams: Arrow Diagram Method (ADM), or activity-on-arrow (AOA), and Precedence Diagram Method (PDM), or activity-on-node (AON). Currently, PDM or AON scheduling techniques are mostly used. PDM as a scheduling technique allows for overlapping of concurrent activities so most scheduling software tools mainly utilize PDM.

precedence diagramming

A graphic presentation of a schedule depicting project activities on a node with an arrow that depicts the dependencies that exist between the activities.

short-interval schedules

Also called look-ahead schedules, they are typically prepared by superintendents and focus on relatively short periods of time, such as two to six weeks. These schedules are usually provided to trade contractors and focus on specific areas of work in greater detail than is provided in the overall project schedule.

network logic

The order in which activities are sequenced in the network diagram relative to their interdependent relationships.

critical path

The longest path through a network diagram schedule and includes those activities that have zero days of float. The critical path determines the overall project duration.

total float

The amount of leeway available to start or complete an individual schedule activity before it affects the planned project completion.

forward pass

A scheduling technique used to calculate an activity's early start and early finish. The forward pass must be completed before the project duration can be determined.

backward pass

A scheduling technique used to calculate an activity's late start and late finish.

Free float

amount of time each activity can be delayed before it impacts the successor start date