Excerpts

The principal objective of this book is to provide those of us who are active in the construction industry with a single source of information that will help address the responsibilities and risks that we are likely to encounter. The book not only introduces students, design professionals, project managers, and owners to the special problems of construction, but also serves as a ready reference to experienced contract administrators and construction engineers as well. The first edition was addressed to students of construction management, on-site representatives, engineers, and inspectors to provide them with a ready source of information in preparing for the responsibilities they could expect to confront on modern construction projects. However, during the many seminars held by the author throughout the United States, Guam, Canada, Jamaica, and Mexico, and in the courses he teaches for the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Transportation Studies; University of Washington, Seattle, Engineering Professional Programs; and the American Society of Civil Engineers, it became evident that the project managers, contract administrators, and other management personnel who worked with or exercised control over the on-site project representatives had special problems that also needed to be addressed if the project team concept was to be realized. Thus, the concept for the second edition was born: to bring together the office and field personnel and present them with a workable system for operating as an effective construction team. The third edition continued the concept of developing the project team approach, with the added consideration of claims avoidance methods to reduce claims losses. Each member of the project team needed to become intimately familiar with the principles of construction project administration. It was toward this end that the author strove to meet the particular needs of the project team in today's changing construction environment. A considerable amount of new material was added, and some of the chapters were reorganized for a more logical flow of information. Later editions provided the updating necessary to remain current with state-of-the-art techniques in construction and to add new material, including references to AIA, EJCDC, and FIDIC documents, so that the book can literally become a single source for most construction-phase activities. As a part of the continuing effort to stay abreast of the state of the art of the construction industry, and in recognition of the federal declaration to make the metric system (SI) the basic system of measurement in the United States and that federal agencies be required to use it exclusively, the fifth edition was updated to emphasize its-use and included supplementary information to assist civil and construction engineers in utilizing metric (SI) civil engineering units in construction. In addition, all of the original material was reviewed and updated, the subject of partnering was addressed, and the index was made more user friendly. The author is grateful to the many contributions made through the years since this book was first published. Contributors to previous editions included Julius (Jim) Calhoun, Esq., Asst. General Counsel for Montgomery-Watson in Pasadena, CA (ret.); Gary L. McFarland, PE, and Charles H. Lawrance, PE, President and Vice-President, respectively, of Lawrance, Fisk, & McFarland, Inc., of Santa Barbara, CA; Wendell Rigby, PE, former Senior Civil Engineer of the City of Thousand Oaks, CA; Harold Good, CPPO, Procurement Manager of the City of Palm Springs, CA; Albert Rodriguez, CPCU, ARM, President, Rodriguez Consulting Group, Inc., Jacksonville, FL; Robert Rubin, Esq., PE, of Postner & Rubin, Attorneys at Law, New York, NY; Joseph Litvin, Esq., PE, Attorney at Law, Dayton, OH; Arthur Schwartz, Esq., General Counsel for the National Society of Professional Engineers, Alexandria, VA; Robert Smith, Esq., PE, of Wickwire Gavin, PC of Madison, WI, General Counsel for the Engineers Joint Contract Documents Committee (EJCDC); and the members of the EJCDC whose contributions to the tools of the contract administrator are without equal. The author extends his particular thanks and appreciation to Prof. David Bilbo, Texas A&M University; Prof. Randy Rapp, PE, CCE, of Southern Illinois University; and Prof. Wayne Reynolds, Eastern Kentucky University, for their careful, thorough review, corrections, and suggestions; to Donald Scarborough, President of Forward Associates, Ltd., of Novato, CA, for his valuable contributions to the updated chapters on CPM scheduling; to William W. Gurry, President of Wm. Gurry & Associates, Atlanta, GA, for his contributions on design-build contracts; and to the Associated General Contractors of America for their input on the concept of partnering. Special thanks and appreciation is offered to my daughter, Jacqueline, and to her son, John Stamp, PhD, who did most of the indexing for the sixth edition. Thanks also to my son, Edward, who provided all of the computer expertise, both editorially and in a support capacity, for the last three editions of this book. Excerpted from Construction Project Administration by Ed Fisk, Wayne Reynolds All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.