Professionalism in the Construction Industry

Who are the professionals in construction industry?

The Professionalism in Constructions is a combination of derived significant activities of professionals’. This is mainly related with their job tasks, such as; an active demonstration of the traits of professionals, also the level of professionalism can be evaluated how successful you are in your job and also it can be decided how others’ view on you and how far you have developed in your career level as well.

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Some specific professionals in construction industry, for example; Architects, Civil & Structural Engineers, Mechanical & Electrical Engineers, Project Managers and Quantity Surveyors whom are well-trained and highly educated and experienced experts. They are contributing with their specific knowledge and experience for the successful completion of projects. And also they have vital responsibilities and duties within their entire roles; for instance, Preparation of drawings, Specifications, BOQ, Contract Conditions and Agreements.

Furthermore deal with the Time, Money, Technology, Equipments, operatives and materials for managing of construction projects and organize the project resources.

The professional organizations usually provide comprehensive betterment to the professionals, such as; initial professional development and being a member in an institution. It furnishes free education and training, participation in conference and seminars, network opportunities and get privilege to use on line recourses. Hence some professional organizations are especially vital to the construction industry, for example; Professionals are licentiated as RICS, CIOB, RIBA, AIQS, SLIQS, and IESL etc. as a result of this, professionals can develop their knowledge and make improvement the level of professionalism appropriately.

Further, certain business related organizations provide collaboration of professionals to share with their knowledge and experience. Hence, Professionals are able to use organization resources to success of their projects, some of them are significantly important to constructions industry, such as; reference of FIDIC in international, reference of ICTAD in Sri Lanka and also reference of Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) in the United Kingdom.

INTRODUCTION

This report comprehensively discuss about the study of Professionalism in Constructions industry. The Aim is getting of knowledge and awareness of Professionalism, about various construction related Professional Organizations and their role in the Construction Industry.

Particularly discuss through the following major key points by investigating briefly:

• The concept of Professionalism
• Professionals’ roles within the Construction Industry.
• The concept and practice of Professional Liability
• The role of Professional Organizations in the Construction Industry.
• The role of Construction related business organizations.

MAIN BODY DISCUSSIONS

The Professionalism

Define Concept of Professionalism

Concept of the Professionalism basically explained herewith, on specialist’s point of view, most of authors have defined the concept of professionalism in considerable volume.

According to the article of Journal of Chiropractic Humanities 2005 © NUHS (Stuart Kinsinger) Professionalism is defined as “Professionalism is service through the use of specialized knowledge, skills, and experience; holding oneself to the highest standards of thought, word, and deed.”

Concerning to the above explained comment, it can be identified clearly what the concept of professionalism is,

Further professionalism can be described as;

• It is an active demonstration of the traits of professionals,
• The level of professionalism can be evaluated how successful you are in your job.
• It can also be decided how others’ view on you and how far you develop your career level.

Whatsoever, professionalism cannot be evaluated just in appearance; like neatness, good grooming, and shop-talk as well. It should be really evaluated through the technical skilled, inner strengths, attitudes and honest work done.

Besides, concerning of the professionals in construction industry; will be deeply discussed in next steps, therefore it is further required to study the history of professionalism in constructions to get a proper knowledge about constructions professionals’ professionalism.

History of Professionalism in Construction industry

History of professionalism has been shown since in the beginning of civilization in this world, nevertheless refer to the construction industry, professionalism shows at the early stage of Second World War in 1942, when considering to issued records by US Naval Mobile Construction Battalion five, Command History, that battalion has earned a reputation for excellence and professionalism during the 54 years of its existence. Also they have built airstrips, hospitals, bridges, roads, and have provided humanitarian and disaster recovery assistance in almost every part of the world.

Hence it appears clearly, there should be a particular characteristics and attributes in professionalism.

