Cursed By Knowing The Numbers

Louis Sullivan's principle  "Form follows function" has been the battle cry for many of my architect friends and a way of understanding what needs to be done to our built environment.  Over dinner the other week, we were getting comfortable with a new paradigm--one that is becoming more and more apparent every day--Form follows Energy.

California is the 12th largest emitter of greenhouse gases in the world--the second largest user of transportation fuels--and the largest user if you look at it on a per capita basis.  If you are looking at the problem through a greenhouse gas lens, our problems are sprawl development, and a very high percentage of car use.

My focus here is whether building form is influenced, or follows, energy demand--I'm going to leave the car problem to the smarter folks.

My basic thesis is that we will not conserve our way out of the problem--we need to develop for a world where energy is expensive.  This will get the numbers working in the right direction, and then focus on delivering clean, cheap power as part of the solution.  Why isn't conservation the answer?  This is what happens when energy is cheap:

Every new home we add, every new apartment we build, every new office building developed--increases the demand for energy.  If we are generating electricity from carbon based fuels, it increases the carbon loading of the atmosphere.

The average Californian requires about 7,500 kWh per year:

This is a little more than half of the national average, but we add 400,000 people per year in population.  Part of the reason why our usage is so low is that we are blessed with a wonderful Mediterranean climate in our coastal regions.  The problem is that the majority of these new arrivals will live in the interior of the state, where the summer heat is intense, and AC loads drive a "peaky" electrical demand curve.  And no one wants a new power plant next to them.

Every new office building requires about 13 kWh per square foot per year to operate when fully occupied.

New data centers are being designed at 400 watts per square foot or 1600 kWh/SF/yr, more than 100 times your typical commercial office building.  And data center demands are increasing, not decreasing as Google, Netflix, and Amazon becoming a more familiar part of our lives.

The value of the asset we create is diminished by the energy costs necessary to operate it, and augmented by its value to its occupants.

Our demand for power is becoming increasingly "peak-y" due to building more in the Central Valley--peak demand is very sensitive to temperature variations:

The rising cost of petroleum and natural gas as a feedstock increases awareness of how much, and what type, of energy is used, in our daily activities.  Understanding energy flows can, and should, inform the design of our built environment. 

How do I practice Form follows Energy development?

The most basic form of energy is the sun--so Form flows with the Sun--

Start by understanding the energy flows of the site.   reflected in what is needed to be captured, deflected, or redirected.  Think daylighting, cross ventilation, night flushing, pre-chilling, and thermal cycling.

Intervening--reflecting, redirecting, and catching the energy flows.  Think shades, reflective roofs, and occupancy patterns.

Harvesting--solar electric--photovoltaics, and solar thermal--solar hot water and adsorptive chillers for air conditioning.  Harvesting on an inefficient building is a dumb idea--like trying to row a leaky boat.  Do you row faster, or fix the leak?

Methinks the answer is:

• more compact development patterns--ULI is already looking at this,
• net zero energy buildings--CPUC wants all new residential at net zero by 2020 and commercial by 2030,
• a revolution in how we fuel transportation,
• distributed electricity generation--think smart grid, solar, and wind, and
• a fuel tax/carbon tax/credit process to motivate us to do the right thing.

Creating incentives, building awareness, putting a cost to using energy unnecessarily.  This is a "wetware" problem--the people, economics, and politics--putting the skills to work.  We have won the hearts and minds, now we need to execute. 

Form following energy, indeed.

Posted by Ted at 3:54 PM | Permalink

Sometimes it helps to take a step back and get the bigger picture...

The CPUC came out last Friday recommending that all new residential buildings developed after 2020 be net zero energy.

Time to get to work...

Posted by Ted at 9:37 AM | Permalink

..of global climate change is human activity, particularly the burning of fossil fuels such as oil and coal.  So says the IPCC's summary, published last Saturday.

Well, we can't exactly build our way out of it, but how we build, and where we build will have a lot to do with the changes afoot.  The built environment can be a significant part of the solution--one of the largest opportunities embedded within the climate change crisis.

The IPCC Fourth Assessment Report is out.  Rising temperatures, rising sea levels [the area in light blue is what is likely to be under water in the Bay Area], and long term changes already well underway are described within the report.

We need a new way of valuing what we develop, and where.  The good news is that, after transportation, changes in our built environment have the greatest mitigation potential on climate change.

Where do you start?  Ask yourself if you are building the right thing in the right place.  Ask yourself if you are building it to thrive in a high cost energy world.  And start being the change...

Posted by Ted at 10:22 AM | Permalink

The fall Urban Land Institute conference is a good way to get a gut check on the health of the real estate industry.

The impending green wave, coupled with cap rate expansion, gave me the distinct impression that the crowd was bifurcated into two groups--heretics and dinosaurs. 

Participants were either expounding the benefits of a greener planet--and acting dumbfounded why everyone else didn't see it, or you were thinking green--and LEED in particular--is a racket conjured up by a bunch of consultants.

What a lot of people didn't seem to see was that green offers a new way to crush an opponent when your asset is developed, operated, and positioned ethically and theirs isn't.

I mentioned to a couple of young Columbia MSRED students that I find the real estate industry is often the last group to realize an impending inflection point--too focused on making a cheaper buggy whip.  What an amazing opportunity for professionals just starting their careers. 

What is it going to take for the rest of us to get it?

Posted by Ted at 2:01 PM | Permalink

The AIA form of construction contract entitles an Owner to a "competent superintendent" supervising the work under contract.  This relatively passive role allows you to check the outcome, but not who is supervising the improvements.   I was reminded of this when a friend called the other day who was concerned about what he felt to be the lack of supervision on his project.  He asked me what could be done.

Our conversation went back to basic principles.  The most important thing on the job is safe, quality construction.  The next most important element is how you define what the final product is, so you can tell if what you are getting is what you contracted for.  The third most important element is paying promptly for what you contracted for.

Supervision falls under a contractor's right to determine its means and methods of producing what you contracted for.  Specifying who, or what constitutes competent supervision is either done in division one of the project manual, by change ordering in supervisory requirements if they are not in the project manual, or by rejecting work that has not met contracting requirements.

