Engineering Profession Act, 2000 (Act No. 46 of 2000)Board NoticesGuideline Scope of Services and Professional FeesScope of Services and Tariff of Fees for Persons Registered in terms of the Act3. Guideline Scope of Services3.3 Additional Services3.3.2 Construction monitoring |
Quality assurance during construction refers to the engineering activities that are implemented to reduce the risk of non-conformance of the construction processes. This is achieved through a combination of the quality control processes that are put in place by the contractor (who carries the ultimate responsibility for quality and conformance to the contract) in order to control its outputs, and the inspection and acceptance testing that is carried out by the consulting engineer to confirm conformance prior to certification. This means that the client and consulting engineer must agree a satisfactory arrangement in respect of construction monitoring that suits the type of work, the project location and the duration of the critical aspects of the works. Any decision regarding the required level of construction monitoring should not be taken lightly and the parties should carefully consider the consequences of non-compliance and related responsibilities, bearing in mind that the consulting engineer has a duty of care, while the client should aim to reduce risk, ensure quality, and minimise life-cycle costs.
The level of construction monitoring and the frequency and duration of the site visits must be agreed with the client prior to commencement of the works and recorded in the Agreement. The level of construction monitoring and activities related to the quality assurance plan may change during the course of the works to reduce quality related risks. This will require an amendment of the Agreement.
Aspects that need to be considered when determining the degree to which additional construction monitoring services are required are:
| (a) | the type of work |
| (b) | the discipline of the work (civil, structural, mechanical, electrical etc) |
| (c) | the competency of the contractor and its related quality control system |
| (d) | the speed with which critical elements of the work are covered up |
| (e) | the consequences of non-compliance |
| (f) | the timing and ease of subsequent detection and rectification of non-compliance. |
Arising from the above, three levels of construction monitoring may be defined and described as follows:
| 1. | Level 1: Periodic Construction Monitoring |
The consulting engineer’s staff must:
| (a) | subject to the note below, visit the works at a frequency agreed with the client or at an on-call basis at a notice time agreed with the contractor and the client, with extra visits for works completion inspections, provision of design/technical clarifications and inspections for works defects lists. The frequency and duration of site visits must be agreed in writing between the client and between the client and the consulting engineer prior to commencement of the services |
| (b) | review random samples of material and work procedures, for conformity to contract documentation, and review random samples of important completed work prior to covering up where possible, or on completion, as appropriate. |
Note: Visits at an average frequency of one visit every two weeks over the duration of the project are part of the normal services and no additional payments are applicable. Where Level 1 construction monitoring is applied on a project and, for reasons beyond the control of the consulting engineer, additional site visits in excess of the frequency initially agreed with the client or are on-call basis, these must be undertaken by the consulting engineer after agreement with the client and will be regarded as an additional service for which payment must be made in accordance with clause 4.3.2.
Level 1 construction monitoring is considered to be a basic level of service and is only suitable for the most simple, routine projects where regular inspections are not required. The client carries the risk associated with Level 1 construction monitoring because the consulting engineer is often unable to witness or inspect work prior to its being covered up and is not liable for hidden defects. On any project where a significant portion of the work is rapidly covered, such as projects involving underground services and building projects like secondary healthcare, tourism and leisure, industrial, commercial, retail and office buildings with complex electrical and mechanical works, Level 2 or Level 3 construction monitoring is required to offset risks.
| 2. | Level 2: Part-time Construction Monitoring |
The consulting engineer’s staff, or part-time construction monitoring staff must:
| (a) | regularly visit the site at a frequency that may vary during the course of the project, and such visits may be daily or weekly, according to the project demands. The frequency and duration of site visits must be agreed in writing between the client and the consulting engineer prior to commencement of the services |
| (b) | review regular samples of materials and work procedures, for conformity to contract documentation, provide design/technical clarifications where required and review regular samples of important completed work prior to covering up, or on completion, as appropriate |
| (c) | where the consulting engineer is the sole professional service provider or principal agent, carry out such administration of the project as is necessary on behalf of the client. |
Level 2 Construction Monitoring is an additional service for which the consulting engineer must be paid as described in clause 4.3.2(2).
Most engineering work typically requires at least Level 2 monitoring to enable the engineer to inspect work prior to it being covered up. Examples may include witnessing material and equipment preparation, the position of reinforcing steel and services such as electrical conduits and sleeves prior to pouring concrete, underground installations or installations above false ceilings, in walls, under floors, etc. The consulting engineer may also require acceptance inspection and testing of various elements on a regular basis depending on the quality controls instituted by the contractor as part of the quality assurance plan.
Level 2 construction monitoring does not allow for a full-time presence on site and as a result the consulting engineer and construction monitoring staff are unable to witness/inspect all work prior to its being covered up.
| 3. | Level 3: Full-time Construction Monitoring |
The full-time construction monitoring staff must:
| (a) | maintain a full-time presence on site to constantly review samples of materials and work procedures, for conformity to contract documentation, provide design/ technical clarifications and review completed work prior to covering up, or on completion, as appropriate |
| (b) | assist with the compilation of Record and/or As-built records and drawings to the extent required in the agreement with the client |
| (c) | where the consulting engineer is the sole professional service provider or principal agent, carry out such administration of the project as is necessary on behalf of the client |
Level 3 Construction Monitoring is an additional service for which the consulting engineer must be paid as described in clause 4.3.2(1).
In the case of most civil works where all materials and elements are generally regarded as being critical, and are covered on a daily basis, work is monitored on a continuous basis for the duration of the works and Level 3 monitoring usually applies. This level is also applied to the structural works that are included in such projects.
In some instances, staff members are made available by the client to assist in construction monitoring, in which cases, these persons should report to, and take instructions from, the consulting engineer or an authorised representative of the consulting engineer to avoid mixed messages being passed to the contractor.