Characteristics and Attributes of Professionalism

There are number of special characteristics and attributes in professionalism to implement within the professional bodies. This characterizes give much influence to success of professionalism in their trades. It is as follows;

• Attitude – this is very important characteristic of professionalism, there should be positive attitude, and hence it will help to increase business success,
• Appearance -Wearer’s clean cloth is very important for make the business in positive way continuously, hence this positive appearance will significantly help to the business success.,
• Behavior – to be expressed well-mannered, calm matters, should not be spite,
• Vocabulary- Should be use always right words, not suitable to use big words because level of professionalism is often judged by vocabulary,
• Mindset- Pattern of the way of thinking of professionals

Also above specialized characterizes can be judged by particular facts identified to obtain real professionalism in constructions.

How is Professionalism Judged?

According to the book ‘Up The Corporate Ladder – Professionalism in The Workplace’ written by Elsabé Manning (owner of the Success Factory), Professionalism is judged by the following facts: such as, Responsibility and accountability, business etiquette, Telephone and e-etiquette, Manners, Communication, Relationships, Competence, Respectfulness, Trustworthiness, Empathy and compassion, Emotional maturity, Image, etc;

So then, above mentioned facts are used to judge the level of professionalism, hence further needs to understand exactly about professionals and their roles relevant to the construction industry.

The professionals of Construction Industry

Definition

Mostly education, work culture, morals, work ethics, positive thinking, open mind make anybody into a professional, out of these six points, at least four should be present to become a good, valuable professional. Further explanations; a professional is a person who is paid to take over a specialized set of tasks and to complete them for a fee.

The key measures for professionals as follows:

• They should have expert and specialized knowledge in their carrier,
• Excellent practical and literary skills,
• Basically high quality work to be exhibited,
• A high standard of professional ethics, behaviors and work activities,
• Work morale and motivation in reasonable level.
• Suitable treatment of relationships with social group.

Who are the professionals in Construction Industry?

In general, there are highly qualified and well trained professionals are contributing within their specific knowledge and experience to deliver the projects in construction industry in successful. There are few key professionals in the construction industry, identified as, Architects, Project Managers, Civil Engineers, Structural Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineer and Quantity Surveyors.

Basically, they categorized within their involvement with job environment, some of them are working as client representatives, and some are assigned to design teams, also assigned to builders and maintenance firms.

Roles of professionals in Construction industry

Most of construction projects or firms employ reputed professionals to get proper management process in order to archive projects goals, contribution with the professionals’ specialized roles. Architects, Engineer Consultants, Builders and Quantity Surveyors, whom are the professionals in construction industry, hence further will discuss concerning the significant roles of them relevant to the construction projects as a professional teams,

Particular points of key roles of them are given below;

Usually they prepare designs including drawings, specifications, BOQ, Contact Agreements and Conditions of Contracts,

As well as they are dealing with Time, Money, Technology, Equipments,, Operatives and Materials to manage the construction projects,

They are employed directly by clients,

They shall organize the project resources to execute project activities to manage them properly and complete the project on time, maintain the Quality, Cost Control, maintain of Environment and Safety measures.

Further their roles are briefly described as follows;

The Architect

According to the Wikipedia, ”an architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight/supervision of the construction of buildings” and further architect should be visiting site periodically for inspections to ensure that in general, the work being carried out on site is in compliance with architectural designs and specifications.

Generally, Architect should have proper education qualifications and also should have good training back ground to deliver their knowledge for the project success in terms of sustainability and safety of end users. Also there are Landscapes Architects, Town Planners, Infrastructures and building Architects whom are categorized on discipline on service and they involve as a team or one person.

Engineer Consultant

According to the Bamisile (2004), during the construction phase Engineers (Civil, electrical, mechanical, geotechnical and structural) should visit the site often for inspections, and to be ensured that all activities going on compliance with their engineering drawings, specifications and schedules. Also they should be concerned with monitoring and ensuring methods and materials. Normally engineer consultants joint as a reputed individual firm with development projects. Also involve for selecting the project by way of tender or by nomination. A Fee also will be charged by Engineers as a parentage basis.