What are the signs of competent supervision?  A clean job site.  Tradesmen with the proper safety equipment.  A schedule on the job trailer wall that is current.  A team that understands the critical path and what the next three tasks are.  Organized layout and coordination of workflows.  And communicating with the Owner where you are in construction. 

Posted by Ted at 6:46 PM | Permalink

 are a bass-ackwards way of controlling time to complete on construction projects.  Was reminded of this pet peeve this morning when a past client emailed with news that only one bid was received on a project in San Francisco--his take was that it was due to an onerous liquidated damages ["LD"] provision in the bid documents.

I will be the first to admit that clients like LD's as a stick to get performance.  The problem is that this tool comes into play too late, and delays are often well documented from the contractor's side.  The truth of the matter is that LD provisions are largely ineffective, and if you are planning on using one, you need to double the amount of legal work you have budgeted for your project.

The solution?  Know the direction your team is moving in.  Manage your milestones. Do you know what your next three milestones are?  Know the numbers behind your schedules.  And work through changes very carefully.

Most contractors I have had the pleasure of working with think LD's are capriciously assessed, and more a way to run up attorney's fees than get quality construction.  I tend to leave LD provisions out of my contracts, but get very well written schedule reporting and recovery language into all my contracts--tied with progress payments.  Catch the team vectoring off course early, and correct the course at that time.  Recovery is the name of the game--get a good schedule and stay on top of it.

An ounce of prevention is worth way more than an onerous LD provision. 

Posted by Ted at 6:26 AM | Permalink

...where they are not supposed to be are three things that drive owners crazy.

Speaking of squeaks, There is a great article in today's NYTT about the importance of acoustically conditioning a home.  Overkill is my approach during construction.  It is much more cost effective to deploy more rock, more insulation and acoustically isolate drain lines at this time than to try and fix it later.

The cost to do a reasonably good soundproofing job adds anywhere from $3 to $20PSF, but the qualitative difference is well worth it.

My secrets?

• Sheetrock/resilient channel/QuietRock is by far the most effective material to acoustically condition a space.
• Steel studs lessen the mass of a wall, making this an option for interior framing.
• Acoustiblok is a mass loaded vinyl product that is installed over the framing and behind the sheetrock.  Installer error is an issue here, make sure; one, the installer knows what they are doing, and two, you inspect the penetrations (outlets, switches, recessed lighting) before surfaces are rocked.
• Windows are a big source of flanking noise, make sure you, or your builder or architect, understands the STC characteristics when evaluating your window options.

And when I really need a room to be quiet, I call Charlie.

Posted by Ted at 12:50 PM | Permalink

I have been producing architecturally significant homes for ten years now.  Along the way, I have learned a few things that the pros use that can really make a difference in your home [and in our own home] that help make waking up in the morning an Insanely Great experience.

Make one or more of these part of your New Year's resolutions:

  Buy and have handy a copy of Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language.  It formalizes many of the spatial relationships into a grammar for great residential design.  It is a book you can jump in and out of when you are looking for "how to say" a solution to a site, a problem, or a requirement.

Install a Skylight in your Bathroom.

Install Dimmers on all dimmable Circuits.  I like the Lutron Maestro dimmers, about $25 at Home Depot. All your circuits (other than closets or garages) should be dimmable.

No naked bulbs.  You want to see the wash of light, not its source.

Experiment with LED's.  We still need a warm white version in the 3000K range, but we are getting there.

Add a lamp--layer the lighting in the room. Uplights behind furniture act as background lighting at night.

Combine the three types of lighting--ambient or background lighting; task or focused lighting, and mood lighting (candles).

Get paid for being Smart & Green.

Install a Solar Roof Fan.  This lowers the cooling load in the summer.

Check your insurance coverage.  Increasing home values over the past three years may have left you exposed on what is probably your largest asset.

Install a photovoltaic power system to replace the higher tariffs of power.  Look to replace any power that costs you more than $0.20/KWh (>130% of baseline in PG&E territory).

Bring more southern light into your home--windows, clerestories, anything to get more daylight into your home.  Install/Replace a window with one that better captures the light or view.

Find a Better Shower head.

If you are thinking of selling your home, check your property information on Zillow.  If someone knows the property owner's name--a matter of public record--they can post false information about a property because Zillow does not independently verify it.  Zillow says it will ban anyone who posts maliciously from claiming homes in the future, and will respond to owner comments in one day.  False information on Zillow about your property can be one more roadblock to a successful sale.

Posted by Ted at 1:58 PM | Permalink

Here is a recent article that concluded that human relationships are built from four types of interactions.  This got me thinking about land use economics--entitlements, getting uses approved, and why we miss the boat sometimes on leaving things better than we found them. 

The gist of the article is that all human relationships, are built from four  types of human interactions:

• Communal Sharing
• Equality Matching
• Authority Ranking
• Market Pricing.

Too often, I focus on the last in meetings/negotiations and don't fully understand/value the other three building blocks--and the process of entitling a specific land use becomes more difficult because I don't fully understand the other three building blocks of a relationship.

Communal Sharing--of benefits like views, open space, and utility access and traffic impacts.  Malama 'aina, the care and nurture of the land, is a great description of this.  Community.  Oft times we run into trouble when the use we are proposing is less than the value the community places on the current land use.

Equality Matching--restoring balance--mitigating traffic impacts, affordable housing set asides.  Transferable development rights.

Authority Ranking--non-conforming uses.  zoning.  Think San Quentin State Prison.

Market Pricing--investment go/no go decisions.  option payments. value add strategies. Cost of debt, equity.  Terminal Cap Rates.

If you are up to geeking out on this, here is the original study the article was based on--The Inherent Sociability of Homo Sapiens.

Try this metric out on your next meeting--how do you fare on the four elements?

Posted by Ted at 5:22 PM | Permalink

  I have built several pools, and all of them have been headaches.  I don't know if it is the trade contractors, or if my specs are difficult, but I have never made it through the process without a great deal of handholding.

Pools, and water, add magic to a home.  It is one of Legorreta's trademark materials, and no resort home would be the same without a resort pool.

So the headaches, in the end, are worth it.  I have learned a few things along the way.  Here's some of what I know:

Pool Mechanicals

Controllers--I find either the Jandy or the Intellitouch systems work well and both tie into my home automation systems--although I wish they offered an IP based controller.

