Project & Construction Management
D’Huy Engineering, Inc.’s project and construction management services adopt a client-driven approach that ensures and implements the best solution possible for every project. The entire project management process is based on keeping the client informed and in control at all times. The DEI team’s superior technical expertise and decades of practical experience provides a unique combination of personnel that are trained to manage and guide preliminary conceptual planning, schematic design, budget preparation, final design, and construction of projects.
Our attention to detail provides Owners with a system based value engineering approach that delivers best value to the project. The attention to detail and focus on providing complete documentation results in reduced liability and clear, concise, complete bidding documents which translate into project savings beginning with the competitive bidding process.
The integration of our experienced construction experts and the involvement of design professionals in the value engineering and constructability review process during the design and construction phase results in successful projects.
There are six main priorities that we focus on to facilitate the success of your project:
Truly understanding your goals, aspirations and constraints is crucial for a successful project. DEI will invest the time up front to fully develop your program requirements and then apply our expertise to deliver a project that exceeds your expectations. As we say, we begin with the end in mind. Throughout the project, DEI will engage stakeholders and revisit the program requirements to determine how well the established criteria are being met and whether any adjustments need to be made.
2. Budget Requirements & Best Value
Adhering to budgets and delivering value are hallmarks of best-in-class project management. DEI will prepare system by system budgets based on our experience to create realistic expectations and establish budget accountability. Throughout the project we will apply our Value Engineering approach to identify and implement solutions that provide the best value for each building system.
3. Quality
To be effective, quality must be achieved in both the design and construction phases of a project. Led by our systematic constructability reviews, DEI has developed a methodical process to guide quality control throughout the delivery of every capital project. This process provides each Owner with durable, maintainable and energy-efficient solutions that meet construction budget and life-cycle cost requirements.
4. Safety
A goal for every construction project must be getting everyone home safe to their family every day. Especially for renovations, our approach is to treat every site as an occupied facility first and construction site second. Critical to this approach is the preparation of detailed phasing plans to identify the separation of construction zones and provide step-by-step sequencing with milestone dates for accountability.
5. Schedule
DEI will drive the project by developing an integrated, comprehensive and realistic project schedule for design and construction. The schedule will clearly define responsibilities, action items and milestones, assigning them to specific team members. In construction, we will develop milestone schedules that integrate the project phasing plan so that each contractor has enforceable, contractual obligations for key site and building activities.
6. Risk & Liability Reduction
DEI continually manages risk and liability reduction by ensuring clear documentation, preparing sound front end specifications, defining project responsibilities and schedule milestones and then pro-actively monitoring the work. By reducing conflicts and ambiguities we reduce the potential for change orders during construction. The result is a set of bid documents that attracts bidding competition and achieves project savings.
D’Huy Engineering Inc. has a philosophy of “planning the work and working the plan”. We know that our “beginning with the end in mind” approach ensures that the Owner’s criteria will be met. The proper planning of any project begins with the preparation of milestone and critical path methodology scheduling, detailed systems budgets, ongoing value engineering and constructability reviews. Our staff’s diligent management of these tools is what leads to the success of any size project that we undertake.
Project budgeting is performed by breaking the project down into individual building systems early on. The systems are then budgeted by verifying current pricing and comparing them against our database. This detailed system budget allows the designers and clients to prioritize items that may impact the budget and to develop value engineering strategies during the early stages of the project.
At DEI, budgeting is a continuous process of refining, educating all team members and validating project costs throughout all phases of the project. Our track record in meeting project budgets substantiates that there is no substitute for the experience DEI brings to the table.
We understand the complexities involved with timely project completion, while maintaining a high degree of quality and value for our clients. Our Project Planning and Budget Preparation services ensure the project is completed on time and on budget. Equally as important is that it meets the Owner’s parameters and criteria, maximizes operational efficiencies, and maximizes the principles of cost versus quantity and quality through a detailed value engineering process.
Our professional staff of Value Specialists recognize that value engineering is project specific and in its purest form, is the ability to provide strategies, designs or solutions that provide a better product for the same or less cost. With this as the basis for our value engineering, we provide opportunities for savings that reduce the overall building life cycle cost without changing the building’s function or design while staying within client’s budget.
D’Huy Engineering Inc. believes that the planning and early design phases provide the greatest opportunities to positively affect the outcome of a project. The key to meeting the Owner’s project budget comes from our experienced value specialists performing constructability reviews, holding value engineering workshops and providing continuous design and cost reviews. This information is recorded and shared with the Owner and design team to ensure its proper implementation. We continuously focus on the project schedule and cost estimate to make certain the project goals are achievable.
Our processes ensure that the design documents are clear and provide the Owner with the desired project features and quality, at a reasonable cost.
The purpose of customizing bidding and contract documents to the Owner’s and project’s needs is critical to protecting the Owner’s interests and reducing liability. Bidding management, strategies and oversight help engage a qualified pool of contractors that will deliver the most reliable and accurate bids, while building the project within the project parameters.
Our communication, accountability and documentation processes have proved invaluable in supporting expert testimony of construction claim issues. Our technical expertise, experience, reputation and passion for meeting or exceeding a client’s expectations are at the heart of our ability to provide excellent litigation support when needed.
DEI’s knowledge of building systems, experience as facility engineers and forensic engineering expertise provides us with a unique combination of skills suited to ensure that the building or system performs in accordance with the design intent and the Owner’s operational needs.
The project database is available to all stakeholders with internet access and is archived to a CD at the end of the project for the Owner. This collaborative database increases the quality and timeliness of communication and documentation, and holds all stakeholders accountable thereby improving and delivering project success.
This web-based project management system is an important and valuable resource for our clients. It provides them with a source of historical and archived information for future reference.