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The Builder

The Builder is employed by the client, on the advice of the Architect or the Architectural technologist. A builder must first assess the project-specific documents (referred to as tender documents). In the case of renovations, a site visit is required to get a better understanding of the project. The builder will then calculate a price, also called an estimate. The builder considers the cost of materials and equipment as well as the cost of labor to provide the owner with an approximate price for the project.

The Quantity Surveyor (Cost Consultant)

Quantity surveyor is the person/ firm who manage the cost relating to the construction projects, such as new constructions, maintenance work and renovations. Quantity surveyor monitors the cost of every aspects of a construction project as a cost expert, as well as seeks to minimize the costs of the project and to make more cost savings while ensuring the total cost of project does not exceed the estimated cost.

Furthermore when study about Architects, Engineers & Quantity Surveyors as Construction Professionals, also have to be identified their duties and Responsibilities properly.

Duties and responsibilities of professionals in Construction industry

In general Architects, Project managers, engineers and quantity surveyors are the most important persons whom are involved as professionals in construction industry. Therefore, they have to be very respectable and well care of their duties and responsibilities according to their work sectors.

Their duties and responsibilities could be described in brief as mentioned below;

Architect

• Contribution for initial discussions and consultations which relevant to design and plans with a person or a business organization in satisfactory level.
• Should be understood clearly about clients’ intended objectives and explaining them.
• Getting clear idea of Clients’ budget which is expected to invest for projects and consulting with suggestions for any alternatives may be required.
• Preparing initial proposals subsequent to discussions with client.
• Studying environmental impact and the effect having with proposed structure.
• Follow-up feasibility studies and how it affected for constructions in specific locations.
• Attending site selections and produce a cost analysis as a part of the initial proposals.
• Explain all aspects of initial proposals to client very briefly.
• To be worked altogether with client to get a final product as plans and important designs.
• All design and plans with respect to the rule and regulation of government and relevant organizations and institutions respectively.

Civil Engineers

The civil engineers are engaging with many activities at the beginning of the project and up to the end of the project. Hence, some of their key roles are as follows;

• Analyzing various factors and areas concerning construction.
• Analyzing, searching and investigate the site location and ensure its feasibility for construction purpose.
• Preparing key essential plans to determine what need to be changed prior to implement tasks.
• Develop detailed design drawings according to the clients’ requirements.
• Review and issuing approval for project designs and reports.
• Identifying potential risks and disputes of the project.
• Taking necessary actions for risk management.
• Follow up rules, regulations and guidelines in relevant to the project.
• Verify the safety activities during the project implementation.
• Study different equations, strategies, and applications to make certain appropriate procedures and applications.
• Supervision of all works and monitors staff duties and operations at site.
• Keeping well communication with stakeholders of project; Project Architects, consultant, sub contractors and client.
• Preparing schedule for purchase of materials and equipments.
• Ensure that the project is completed by the committed time within the planned budget.
• Preparation of defect list or snags list and involve with handing over process.

The Quantity Surveyor

Pre Contract stage

• Elemental Cost Estimate
• Measurements
• Bill Of Quantity Preparation
• Tender Document Preparation
• Analyzing
• Estimating and Tendering
• Tender Evaluation
• Tender Clarification Meetings
• Negotiation Meetings

Post Contract stage

• Kick of Meeting
• Progress on Site
• Variation Order Calculations
• Variation Order negotiation
• Payment Certifications
• Financial Statements
• Final Accounts

The Construction Project Manager

• Prepare master program to the overall project and agree with the employer.
• Appointing consultants and contractors by tendering.
• Financial advice to the employer and cost control.
• Coordinating all parties and gets the work done.
• Risk, quality, time, scope & cost management.
• Communication & negotiations.
• Complete and handover the project to the agreed master program.

In this report discussed about few professionals, moreover there are other professionals are involved with construction industry, some of them are very important and their activities are required to complete the project satisfactorily. They are Land surveyors, geological surveyors, Draftsmen, Human Resources managers, Clerk of works, Business and legal advisors.

