BEHIND LOW-COST PROJECTS

MOMTech Engineering, Abrantes, Portugal

info@momtech.pt

1 Introduction

The current scenario of economic resection in Portugal and in Europe has resulted in a reduction of the
investment and a reduction in the work volume in the construction sector. At such times, to meet the
challenges imposed, companies and professionals develop and implement measures such as investment
in innovation and cost reduction.

In construction projects the objectives to accomplish should always have in mind the great importance
that engineering projects have in building success and the great relationship between the project and
the goals of the work. Thus it is clear that all bets on innovation and development in construction must be
complemented with developments in design that will lead to improved efficiency of the entire
construction process, improving the behavior of the building during the service, cost optimization and
reduction of deadlines.

The engineering projects, specifically structural projects shall be constituted by a Base Program, a
Preliminary Study, a Base Project, an Implementation Project and Technical Assistance. These are the
stages of the project and not only structural projects, ranging from the collection of elements, constraints
analysis, through the analysis of different solutions to the preparation of all documents necessary for the
proper execution of the work and verification of the work done. All these phases of the project have their
importance but in smaller projects, such as housing projects and multifamily small scale projects, can be
overcome some of these phases, as long as the project owner is fully informed of the consequences and
disadvantages. In most cases, in this type of work, the process of completing the project structure is
simplified by reducing the number of stages, due to the difficulty to achieve a good cost-effectiveness
relation in these same phases and the no requirement for local authorities of them.

The reduction in project stages leads to an obvious reduction of project costs that can be taken to an
extreme case where designer supplied only the minimum information necessary to satisfy the
requirements of local authorities, with only two moments of contact between the project owner and the
designer, in defining the objectives and the final delivery of the documentation.


2 Project Quality

The project costs represent about 5% of the total cost of the work, depending on the type of work and
their technical requirements. During the lifetime of building the use and maintenance costs represent a
value greater than the value spent in construction [1]. As the project defines all construction and has a
large weight in the building use costs, it is easy to verify that the design quality should be the main factor
in the choice of the designer or design company to hire.

In the structural design, it defines all the structural elements of the building and is responsible for the
quantities of material to use and constructive arrangements to apply. The time spent in a project has a
very important relationship with quality. In the case of technicians with experience and continued in the
area of small scale projects, you can set up almost all structural elements based on experience, resulting
in a low cost project but also a great uncertainty about the costs and management of the work. An
increase in time spent on the project, assuming that the technicians have the appropriate knowledge and
motivation, leads to a reduction of the costs of the work [2]. This relationship is valid until you reach a
balance point between project costs and the work and operation costs of the building.






Graphic 1 Relation between global costs and time spent in project


One of the ways to reduce design time and consequently its costs was the use of computer tools of
automatic design. In the case of small structures projects, the automatic calculation tools not only
perform the calculations inherent to the project but also check the main regulatory compliance and
perform calculation notes and drawings. The use of such software has been common practice in this type
of projects, with extensive use but without selection criteria, which is a major cause of the deficiencies in
this small scale structure projects [3].

According to some published studies, 40% of the problems encountered in buildings, in structural point
of view, come from deficiencies in the design phase [4]. Within the problems with origin in design phase,
they may be divided by [4]:



Graphic 2 Distribution of building problems with origin in design fase [4]

Through the analysis of Figure 2 it is verified that the majority of faults in the design phase, which lead to
problems in the building, can arise due to the lack of time expended in the project. The deficient detailing
and inadequate design options can be a result of cost reduction policy that is causing 77% of the
deficiencies in the building. The remaining 23%, caused by miscalculations and use of unsuitable
materials, can have the main cause in lack of skills, experience and qualifications of the technicians
involved.





3 Projects Analysis

To have a gross reference of possible savings to get through an investment in the design quality,
MOMTech conducted a structural design review of two housing projects in traditional reinforced concrete
construction. The initial designs were done by small size engineering firms, using automatic calculation
programs. It was chosen the traditional reinforced concrete construction, to carry out this review, as this is
the most representative type of construction in single family dwellings panorama in Portugal.

The review resulted in a mean reduction of 7.9% of material for structure (reinforced concrete and steel),
without modifying the architecture or the arrangement of the structural elements, modifying only the
various section elements of the structure. The carried out review was based on all the provisions of the
project considered initially and the constraints indicated in the descriptive memories and so there were
no base changes.

If the costs of the structural materials of a dwelling constitute 20% of the overall construction costs and a
reduction of 7.9% in structural materials represents a 7.9% cost reduction, then the project review
conducted resulted in construction saving costs of 1.6%. This amount saved with a higher bet in project
quality, through a more detailed analysis, represents 32% of project costs.



Graphic 3 Cost reduction resulting from a more detailed analysis of the project, made in project review.


Despite the analyzed projects result in additional costs and unnecessary work, they met the basic
principles of the regulations and satisfy the structural safety. This is a positive consequence of the use of
automatic design programs that guarantee the fulfillment of the regulations for them checked.


4 Conclusions

The decrease in the work volume at national level, for the construction design companies, caused an
increase in competition and a gradual reduction of the projects costs, particularly in smaller buildings.
This cost reduction resulted in a quality reduction in cases where there werent introduced new
technologies or those already existed, such as the automatic design programs, reduction which resulted
in lack of costs control for the small size works and a low durability of materials.

The investment and the importance given by the project owner in the initial phases of the project, lead to
an improved overall quality during construction and reduce works costs. In the design of structures, as
discussed, this reduction could amount to more than 30% of project costs and therefore the choice for




the design team has a key role in the preliminary stages of the investment, which must be made primarily
on the quality and references basis.

With the knowledge of the importance that the project has in costs control and quality of the work, it
makes sense to use design review when project doubts arise when it is already accomplished. These
investments have generally, in most small dwelling projects, a quick payback with the construction of the
building.

5 Bibliography

1. Couto, J.P., Teixeta, J.M.C, A Qualidade dos Projectos: Uma componente para a competitividade do
sector da Construo em Portugal, Universidade do Minho, Portugal;

2. Peixoto, Rosa L. da R., Tipificao e Anlise Crtica sobre Projectos de Estruturas entregues para
licenciamento na CMP, Universidade do Porto, Julho de 2008, Porto, Portugal;

3. Lino, Jos C., Sena Cruz, Jos, Fernandes, Christophe, Estudo da Qualidade do Projeto de Estruturas
de Edifcios, Universidade do Minho, Guimares, Portugal;

4. Silva, Vitor C., Soares, Iolanda, A Reviso dos Projectos como Forma de Reduzir os Custos da
Construo e os Encargos da Manuteno de Edifcios, Oz, Lda. Lisboa, Portugal;

5. Brito, Jorge de, O Projecto de Estrutura e a Formao dos Projectistas, Jornal Construir n 137