Install a little meter on the makeup water line.  You will lose roughly 0.5 to 0.75 inch per day from evaporation, any more than that--you have a leak.  7.82 gallons to the cubic foot, or 1 gallon from 200 SF of pool surface area.

 I use the Strantrol system to monitor and maintain pH and HRR.

For oxidizing bacteria, I prefer a bromine system over a chlorinated system, and ozonation for hot tubs. 

The big things to understand are how quickly you need to bring pool temp up, what the turnover is--usually <4 hours for a residential pool, and flow rate and flow rate changes through the different elements [fountains, waterfalls, spa, main drain, infinite edge, etc.)

Infinite edges seem to be a part of all the pools I have done.  The architectural appeal is significant, and the way you can get the layering of different materials at certain vantage points.

Tip:  if you use a floating cover with an infinite edge, you need to reverse the angle on the infinite edge to trap to cover when the cover is closed. 

Rule of thumb, you need 5gal/min flowrate per LF of infinite edge to maintain 0.125" of water over the weir.  Nothing worse than an infinite edge that shows high spots at the weir edge.

Finishes-- your choices are plaster, tile, or a plaster modified with crystals or aggregate such as 3M Quartz, Pebble Sheen or Gem Sheen. 

Plaster is the most economical pool finish and should last 15 to 25 years if the substrate, and the bond to the substrate, were good.  Keep your plaster a light tint.  The bleaching from the pool chemicals that inevitably happens looks worse on a dark colored pool.

If your preference is for a dark color pool, use tile, or a dark aggregate mix-in.   

I used a glass mosaic tile on the pool in these photos, to match the color of the ocean off of Hawaii.

Saving energy is a big concern of pool owners.  When I have the budget, I specify the Hydralux cover from Aquamatic in Gilroy, CA.  95% of the heat is lost through the water surface, and the Hydralux cover is a floating segmented cover that stops a larger percentage of this heat loss.  They also offer a floating solar cover, that allows the irradiance from the sun to pass through this cover and trap it in the pool.  This does not meet spec as a safety cover, so you will still need the fence.

The other way is to install a solar thermal system that loops through the pool pumps.  My rule of thumb is that I get an extra month on either end of the season here in Northern California without using a lot of gas. 

Posted by Ted at 6:59 PM | Permalink

An article in Business Week about Sophisticated Cellars got me thinking about the cellars I put in the homes I produce.  The first book I reach for when scoping the opportunity is How and Why to Build A Wine Cellar.

Why a wine cellar when winemaking techniques have improved to the point where most wines are enjoyable the day you acquire them?  Three reasons-

• it enhances the experience of collecting and appreciating wine;
• it provides an optimal environment for storing expensive, collectible wines--an effective storage solution is a fraction of the cost of the wine being stored;
• it enhances the value of your property.

The first question is capacity.  How many bottles?  Large format bottles?  Other types of storage?

  Second question is the primary and secondary functions of this space.  Long term storage?  Entertaining?  Actually practicing oenology? 

Third question is location.  Putting the cellar underground is the traditional option--great temperature control, away from light--really a highest and best use. Other options are in a detached structure--the more of it underground, the better.

The two enemies of wine are heat and light.  The fundamental job of the cellar is to prevent these two elements from happening to your collection.  It is the cycling of temperatures that prematurely age your wine--wine does not like change.  The other job of the cellar is to impress your wine drinking friends with your collection--which calls for light, and then perhaps a table, and a great racking system.

Temperature--I find that reds age optimally at 50-55d F.  Whites can take about five degrees higher in ambient temperature.  Humidity is not as big an issue, unless you are storing wines for a really long time.  The concrete walls should be enough.

Things to consider--

Diamond shaped bins are a bad idea in earthquake country.  The bottles dislodge too easily during a seismic event.  Minimize these bins in your cellar.

If you are using wine storage units, they can be noisy at night--so be careful where in the home you put them...you don't want to be woken to the sound of the compressor cycling on [again].

Resources:

Designer.  A Marin based Designer.

Racking

Split System Cooling Units.

Packaged units. 

WhisperKool units.

Posted by Ted at 1:56 PM | Permalink

 Was at ULI this last past week, and listening to friends and participants there got me to thinking again about a triple bottom line approach to real estate development.

Majora Carter, in her TED talk last spring, articulated a triple bottom line for her projects. I am sold on this approach to recasting a property's land use, and I believe ULI can do much more in shaping how planners and practitioners understand what "best land use practices" really means. At this point, I need to get beyond the talk--4.9 million hits on Google for Triple Bottom Line--and get to the execution stage.

The question is how this affects my competitiveness--gaining control of sites, raising capital, executing on a plan.  Does including two other elements into the calculus of recasting property make me more competitive?  Or less?

My take on triple bottom line development is its value in perfecting a land use and its entitlements to create positive returns to the community, the environment, and those who build the asset.  The three "bottom lines" are:

1. Environmentally sustainable
2. Community enhancing
3. Rewarding to capital

The components of my projects are:

• Land Use
• Labor Utilization
• Return on Capital
• Quality of Plan and Execution
• Environmental footprint
• Community benefit

My goal is optimizing ROI's achieved from sustainable, community friendly development that have satisfactory returns to us and our investors.   Environmentalists embracing their inner capitalist, developers embracing their inner flower child, and politicos embracing their inner Jefferson Smith.

Environmentally sustainable is where I am seeing the most potential. Awareness of how to build in an efficient manner, how to use technology to produce more more carbon neutral assets, and use of the internet to offset your carbon footprint is becoming an integral part of our project planning. And sustainable technology, thanks to demand being induced in Europe, is really attractive.

Community enhancing is a little more ambiguous, as diverse communities have diverse needs.  Its mostly about seeing the bigger picture, creating crazy-good places where people who just love the area walk everywhere. Daily needs within a couple of blocks.

Posted by Ted at 2:56 PM | Permalink

...makes my job so much easier later on in a project.  And delivering quality is what it is all about, right?