Furthermore, need to be discussed in brief about Professional Organizations having relationship with the Professionals.

The Constructions professional’s organizations

What is Professional organization?

Professional organizations usually give comprehensive betterment to the professionals such as, initial professional development and also being a member in an institution as free education and training, attending to conference and seminars, network opportunities and get privilege to use on line recourses,

Hence some professional organizations are especially vital to the construction industry, for example; Professionals are licentiated as RICS, CIOB, RIBA, AIQS, SLIQS, and IESL etc. as a result of this, professionals can develop their knowledge and make improvement the level of professionalism appropriately.

The role of professional organizations in the construction industry

In general, here with discussed about common roles briefly,

• Maintain the standards of the professions in the construction industry
• Maintain superlative knowledge (Training, Seminars, CPD, PDP)
• Develop professional education to respond to changing environment to meet current and future operation needs.
• Improve services to members and up-grading services in industry.
• Encouraging of sustainable constructions
• Publishing books, magazines and other publications to develop the knowledge of members.
• Maintain and improve the quality of the built environment.

The Benefits of Joining with Professional institutions

The Construction professional institutions provide most important benefits for the professionals’ body to improve their professionalism actively. The few benefits of professional institutes are given below;

• Possible to expand the professional network
• Consistent updates on current industry trends and developments.
• A chance to increase awareness of work place.
• Can be discovered other companies activities.
• A chance to use monthly, quarterly, and annual newsletters. magazines
• Have particular strategies for attending the meeting
• An opportunity to joint with CPD, professional development plan
• Volunteer to join a committee within the association.
• Follow up with your new contacts.

Annual membership fee of most reputed professional institutes are very high, however some companies provide institutes membership fee and training expenditures according to the requirement of the employers at that time.

Further studying the benefits and specific roles of professional institutes, conclusively following table will shows function different of few institutes. (Refer to Table 01)

Organization’s Roles, Functions

Professionals liability in Constructions

Generally professional’s liabilities are the legal obligation with professional’s errors, negligence or omissions during the course of practice of work. Hence there are few identified key professional’s liabilities in construction industry, those are as follows;

• Design errors, for instance; methods, means of construction drawings
• Construction inspection, Quality control and quality assurance
• Contractual liability from a sub contract design entity
• Health and safety of site
• Coordination and scheduling

Normally at the design and management phases of project, effect of professionals liabilities are high than other phases, Above identified liabilities in construction professionals, further required to protect them using Construction insurance and policies. Those are as follows;

Workman’s Compensation policy (will cover liability of an employer for employment, injured, payment of Compensation etc.))

Contractors risk insurance (cover damage of property, liability of third party claims for injure or death, material and machinery damage)

Professional liability insurance (All design firms, professional services, contractor and constructions manger)

The role of Constructions related business organizations

The business related organizations provide collaboration of professionals to share with their knowledge and experience. Hence, Professionals are able to use organization resources to success of their projects, some of them are significantly important to constructions industry, such as; reference of FIDIC in international, reference of ICTAD in Sri Lanka and also reference of Business Enterprise & Regulatory Reform (BERR) in the United Kingdom

Following are the key roles of business related organizations;

• Maintain standards in the industry
• Provide recourse as and when needed
• Strengthen the economic performance
• Increase peoples understanding
• Create conditions for business success
• Raise levels of productivity
• Help produce professionals in the industry and maintain standards
• Help with research work/ training and CPD
• Helps maintain connection with world wide

By these major key roles can identify which contain their relationship with construction industry clearly. Therefore those functions significantly influence the success of projects in construction industry actively.

CONCLUSION/RECOMMENDATIONS

This study make following conclusion finally, certainly, particular employer’s aptitudes can be performed within special characteristics and attributes accompanied with professionalism such as, Ethics & Qualification, Skill, Experience, Communication Skills, Initiative. These are vital facts for improve of the professionalism in construction industry.