CE 14
1.1
The Construction Processes
- Initiated when a person or organization,
which may be public or private, decides
to improve the land with permanent or
semipermanent additions
Owner
- The initiator of a construction project
- Has a need, as the required financing, to
complete the process.
Private organizations
- May obtain the necessary funds through
construction loans and mortgages
Government
- May use tax revenues and bonds as well
as user fees to fund construction projects
Working drawings
- The architect or the engineer prepares
plans, showing details and how the
completed project will look
Specification
- The specific details related to the
materials are covered
The documents explain in great details:
● What materials to use
● The characteristics of materials
● What methods of inspection
● Testing the owner's representative
Will use to evaluate the selected materials
TWO MOST COMMON CONTRACT
1. Lump Sum System
- Estimate and subsequent bid requires the
contractor to estimate all of the material
quantities, installation, labor and
equipment cost to complete the project.
- Usually associated with building
construction projects
2. Unit Price System
- Typically uses with public highways
construction
- Owner supplies all of the quantities to
the contractor in the bid documents
- Contractor calculates cost factors for
each material quantity unit, overhead
and profit values
Unit Price Contracts
- Make provisions for quantity changes,
because the contractor will have based
the bid price on the owner’s estimate of
material quantities
- “If large changes occur on estimated
quantities, the contractor loses money on
decreases and makes more money on
increases”
General conditions
- Set of guidelines developed by the
design and construction communities to
ensure fair practices
Construction Delivery System
- Selected requires the contractor to
deliver to the owner a completed project
on time as scheduled, within budget, and
at the specified quality levels.
Basic materials such as:
● Wood
● Asphalt
● Stone as plywood sheets
● Cast iron pipes
● Concrete masonry units (CMUs)
Must all be specified under SPECIFICATION
SECTIONS under the GENERAL
CONDITIONS OF THE CONTRACT
An assembly is either
 1. Shop assembled - fully built at the
factory
2. Jobsite assembled - partially completed
in the factory and assembled in the field
Inspectors
- Are present at the jobsite to inspect the
work in progress and perform field tests
as part of construction supervision.
Laboratory testing and field testing
- May be performed by an independent
testing laboratory.
- Testing laboratory reports whether or
not materials comply with specifications
Suppliers or Vendors
- Those who supply materials and
partially or fully assembled components
to be used in construction
- Manufacturers, quarries, sawmills, etc.
THE CONSTRUCTION PROCESS
1. Digital Mock Up
2. Design Review
3. Progress Simulation
4. Project Management
5. Facility Management
1.2 MATERIAL SELECTION
Materials Engineer
- Responsible for selection of all
construction materials
Original cost and maintenance expense must be
weighed together against useful life expectancy.
However, expensive material may be expensive
to maintain.
LIFE CYCLE COST ANALYSIS
1. Analysis of the Problem
2. Comparison of available materials or
products
3. Design or selection of type of material,
size, shape, finish, method, etc.
MATERIAL PROPERTIES
Thermal Expansion
- In order to predict amounts of expansion
and contraction to be expected, a
coefficient of expansion is determined for
each material
Strength and Stresses
● Dead Loads
- Include the weight of the structural
elements as well as permanent
equipment (boilers, air conditioning
units)
● Live Loads
- Imposed loads which may or may not be
present (occupants, furniture, wind,
earthquake, etc)
● Strength of a material
- Ability to resist a force
- Ability depends on the size and shape
“An object with a large area is able to resist
more force than an object of the same material
but with a smaller resisting area”
Elasticity and Plasticity of Materials
● Elasticity
- Property of a material that enables it to
return to its original size and shape after
a force is removed
● Plasticity
- Property that enables a material changed
in size or shape by a force to retain the
 new size and shape when the force is
removed
Inspection and Testing
● Inspection
- Examining a product or observing on
operation to determine whether or not it
is satisfactory
● A test
- Consist of applying some measurable
influence to the material and measuring
the effect on the material
INDUSTRY STANDARD
● American Society for Testing and
Materials (ASTM)
● American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)
● DPWH Standard Specifications Volume
1, 2, 3
● DTI - Philippine National Standards

Quality control vs Quality assurance

● Quality control
- "part of quality management focused on
fulfilling quality requirements."
- Focus on identification of defects
- Reactive process
- Product based Approach
- Verify Quality
- Endure that the product meets the
required quality standards
- Corrective tool
Ex. inspection, deliverable peer reviews and the
software testing process

● Quality assurance
- relates to how a process is performed or
how a product is made
- Focus on the prevention of defects
- Proactive process
- Process-based approach
- Manages Quality
- Ensures the safety and quality of the
product
- Managerial Tool
Ex. process checklists, process standards,
process documentation and project audit.