Buy the right site.  Sites are all unique, and offer you unique advantages to meet your program.  If you are building green, you should have plenty of southern exposure (and minimal western exposure) to meet your daylighting and PV requirements.  If view is your priority, the view corridor and your rights to it need to be carefully understood. Cost.  Entitlements. Variances?   What are the trade-offs?   Quantify them.  Have your architect/CM/contractor walk through with you and understand what they see as opportunities/constraints.  What does the site want to be?

Entitlements.  Permits, and what permissions they provide, affect schedule.  We never could have produced Showcase in the time we had to deliver if the permitting hadn't been precisely correct.  Hat tip to Dan Phipps Architects.

Be careful what you ask for.  Rightsize your requirements.  Emergency power sized to cool the house and fire up the spa can get expensive.  Increasing granularity on program and budget allows you to move in sync.  Visions [.pdf] need to be tested, understood, and undertaken by those who will build them.

Design from the Inside Out, Build from the Outside In.  One designer told me that he designs a home from the door jambs out.  Builders start with setting horizontal and vertical control for a site.  At some point, these two vectors intersect.  Quality happens when the glide path of these vectors is understood and integrated.

No Leaks, No Squeaks, No Smells.  The three most significant reasons owners are not happy with their homes is the presence of leaks, sounds that should not be there, and smells that should not be there.  Design to eliminate possibilities of this happening.  Choose materials in a similar manner.  Build well.  Size the HVAC system correctly. 

Understand What you are Building. This goes for Owners as well as Contractors.  I cannot recite the number of times I have been told, "That is Wrong!"  after we have gone through design, reviewed and approved shop drawings, and tried to be as clear about what is being built as possible.  You never catch 'em all, but boy is it a pain in the butt to rip stuff out and pay for it twice.  Fabrication drawings are the way the builder confirms what is meant in schematics, so carefully review them before releasing them for fabrication.

Posted by Ted at 3:30 PM | Permalink

The single most difficult challenge in producing the architecturally significant home is the ongoing check of budget versus scope of work.  Quality construction is best attained by a team that knows what is expected, when it is needed, and that all team members are focused on resolving issues before momentum and equilibrium are affected.

An on-time, on-budget development project flows--it has a tangible equilibrium and momentum to the work.  I maintain this momentum by:

• Establishing real budgets based on historical costs upfront, before commencing design and development work.
• Designing to a budget.
• Recruiting reputable contractors.
• Contracting to a budget.  Contracting with enforceable construction documents adequate to defend the price.
• Resolving any scope changes or unforeseen items against the budget before folding them into the scope of work.
• Reconciling current scope to current budget once per month--Our Cost to Complete.
• Reconciling current work in place momentum against current scope once per month--Our Time to Complete.
• Quick resolution of open issues requiring clarifications or resolution--the HotList.
• Ongoing dialog with planning and building officials.
• Current project information maintained and distributed.

If you must build, there are a lot of us who understand.  The challenges facing you are not really unique, and have been surmounted before.

Keep your eye on the prize, and get started.   Drop me a line if you need a hand, or a positive word.

Posted by Ted at 4:19 PM | Permalink

Change orders present an opportunity to increase profit margins on a job for a contractor.  They provide an Owner a handy tool to accomplish deviations from the originally intended work based on better information, superior materials, or simply understanding the work from a "full scale model" approach.

Equitable adjustment of the construction contract can provide a fair and balanced approach to the need to increase the scope of work without unduly enriching the contractor.  I covered the sources of changes here.

RFI's, or Contractor Requests for Information, are the lead document in identifying issues that are not clearly understandable from the working drawings and specs.  Projects get in trouble when there is a cascade of minor undocumented changes, contractors respond to them and, at some point, start to realize they are over budget.  RFI's are a way of documenting minor changes and understanding the cost, if any, of implementing a requested change.

Changes happen.  Contractors don't get to say "I don't wanna" and Owners have to negotiate for an equitable adjustment to the contract.  Changes can be ordered, and there is no way to compel pricing.

This is what I do to help the team equitably adjust our contracts for changes:

• Original contract shows quantities and unit prices for typical assemblies.  For example, retaining walls are so many $/SF, or $/CY of concrete.  Flat work is one price, structural slabs are another.  Electrical is priced at so many $/fixture.  Adjustments up or down are done from these unit prices.
• Mockups and color samples are called out in the submittals and are used to establish acceptance criteria.
• Shop drawings are contract documents and supercede dimensions on drawings.  Contractor responsible for tying back all these dimensions.
• RFI's are incomplete without the Contractor's recommendation of an on-time, on-budget resolution.
• Owner/Architect needs to understand when complete information is needed to maintain intensity and pace of the work.
• A contingency account is set up to provide for resolution of minor design errors and omissions, unforeseen conditions, and code compliance issues.  The balance in the account at the end of the job is split between the Contractor and Owner, providing a bottom line incentive to the Contractor to achieve faster/better/smarter resolution of these issues.

Posted by Ted at 3:48 PM | Permalink

Built quality is the touchstone of a contractor's operation...at least as far as the Owner is concerned.  Quality is the only element of a project that survives until resale, long after the delays and the value engineering are forgotten.

I define quality in that you get what you inspect, not what you expect--insight provided to me by one of my chief petty officers when I was a wet-behind-the-ears ensign in the US Navy Seabees.

The best way to get a fix on quality is by seeing mockups and samples to provide a real example of what is buildable, and hence approvable. 

The second best way is to find where it was done elsewhere and find out who did it.  Look at what they did, and see how close it is to where you want to end up.  Architect's monographs can be a great source of solutions.  When I'm stuck, sometimes I wander over to Bill Stout's bookstore and look for solutions.

Specs help get you in the general ballpark, but seeing is believing. 

In our world of design once, build once, operate once, I use mockups and samples extensively to get agreement on what it is that we want--how materials meet, finish conditions, trim options.  I usually have a mockups budget to help get us iterating through the finish options to get us where the building needs to be.

Posted by Ted at 3:03 PM | Permalink

One of the most frustrating things to encounter on a jobsite is to find a crew working off an obsolete set of plans, installing assemblies that will have to be torn out.

Managing change is easier when the plan is current, distributed, and accepted by those who will be performing the work.  If you can shave a couple of months off a project through open-door collaboration tools, the savings are real when builder overhead is $30 to $50K per month.

