Managing and Controlling Cost of Design

Introduction

Unnecessary costs do exist in both private and public organizations due to many factors such as lack of information, lack of ideas, honest but wrong beliefs, habit and attitudes, changes in owner requirements, lack of communication, ignorance and outdated or unsuitable standards, codes and specifications. These factors act as roadblocks to getting the right value.

The best way to overcome these roadblocks is by using Value Engineering approach. Value Engineering (VE) is a methodology that is well accepted and has an impressive history of improving value through customizing quality and optimizing Life Cycle Cost (LCC). VE is an organized process that has been effectively used by a wide range of companies and establishments to achieve their continuous goals. The success of the VE process is due to its ability to identify opportunities to remove unnecessary costs while assuring quality, reliability, performance and other critical factors that meet or exceed customers’ expectations.

VE can improve decision-making that leads to optimal expenditure of owner funds while meeting required function and quality level. VE is a methodology that comprises of many useful techniques that create change on purpose rather than letting change happen accidentally. The Proposed Program will provide the cost estimating background needed for developing realistic costs on a wide variety of projects to ensure profitability of the project.

Course Objectives

Upon completion of the Program, the participants will be able to:

Determine and apply value engineering into the projects
Develop a systematic approach to avoid unnecessary costs
Know which estimating approaches are appropriate for different construction delivery systems ( design-build, lump sum, unit price, guaranteed maximum price )
Know the components and potential impact of conducting a Value Engineering Analysis
Know the impact of life cycle costing on estimating and pricing change orders