The Emerging Prevelence of Early Contractor Involvement

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Introduction
Conventional Civil and Building projects in the construction industry use a number of traditional, popular and familiar forms of contracts. These have a good track record in meeting time, cost and quality requirements for straightforward projects; however, they are unlikely to meet the timeframes and budget constraints expected by Governments when undertaking complex and high risk projects were the scope of the work is not yet defined (Ma & Xin).
Insufficient or poor quality design documentation is often the cause for construction overruns and cost blowouts, creating claims for variations and omissions. (Pullen) All too often, the building site becomes a hostile environment to do business. This is in no small way, due to the fact that the main contractor, with the buildability knowledge, is not invited to participate until after the design is finalised.( ) His expertise is unable to influence the designs evolution early in the peace, were it can save time and money.
In the USA, Europe and more recently Australia, a new form of construction procurement strategy called ECI (EARLY CONTRACTOR INVOLVEMENT), is becoming the contract of choice with Governments ,because they reduce the projects duration, promotes innovation, facilitate value management and value engineering, while minimising disputes (Nichols, 2007). Its popularity stems from the fact that it can deliver complex and high risk projects, within time and budget constraints, with reduced risk and at affordable costs. The UK and Australian models of ECI are chosen here for comparison, to highlight their diversity as well as similarities in operation and results. ECI’s are relatively new, but are making a favourable impact within the industry.
The Importance of a ...

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...roject’s design and planning from its inception, the stage 1 contractor has a distinct advantage over his competitors to best price the projects effectively.
As mentioned, the parties ‘buy’ into the projects development and success, as this becomes the engine room for innovation. As only one design is prepared and all the resources of the team are channelled towards this end, this is an extremely cost effective measure, and saves valuable time.With the margin ring-fenced, the builder can feel part of the team. The client, designers and builder can now effectively collaborate in a shared risk arrangement, to achieve the projects objectives, and produce a realistic Cost Target. The builder’s extensive expertise is employed to identify and mitigate risks, simplify design buildability, and contribute to better planning in achieving the projects goals. (Mosey, 2009).

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