Here is what I need from an online interface...

• Plans are available to all team members in .pdf format.  Architecturals, specs, SK's, OSK's, CSK's with acceptance chain.
• Current milestone schedule is posted, with time to complete tracking against last known, current and if on the critical path.
• Finish schedules.  Fixture Schedules.  Door and Window Schedules.  Hardware Schedules.
• View, markup, upload and download drawings and SK's.
• Time to Complete.
• Hot List, including RFI log.
• Change order tracking log.
• Current Cost to Complete.
• Photo journal/weblog tracking news, changes and touchpoints.

Am evaluating a couple of project collaboration tools right now

37 Signals Basecamp web-based software may be a good first step.  It runs from $50 to $150 per month.  Free one-month trial.

Anticipate Acrobat will be the primary markup tool.  Need database functionality for tracking milestones, RFI's and change log. 

Do you use a web based collaboration tool?  Any recommendations?

Posted by Ted at 2:52 PM | Permalink

Nothing screws up a project faster than cascading changes forcing remodeling and redeployment of tradesmen.

Changes folded into the project late end up costing you two to four times what they would have cost if in the initial scope of work.  Reversing progress is demotivating.  Changes happen--all I ask is that everyone understands the true need, the best solution, and the true cost before you start demolishing what you have built.

I posted about where changes come from here.

Projects reach a tipping point where the motivation changes from "Perfect is good enough" to "Good enough is perfect". 

Understand where you are vis-a-vis this point in your project.

Here are five tips on how to avoid impending disaster by changing work mid stream:

• Freeze the Design.  Owner and architect agree to freeze the design at a point, and not backtrack.
• Appropriate finishes sometimes only become apparent in the "full scale model stage", that is, during construction.  This can trigger changes to the finish schedule.  Understand what elements in the finish schedule are placeholders and what lead times are to procure the options.
• Faster/Better/Smarter.  Substituting a better, faster, or smarter finish may help progress--look for hangups due to E&O (errors and omissions) where you can leverage a better solution to maintain pace and intensity.
• Keep off the critical path.  Know when information is needed by the building team and how the scope of work cascades through this area and this item of work.
• Live with it.  If it is a change to finishes, casework or cabinetry, hold off until after you have lived with it for a while.

Making changes late have costs beyond the direct labor and material involved in the direct scope of work.  Make sure you understand these costs when asking for this change.  There is a value to the new and improved solution, just know the numbers involved to get you there.

Posted by Ted at 1:08 PM | Permalink

The pace and intensity of a job tells you a lot about the team producing it

 It can tell you a lot about how good the schedule is, and whether people actually do what they say they will.

Jobs lose pace and intensity through cascading change orders, encountering unforeseen obstacles, or lack of buildable information.

Quickly clarifying design intent to maintain pace and intensity is a critical responsibility of the entire team.

This is how to get the information out to the team to build and maintain the pace and intensity on our projects

Acceptances are the way to build schedules.

 Track accomplishments, not start dates.

Maintain current project information—plans, specs, and schedules--in an accessible online website so everyone can get current copies whenever required. Have everything in .pdf format

Track issues via Hot Lists to track conflicts, omissions, or errors in articulating design intent. Make sure someone has both action and the tools necessary to find a solution.

Use RFI’s correctly. Requests for Information are not a substitute for reading and understanding the plans and specifications, nor for adding scope or initiating changes to the project.

 There should be enough information available so that the RFI process is confirming design intent, not developing it.

Make sure submittals are correct. Do they comply with the specifications?

Will it fit? Will it get here in time? What is missing?  Build it on paper first.

Generate options for errors and omissions discovered for the Owner to review and accept.

 Define what the error or omission is clearly, and list a range of solutions with money and time effects. Contingency accounts are useful here in that everyone becomes focused on the optimal solution is, rather than trying to duck blame.

Describe any  changes needed completely and build them on paper first. Is the cost, in both time and money, understood and agreed to by all parties? Avoid making changes on a time and materials basis unless you are exploring an unforeseen condition.

Wander around. Understand how the different crafts work with and around each other. Learn what they need to get their job done. Ensure the superintendent understands.  Appreciate what is happening.

Get it done. Now. The more time and delay on making a decision, the more it will effect downstream work

Understand how you got here. Is this a chronic weakness or a one-time deal.  Repair appropriately.

A happy job is one that is clean, safe, and trucking along on schedule.

Posted by Ted at 7:45 PM | Permalink

At this point, your architect and you have developed a common language and she has  captured what you want to build into a set of design development drawings and outline specs.  You now need to convey this intent to your builder in a manner that gives you certainty on the cost--the Cost to Complete--and duration--the Time to Complete.  Architects tell me that designing an architecturally significant home to a budget is difficult in the best of times, and impossible without a reputable contractor on the team to provide good pricing feedback.

Understand that your builder, if they are like most reputable builders, is motivated by two things:

• first, getting new projects, and
• after getting the project, increasing their margin, and reducing their risk.

This is how good contractors operate.  To get your contractor to build what you want, you need to first understand what they want.

There are two issues in getting the contractor to build what the architect wants.  The first is recruiting a reputable contractor that will build in accord with the architect's documents.  The second issue is that the standard AIA cascade of documentation does not do much to defend price, reduce risk, and maintain equilibrium in pricing power on margins. 

Recruiting A Reputable Contractor:

• Contractor Bench Strength--have their subs done work of this level of quality before?  Look at their subcontractor bid manual.
• Estimating--are their quantity takeoffs accurate?   Are they broken down into units and quantities or are they just lump sums.  Are performance specs called out and met (waterproofing and flashing).
• Supervision--the singlemost important person on the job.  Make sure you get the right person for the job.  Honest, forthright, experienced.  How did they punchlist their last job?
• Schedules--what is the critical path?
• Risk--what do they foresee to be the risks of the job?  How are they dealing with them?  Have them walk you through their notes to the AIA general conditions for the construction contract.  Understand any risk shifting that is happening here.
• Margin--understand what this number really is.

