Preconstruction Services
Daubersmith, Inc. | Construction Consulting

The level of success of a construction project is highly dependent on the degree of timely preparation achieved by each participant. Opportunities to affect results are greatest in the beginning -- and the costs to make improvements or solve problems increase (often exponentially) thereafter.

Contractors, owners, engineers, and sureties all benefit from good project documents and thorough construction planning. Desirable results are accomplished by employing fair contracts, prudent designs, quality drawings and specifications, accurate cost estimates, rational schedules, suitable risk mitigation, and efficient construction operations. Contract documents and construction work plans must be carefully developed, well communicated, and timely implemented from the beginning of the project.

Contract Drawing & Specification Review

Daubersmith understands the importance of quality contract drawings and specifications. Complete, concise, clear, and accurate documents are essential to timely and economical construction. The likelihood and magnitude of cost and time overruns increase when plans and specs do not adequately convey the requisite "who, what, when, where" to unambiguously describe the scope of the work.

Fair contract language is essential to the collective success of all project participants. Excessively burdensome contract provisions -- e.g. those that allocate risk to a party unable to effectively mitigate it -- can lead to reduced competition, higher costs, adversarial relationships, disputes, untimely performance, non-performance, claims, and litigation.

Daubersmith can review contract documents and provide opinions and recommendations based on the client's perspective (contractor, owner, engineer, etc.) and the project phase (design, pre-solicitation, bid, pre-award, preconstruction, etc.). Reviews aim to objectively evaluate materially important attributes such as completeness, clarity, accuracy, ambiguity, fairness, onerous contract terms, risks, opportunities, constructability, time for completion, value engineering opportunities, and overall document quality.

Value Engineering

Daubersmith is a proponent of Value Engineering -- a process of identifying and quantifying potential changes that could be made to effect lower cost and/or higher benefit to the project without impairing the project's essential functions or characteristics.

The optimum time to "value engineer" is during project design, when Daubersmith can work with the owner and engineer (and contractor, if selected). After design, value engineering opportunities often still exist -- e.g. when selected post-design the contractor, viewing the project from a different perspective and challenged with its actual construction, often has cost and/or time saving ideas that were not previously contemplated. Daubersmith can work with the contractor to identify and quantify potential post-design value engineering concepts.

Cost Estimate Preparation & Review

Daubersmith can provide and review cost estimates at any stage of the project. Depending on the phase of the project (conceptual, design/permitting, budgeting, bid, etc.) and client perspective (contractor, owner, engineer, etc.), the level of detail and format of the cost estimate or review can be tailored to suit the client's specific need.

Risk/Opportunity Analysis

Successful construction requires timely performance at an economical cost. Prudent decisions must be made timely -- and often the consequences are highly uncertain. Balancing cost, time, opportunity, and risk can be a complicated and abstract process. Daubersmith can add clarity by performing appropriate risk and opportunity analyses at any stage of the project. Risk and opportunity identification, quantification, and allocation recommendations as well as risk mitigation options, what-if scenarios, and cost/time/risk tradeoff analyses can be provided and tailored to fit the client's specific situation.