Professionals
in the Building Construction Industry.
Introduction
The
building construction industry is as old as human civilization itself. The
history of the industry evolves with evolution of human settlements and
culture. It ha its different feature in each age of human existence namely
agrarian, industrial and information ages.
As
such the building construction industry
has over time, in an attempt to overcome
evolving challenges as a result of
increasing complexity of human settlement( town, country, city, megacity),
culminated into specialization that seek to enhance efficiency and economical
service delivery in the industry.
This
development, however, has created confusion and mix-up impression to members of
the public who are expected to be serviced by the industry.
This
report, hereby, supplies hints of both general and specialized role of
different key players in the industry, in addition to identifying them, while
also justifying them, whole also justifying their relevance.
List of Professionals.
- Land Surveyor
1.1 Geographical
Information System Analyst
- Town Planner
2.1 Landscape
Architect
3
Architect
3.1 Interior
Decorator
- Quantity Surveyor
- Civil Engineer
5.1 Structural
Engineer
5.2 Geotechnical
Engineer
- Builder
- General Contractor
7.1 Project
Manager
- Real Estate Developer
- Realtor/Estate Surveyor and Valuer
Land Surveyor
Land
Surveying is the art and science of taking measurement of different points
over, on and below the surface of the earth crust or other planet crust. Also
involved in this is the process of error control.
Relevance
Land
and other surface of the earth is a finite quantity that can be quantified.
This quantification is relevant in modern day human society because it helps to
solve problems relating ownership, boundary, town/city planning and development.
However, the task of accomplishing the land measurement has challenges due to the
nature and feature of the earth, such as earth curvature, rotation on its own
axis, revolution around the sun, magnetism of the earth and its relationship
other entities of the universe in the field of
energy. Also other challenges include standard of measurement,
limitation of instrument, error-prone nature of man.
Hence
there is need for high level man power with enough skill, knowledge and talent
to tackle all the afore mentioned challenges. Land surveyor who is the
custodian of land surveying profession is the right man power.
1.1 Geographical Information System Analyst.
Physical
environmental planning and management as a public policy occupation experienced
a major challenge during industrial revolution phase of human existence. The
technical limitation of ability to capture and process data into information compelled
many planning activities to be a mere planning intuition. The cost of
spearheading such exercise with the available technology was enormous for
developing countries, who were left with the option of only “planning without
adequate facts’
However,
thanks to the emergence of information age in the 80s. this challenge
culminated into marriage between telecommunication, space technology and
information technology. This development proffer solution to the age long
problems confronting ability of man to effectively capture, process and
manage data and information that
describe our visual world. GIS analyst is a land information database
administrator and system manager.
- Town Planner.
Land and other natural resources are the foundation that
supports life and human activities. Lack of processed intervention in
allocation of land and natural resources among competing interests of human
activities had led to chaos and common inconvenience. This problem became
profound as the human developmental phase moved from agrarian to industrial
phase. As human settlement evolved from agrarian to industrial phase human
settlements evolved from Agrarian Township to city and megacity comprising of different
interest group and their complexity need pattern. Problems of overcrowding,
slum, decay, traffic congestion, pollution, flood epidemic, visual intrusion
emerged.
As a result it became necessary that a trained man power of
town planner is imperative to control situation of town and cities in the
public interest. The profession of town planning is the art and science of
surveying, designing, evaluating alternative strategies of allocating land
resources and implementing them to achieve optimum returns from spatial content
organization of the environment. Human settlement like human body needs to be
formed before it can be decorated. Town Planner’s job is to form the human settlement
before it comes to the turn of other building and construction professionals to
start decorating with bridges, houses, infrastructures, plants, trees e.t.c. he
plays this role by specifying the exact location of the spatial content and
defining their forms in human settlement.
2.1 Landscape Architect/Designer/Planner.
The detailed outdoor environment of every human settlement
play a major role in supporting many
activities of human such as recreation and social gathering. Also. The outdoor environment
needs to be protected from ecological and geomorphological imbalance imbalance
due to intervention of man in the natural settings of ecosystem. There should
be a way both natural and artificial to make outdoor environment,
aesthetically, beautiful, capable of supporting outdoor activities such as
recreation and be environmentally stable and mitigated from intervention of
natural of natural system. All of the above are the responsibilities of
Landscape Architect. His job can range from small scale to a very large scale
level. He designs, estimate and implement the process of landscape element
development. In a developing country like Nigeria, this role is still being
played by Town Planner, Architects and contractors.
- Architect/Building Designer
Building as a major content of the built environment is
expected meet functional,
structural and aesthetic objectives which are all values of
man. Building is a technical, social and psychological product. In order to
satisfy the above requirements the superstructure of it which is visible to
visual world need to be designed. This forms the jurisdiction of an Architect.
To be precise he is saddled with the responsibility of designing the visible
component of the building superstructure. (part above ground surface)
4.1 Interior Decorator/Designer
Indoor space as created by other member of the industry team
is expected be of value and style expressing the status of the occupant/owner.
Interior decorator/designer work on specification of stylish finishing such as
cornice on ceiling, colours, texture of the wall, curtains, blinding,
furniture, architrave etc , to enhance desirable visual effect in the indoor.
In Nigeria this role has not assume a full professional status.