Producing Enforceable Construction Documents:

• Accurate project information, such as surveys, soils reports, local rules and regulations,  existing conditions if a remodel.
• Accurate and comprehensible plans, with sections, details, elevations, and matchlines fully coordinated.  Comprehensible specifications.
• Complete finish and fixture schedules with version control.  Headend information on electronics.
• Performance spec information on acoustical, waterproofing, HVAC, line voltage electrical, plumbing, and horizontal and vertical control.  Trade contractors need strong design skills to be responsive in the design/build environment.
• Constructable detailing.  Details coordinated with plan and elevation.

The pricing and negotiation period is the time to surface these issues.  Pricing equilibrium is lost if these issues are discovered during construction.

Posted by Ted at 8:08 PM | Permalink

Insanely great homes are built from a common language, a patron that understands what they want, and has the resources to get it done.

Establishing this common language, establishing the values and principles, and articulating this in a way your designer understands so that they can develop the working drawings is the next major challenge you face, after right-sizing your budget.

 
Your architect is motivated differently than you are. 

This is my post on why people build.  It is the design, material, and recognition that drives your architect and your common language needs to incorporate these motivations.  Understand what motivates your architect and you are more than halfway there.

Posted by Ted at 5:03 PM | Permalink

OK-you've decided you want to build.  The first challenge I face in producing an insanely great place to live is establishing basic requirements, and putting a number to it.  This first pass number is my instant feasibility test of size times unit pricing against resources available.

Agnes Bourne says:

 "When creating your physical world, it is good to realize that this place is a reflection of you.  Knowing what matters to you is important in the planning of these spaces...What matters most to you?"

If the first cut cost is more than your resources available, your choices are:

• increase the budget
• shrink the size by reducing program
• shrink the footprint by building up
• shrink or eliminate the basement, or
• leave space unfinished.

A major fallacy of modernism is that spaces are multi-use.  Spaces may start as multi-use, but they end up as single-use spaces.  Develop your program with a focus on single use spaces.

Stratify your program into <strong>good, better, and best</strong> level of finishes for each component.  Scope creep during construction tends to drive everything toward the best level, this first cut is a good way to draw a line in the sand about how far you are willing to go.  This post talked about how finishes and casework and cabinetry are the big variables in construction costs.

Iterate, iterate, iterate.  Refine the spirit of your project.  I will be posting additional insight on refining what you want in your physical world in future posts, so if this is where you are right now, stay tuned.

What is the right unit pricing number?  Costs have been going up 2% a month for the last two and a half years, so right now that number is both moving, and scary.  Your contractor should have a sense for what his recent jobs cost him, or drop me a line and I can give you my take on current costs vs. value.

Posted by Ted at 3:44 PM | Permalink

Presenting at public hearings is like working in a sausage factory.  It is democracy at its most FUN-damental (groan).  It is the acid test of the public benefit of your (or anybody else's) proposed use.

How do you approach presentations? Is fear part of it? Fear--or speech fright--usually revolves around the perception that your personal worth or self-estimation is at risk. The natural reaction to most situations of fear is to flee--which I generally discourage in public speaking as being counter-productive.

Being prepared, having the right mental attitude, being direct, and being active are how you increase your credibility.  Your objective is to present with Clarity, Coherence, and Conciseness the following: 

easily understood exhibits showing conformance with your adopted codes,

• a scale model of your intended use,
• a point by point analysis how your use compares to existing uses in the neighborhood,
• what is allowable as-of-right, under the general and specific plans and under requested variances,
• a tax benefits analysis showing increased property taxes paid by your proposed use,
• sustainable/carbon footprint survey of your proposed use, and
• your letters of support.

Work to understand the planning staff's position on your intended use, whether they support it, and if not, why not.  You won't be privy to the staff report prior to the hearing, and their position can be a real surprise to you.  Be ready for it.

Here is a book I find valuable in preparing for public hearings. BTW, Mr. Ailes runs FOX News these days. 

Review Majora Carter's presentation.  Review it again.

Posted by Ted at 8:09 PM | Permalink

I was the Owner's representative on the 2006 Decorator Showcase.  This event is a huge fundraiser for San Francisco's University High School, raising over $500,000 for their scholarship fund each year.

This extreme makeover came in on-time, on-budget, and showcased the work of 27 designers, drawn from a field of over 400.  Here is a list of tips and tricks I used in getting to this on-time, on-budget result:

Start with Good Bones.  The house had great bones(structure), a concrete foundation, and was built on rock.  Purrrrrrfect.
Optimize Back of House Space--there was almost 2,000SF of habitable space that was not being utilized for a contemporary program.  We changed that.  The wine cellar became a major draw to the ground floor.  The garage was relocated to the north of the home.  The hayloft became a carriage house.

Kitchen is the Heart of the Home--three rooms become one.  Homes today are about flow, about entertaining, and everyone ends up in the kitchen anyway, so why not make it large enough to hold all your friends?

Retreat to the Master Suite--complete redo of the Master Suite  to bring in flow, modern light, and stone (pearl onyx, in case you were wondering).

Port Daylight--Daylight is the new black...we extended the main stair to the top floor, breathing life into spaces that had historically been back of house space.  Presto, 2KSF of view space, off a dramatic stairhall.

Trust your Architect--the Voice of the architect was cool, San Francisco classicism, just what the home needed.  And the ability to get permits on-time didn't hurt, either.  You're the best, Dan!

Motivate your Builder-- Steve Stroub is a great builder who we knew was capable of A level work in San Francisco's best neighborhoods.  We set the bar high, and his firm exceeded it.

Your Next Three Milestones--  Critical path schedules were reviewed with the superintendent--everyone knew the next three milestones. They proceeded to beat them.  You rock, Jay

You Can't Let the Kids Down--particular to Showcase, this event raises over half a million dollars for scholarships to University High School.  Everyone knew that the kids were a major beneficiary of our blood, sweat and tears, and it kept us going.

Throw Momma Off the Train--we had a garage subcontractor who took the last two weeks of December off, a logic completely unencumbered by the milestones we had to hit.  He is (was?) a fixture in the Pacific Heights neighborhood and figured he had us.  Wrong.  He walked the plank, and an opportunity created for an enterprising trade contractor to fix it.

Parachute In--Front doors can be really expensive.  Or not.  We found a vendor who promised us he would deliver on time.  Excuses, excuses, excuses.  Amazing what sitting in the guy's shop until he coughs up the door will do to motivate a vendor.  Installed two days before Showcase opened

And did I mention the 27 great designers who came in after us and did an amazing job in three weeks?  Drop me a line if you are looking for a good interior designer--very rarely do I get to work with so many good ones--the talent here was inspiring.  I would love to hook you up with these talented professionals...

If you would like more information on the backstory--the Extreme Makeover of producing this asset--you can download it here.  It was the Wall Street Journal's House of the Week.

Posted by Ted at 3:57 PM | Permalink

...contribute the glue, the focus, and the talent to make good stuff happen on a jobsite.  The focus on getting things done--on getting the entitlements, balancing cost and value during design, and driving construction through to an on-time, on-budget outcome--is the value a project manager brings.

Not every project needs a project manager.  As long as team members are willing to be responsible for communicating what needs to be done, simultaneously keep their eye both on the prize and their next three milestones, and are willing to jump into the breach to do what needs to be done to get things done, there is one less mouth to feed. 

There needs to be clear authority on keeping the project on-time and on-budget, and triaging issues. Much as a hospital ER has a lead doc deciding care for a patient, a project needs a voice that can make decisions and blaze the trail. This Venn diagram charts the space you start from.  If no one owns this space, dysfunction and finger pointing can be the result. 

The prime responsibility is to make the project, and all who contribute to it, as successful as possible.  This role is ambiguous, and requires a combination of conviction, confidence, and empathy to be effective.  You need:

• a top level view necessary to keep focus on where you are and where you need to be,
• the insight to ask the right questions, and the willingness to parachute in and do anything that needs to be done that no one else is doing (well).
• the focus on getting things done means keeping a simpler view of what you do.  But simple does not mean easy.

Tom Peters, in his essay, Pursuing the Perfect Project Manager, describes the paradoxes inherent in pursuing the required outcome.  Project management is a balancing act, an art that requires intuition, judgement and experience to resolve the raw inputs of capital, knowledge, labor and material into the desired asset.

Go "Make Good Stuff Happen!"

Posted by Ted at 11:59 AM | Permalink

I am always trying to understand the numbers behind why things get built, and why they don't.

And I am amazed at the things that get promoted when the math does not work.  The market seems to get last bat, but it reminds me of what my father used to tell me:  "It's the third guy that owns the property that makes money.  The first two lose their dough."

One of the most illuminating books I've read was Innumeracy by John Allen Paulos. 

A little long winded, but his point is well taken.

Paulos admits that

"at least part of the motivation for any book is anger, and this book is no exception. I'm distressed by a society which depends so completely on mathematics and science and yet seems to indifferent to the innumeracy and scientific illiteracy of so many of its citizens."

Have a good weekend.

Posted by Ted at 7:05 PM | Permalink

Gaining the right to build is the second most critical skill a developer needs, after the ability to do the math and handicap a potential project.

What is the first step?  Read your adopted codes.  Understand, or have your architect explain to you, what your as-of-right envelope is.  Unless your project is open space or a wetland, there is a bulk, massing and use envelope that will provide you with an initial square footage, use, height, and percent of site utilization.    In my opinion, if what I need to produce fits within the adopted codes, I have an 80% chance of getting my project approved.

You ask:  Why only 80%, grasshopper?  Because if you read the codes carefully, there are often conflicts that give the power of discretion to the commissions, boards, and staff that have the ability to grant you your entitlements.

To understand the discretionary element, study the envelope on other properties in your neighborhood.  Find out where your proposed use compares with others in your neighborhood in terms of density, height, parking, shadow bulk. How do you compare? If you recently purchased your property, go down to the planning office and look at the public file on the project.  Look at the history of it.  Read staff reports on similar uses and sites.  After you have done your survey of comparable sites, find out where you stack up.  Are you in the top 50%, 25% 10%?  Your likelihood of success drops the closer you get to the top of the stack.

You will now understand what is as of right, and what is discretionary.  Envision this as an envelope of use, height, footprint, and bulk on your property.   The further you go outside your envelope, the process gets increasingly expensive, the processing time increases, and your likelihood of success decreases.

 Once you understand the numbers, then you can proceed with the how.

Here is a recent example of how you do it.  Very impressive technique  by someone who has made a tremendous contribution to the City of Cupertino, whose company is their largest taxpayer, and needs to do a fifty acre campus.

Posted by Ted at 3:58 PM | Permalink

...is my definition of the perfect jobsite.  This is the responsibility of the superintendent, and it is the best way to build and maintain momentum to an on-time, on-budget completion.  It sends a message to all that enter the grounds that this team is professional and will deliver dramatically distinctive results.

The costs to keep a site lean, mean, and spotlessly clean are a fraction of the costs to recover from damaged materials, lost time accidents, or the message that professionalism does not count.

How clean is your job?

Posted by Ted at 8:12 AM | Permalink

..are a part of any construction and development project. Whether the changes come from an element we did not foresee, or something that we changed our mind about, the development process seems very similar to the way a friend used to describe how she skied the moguls--"It is a series of linked recoveries"

This chart breaks out the cause of changes as a portion of total cost overages.

1.  Design errors and omissions are the elements a prudent designer would have included in a set of contract documents.  Examples are modifications to one location that do not ripple through to details, or changes in architectural drawings that were not picked up in structurals or MEP's.

2.  Trade Contractor Coordination is the cost of performing work that falls in the gap between trade contractor contracts.  Kitchens are prime examples of where these gaps could occur.  Cabinet maker's boxes do not align correctly with architectural woodwork, or HVAC, or appliance connections.  Coordinating plumbing--ie roof drains--with interior framing is another example.  Architectural drawings show intent, Structural drawings show member sizes, and it is left to the general contractor to get it all to fit.

3.  Unforeseen conditions</strong> are those uncharted items that are discovered only upon opening up the work area. Examples include dry rot discovered after demolition of a building interior, a geothermal hot spring discovered where a winery's underground chai, or barrel storage, facility is to be built, or soils conditions materially different from the soils investigation provided.