- Quantity Surveyor
Buildings and other construction activities are capital,
material and labour intensive at any scale of it. Even the most modest type of
building has a considerable cost and labour implications. This is why the
concept of “phased implementation is a common place in the industry. There is a
natural inquisitive to have firsthand idea of the cost before embarking on the
building construction exercise. The knowledge of the cost assists in budgeting
and therefore helps to prevent project abandonment. The mechanism of price as a
function of demand, supply, time. vis-à-vis the identification of material and
technical knowledge of its quantification necessitate the relevance of the expertise
skill. The cost estimation in building construction involves a deep
understanding of building construction process. All of the above constitute the
jurisdiction of the Quantity Surveyor.
- Civil Engineer.
Civil
structure such as building, wall, embankment, bridges, road, drainage, sewers,
bunkers, tunnels, canal embankments, dam e.t.c. are both functional and
structural products. Their importance in modern infrastructures and
transportation system cannot be overemphasized. Their safety implication is
also major factor. As such their design and construction form the jurisdiction
of a civil engineer.
6.1 Structural Engineer
The
invisible structural content of both substructure (foundation) and
superstructure Part above ground level) of building must be capable of bearing
and sustaining both the dead weight and imposed weight of the building. Also,
the material composition of the building structure must be able to last to the
end of the life span of such building. All these requirements are contained in
building code which is the reflection of man’s values and objectives on safety
of human lives.
His
informed intuition and experience is invaluable in many special cases that are outside
the scope of safety code. Such relevance and influence is felt more in high
rise structure such as high rise structures, such as tower, mast, reservoir
e.t.c.
The
conscious efforts to achieve the above constitute the jurisdiction of
structural engineer. In a developing country like Nigeria the field still
remains a specialization in civil engineering.
6.2 Geotechnical Engineer
Another specialization of civil engineering that concerns
itself with relationship between the surface of the earth, its soil and the
structure it bears with a view of coming up with appropriate design for the
superstructure (foundation).In developing country like Nigeria, this role is
being played by structural engineer
- Builder
Building
construction operation is a very vast one. Apart from structural requirement,
building element needs to satisfy other requirements of safety, convenience and
health.
Also
the implementation of building concepts and design involves coordination of
other team players such as subcontractors, technicians, artisans and unskilled
labour. At this junction, a builder comes in as man power capable of
interpreting the specifications of other survey and design professionals. Also
he plans and organizes implementation of building operations.
- General Contractor
Outside the jurisdiction of a builder are other options of
financing personnel management and plant scheduling, which a consulting builder
cannot foot bill, especially if the scale is very large. At this point comes
the general contractor.
- Project Manager
Another
middle level contractor is the project manager. He can be hired in lieu of
general contractor/Builder. He must be the one of the professionals in the
building construction industry who has talent, skill and experience in building
operations. The advantage of having him can reduce the cost of construction if
he is hired at either at conception and construction, or at design and
construction stage. Waldigit Concepts
is a multi-disciplinary outfit with track record of ability to deliver to this
effect
- Real Estate Developer
Real
Estate in their raw form without structure or with a structure put to a
particular use may have a potential of “latent” (hidden value) by virtue of
their location. This value is known as redevelopment value and can only be
realized if the land is put to such optimum use. Often time title holders of
such properties lack, either knowledge of this due to property market
imperfection or finance or financial capacity achieve this.
At
this point comes in the jurisdiction of Real Estate Developer as an investor.
He sometimes partner with financial institution and the title holders. He undertakes
the feasibility and viability studies and the eventual implementation of the
development. This is done to the natural benefit of all parties concerned.
- Realtor/ Estate Surveyor and Valuers.
He
is both involved at conception stage and operational stage of project
development cycle. If the building construction is being undertaking for
investment purposes, there is a dire need of conducting feasibility and
viability study to protect the investment of the investor. This form part of
his jurisdiction. The basis of his relevance lies in the fact that property
market is imperfect. As such information of price and product are too tied to
location and not freely accessible. A the operational stage of project
development when it comes to sale, rent,
lease of properties acts as agent to correct market imperfection by bringing
the seller and the buyer together at an equilibrium price.
Again
due to property market imperfection the market value of property products are
not readily available. Again it became his jurisdiction to assist in
determining such market value in an exercise known as valuation. His other
duties include management of the interest of title holders in property.
In Conclusion
The
built environment, which is the product of construction, is a planning process,
within natural environment culminating into enormously dynamic complex system.
Virtually
all human field of endeavor has a role to play in delivering ideal built
environment. However, at a professional level ideal built environment service
delivery forms major focus of the aforementioned professions. Building as a
product of building construction industry, involves contributions of team of
skilled, semi-skilled man- power. A situation that necessitates high level of
co-ordination which can be best handled by a team member with vast multidisciplinary
exposure, background and experience, if appreciable degree of economy and
efficiency in the service delivery is to be gained. This exactly is our vision
and mission focus in WALDIGIT CONCEPTS.
Insiders Opinion
In
Waldigit Concepts, our candid opinion based on more than two decade of being in
the industry, is anchored on making the following declarations:
- .building construction industry is one of such that involves some natural endowment of talent such as you have in the entertainment industry
- It involves application of high level of man power development.
- It involves high level of integrity on the part of practitioners.
- It involves high level of vast experiences in many fields of study.
The
situation is so dramatic that there is hardly any building or construction
projects that can be completed without either a major or minor conflict between
the client and the contractors/consultants, either in public or private sector.
Conflict in building or construction projects is so common that it has become a
subject of study in our professional training programme.
This
is exactly why we published this article to inform the general public that the
only way to either avoid or minimize frequency of conflict is to ensure that cost should not be the only
consideration in selecting professionals or project manager in the industry,
but the criteria as highlighted above should be considered alongside with cost
when making such decisions.