4.  Excessive change order pricing occurs when changes or additional work is ordered outside of the natural progression of the work, many times restricting the optimum pace and intensity of work being put into place.  Excessive pricing also occurs when a vendor is trying to make up lost margin over incomplete pricing.  Going to a sole vendor gives more pricing power to that vendor.

5. Code compliance is the cost of implementing corrections or changes to the work after an inspection by the authorities having jurisdiction over the work.  Obtaining final signoff on permits is often at the discretion of the authorities, and sometimes gaining this signoff requires additional work not in the contract.

6.  Owner scope changes are qualitative changes to finishes, or components.  Additional cost also comes from additions to the scope of work through added systems, or changes in the critical path necessary to incorporate these new requirements.  Qualitative changes ripple through a finish schedule, driving other changes to maintain a contextual relationship.  For example, basements are often an afterthought in the design process, but the intensity of building systems on this level and the fact it is the first part of the building constructed can trigger a lot of scope change early in the project.

The challenge is maintaining the pace and intensity of the work while folding in these changes.  We've met this challenge by:

• "building" the project on paper first through good scheduling and understanding the finish schedule
• making the general contractor responsible for any trade contractor changes.  If it is shown in the documents, the Owner is entitled to it.  Performance specification acceptance on waterproofing and acoustical aspects of the building.
• establishing a joint contingency account for design errors/omissions, unforeseens, and code compliance.  Motivation to resolve these changes faster/better/smarter is achieved through splitting  funds left in this account at the end of the project--money goes straight to the builder's bottom line
• establishing unit costs for installation at the time of writing the initial contract provides protection against excessive change order pricing, or at least a basis to understand where the pricing difference lies.

Owner scope changes are managed through our instant feasibility testing to provide a quick cost/benefit check before the builder spends any time pricing or implementing a change.  Limiting cost plus reimbursement on qualitative changes to tasks only on the critical path.  Owner supplies materials to keep on-time.  Coordinating building systems in the basement level by constructing this level on paper first with all players working together.

Changes make projects more expensive and run more lethargically than most realize.  Keeping our projects on-time and on-budget requires a roll-up-your-sleeves cooperative attitude to understand the real impact of any changes and the real benefit

There is realistically only so much recovery that can happen on a project before burnout occurs.  Keeping focus on achieving quality at the intended pace and intensity eliminates a great deal of contemplated changes before they start to slow things up.  Build it twice--the first time on paper. 

 Remember, oftentimes your first solution is much closer to the end result than you think.

Posted by Ted at 4:49 PM | Permalink

Architects want input from a builder as they progress on a design to check constructability, review details, and most importantly, to check the budget.

Owners pay for this review.  What is sometimes missing is the accountability for the quality of the numbers--marketing numbers do us no good. The constructability of details needs to be part of the review and recommendation.  You don't want to know how many times I have heard whining about flashing details during construction when not a peep was made during preconstruction over the same detail.  What you need is true construction expertise--in pricing and constructability.

What is the faster/better/smarter way to buy preconstruction services?

1.Set the baseline.  You need to know quantities, units, and unit costs making up the cost estimate.  Lump sum numbers are basically useless.

2. Set the finishes.  You need to price off a finish schedule.  Stain grade vs paint grade, stone vs tile, etc.  You can iterate up or down on the finishes to get a budget number circled once you know your quantities.

3. Identification of assemblies benefiting from design build or cost plus approaches to getting it right.  On one recent job, we were under construction when the manufacturer's rep backpedaled and would not warranty the installation of their material--two years after they had sold this material to the architect as perfect for the application.  The subcontractor was sweating bullets.  After a great deal of caveatting, to-ing and fro-ing, and mockups, the material went in, looked great, and the subcontractor ended up looking like a hero--and deservedly so.  These assemblies need to be called out during preconstruction and everyone locked in a room until a consensus is reached at that time--not when you are burning $60K a month in OH&P on an active jobsite.

4. Review design for warrantable installations.  In the world of design once/build once/operate once homes, sometimes we get a little too far out on the design limb, making materials perform unnatural acts.  Best to know what is warrantable--or how to make it warrantable--upfront rather than when we don't have the time to develop a good workaround.

Don't you get this if you just bid it to a couple of contractors?  Not really. You will get a partial #1, perhaps broken out by trade.  Bottom line numbers are pretty useless and you certainly don't get 2, 3, or 4.  Those remain as gotchas to be negotiated during the building process--when you have neither the time nor great leverage.

What is the right price to pay for 1 to 4 above?  I have paid from about $0.75 to $2.00 PSF, although I have seen preconstruction lines on projects--before I got involved--add up to $9.50 PSF.  Ouch.  Have your team work to these four steps and you will start your project in much better shape.

Posted by Ted at 5:02 PM | Permalink

probably has a house on it already, especially if you live in Northern California.

The increasing occurrence of teardowns is due to the fact that:

1. We haven't built many new roads in the last twenty years, while the number of cars per household (1.9) is now greater than the number of people (1.8).

2. Many of the better sites were built on with summer cottages after the 06 quake>>fire. Although the "cottage framing" many of these older places have doesn't meet modern codes, it is the site, the light, the tranquility and the views that you are really paying for.

3. The lots that are available now were either not buildable without modern engineering and construction technology, or had constraints that still exist, but can be discounted and still have a transaction.

So what do you look for when buying a site? Southern exposure for light, <40% slope for buildability (in Marin, Sonoma and Napa, anyway), rock close to the surface, and all utlities close by.

Know your microclimates--in Sausalito they seem to change from block to block.

Secondarily you, or your architect, needs to clearly understand site coverage and massing (floor area ratio, building heights, shadowing adjacent property) and circulation for cars and people.

Posted by Ted at 1:31 PM | Permalink

when stories abound of the cost, the difficulty, and the time involved?  Because for some of us, the essence of building is transforming quotidian, real world needs into art that works for us. 

The design of the single family, private home is an architectural touchstone.  Even though they take more time, more decisions than ever thought possible, and are utterly irrelevant socially, they are the crucible of how we want to live our lives today.

"When one has finished building one's house, one suddenly realizes that in the process one has learned something that one really wanted to know in the worst way--before one began."

--Nietzsche

The modern American home provides an owner and an architect an opportunity to create a singular design reflecting the outward and inner directed