• The challenge the small-scale developer faces is how to identify the right builder for his project to guarantee an acceptable end result.
By Dixon Bwalya-
WALKING around streets with a spirit level does not constitute a prima facie case of competence in the construction industry and yet this is all a number of developers look for when searching for someone to construct their building.
This may sometimes be accompanied by a self-made reference of experience in the construction industry.
For well established clients the process is less complicated than an individual trying to build a house with uncertain sources of funding who hopes to build probably in phases.
For well established clients the process starts with the appointment of consultants who then prepare all the necessary tender documents for construction purposes and would then adopt one of the various options of appointing a suitable contractor with the required competences.
This could be through an open tender where all registered contractors would be invited to participate in the bidding process or the participation could be restricted only to those contractors registered in a particular category with the National Council for Construction.
Another option is to pre-qualify certain contractors based on their competencies and past performance and only invite the selected contractors to take part in the tender process.
Upon submission of the bidding documents then consultants would evaluate the bid documents and then make a recommendation to the client as to the chosen contractor for the award of the building contract.
The advantage of the tender process based on the above options is that the consultants will ensure that all those participating have the required plant equipment as well as qualified artisans to execute the building project smoothly.
This process will also ensure that a comprehensive court-tested building contract is signed by the concerned parties and the construction process is inspected by competent consultants to ensure that the works are executed in accordance with the design specifications and a good quality product is produced at the end of the process.
The expected stringent contractual obligations under this process may not always be favourable to “small scale” builders who may be looking for other alternative and more flexible building arrangements, and there is a very significant number of developers who may fall under this category in Zambia.
Looking for other “flexible” building agreements carries with it several possible land mines and a developer in such a situation ought to be a little bit more cautious, especially where one is too pre-occupied with searching for the “cheapest” builder.
What must be borne in mind right from the word go is that all building types require a combination of trades to fully and successfully execute a building of acceptable quality and a reasonable life span with minimum maintenance and repair costs.
The challenge the “small-scale” developer faces is how to identify the right builder for his project to guarantee an acceptable end result.
There is also that other gullible “small scale” developer who faithfully leaves the entire process; from design up to actual construction to the one “trusted” builder with the freedom to regulate how he constructs the building without competent supervisors other than the occasional and uninterested local authority building inspector.
Under such circumstances the first thing to do is to ensure that what you want constructed is adequately defined for the “builder” to fully understand what you are asking him to do; omitting this part, as is usually the case where a skeleton set of architectural drawings are prepared without details and other engineering drawings, may lead to executing a building that does not meet your requirements and, if you are lucky, you may even bust your budgeted construction figure and still have an incomplete building.
One common building process adopted by the “small scale” developer is what is called “a labour only” contract where the developer buys all the required building materials and delivers such materials to site while the builder just provides labour.
This will entail that the builder will quote for labour only prior to commencement of the project. This approach to construction may be applied successfully where all tender documents have been prepared to enable the contractor accurately assess the scope of works to be carried out and works are inspected by competent persons.
It is also important to agree at the beginning as to who is to supply plant and equipment to be used on the project; if this is not resolved it may lead to over-claims during the construction period because the contractor will charge for hiring wheelbarrows and scaffoldings.
It is also important on labour only contracts to agree on security arrangements for materials delivered to site; if for instance pockets of cement are delivered to site then the pockets “walk away” or in case of poor workmanship which may require to be redone what would happen under such circumstances need to be addressed well before the project commences.
Cost implications resulting from late delivery of building materials which may lead to abortive labour hours as well as delays in completion period are other areas that have led to disputes in this type of building contract.
A number of developers make the fatal mistake of simply employing a “brick layer” who may have learnt brick laying on the job to carry out the entire building operation. Competence comprises of two components; one must have a theoretical grounding to understand why he is doing what he is doing, for instance, he must understand and appreciate why the site has to have the entire top soil removed before excavating foundation trenches or why brick force wire should be part of the materials included in wall construction or designing cement/sand mixes for plastering and mortar joints.
Then after learning the theory of construction he must have the experience of practicing actual construction process and working out the sequence of building processes and trades.
Setting out drawings of buildings on paper with correct corner angles is not the same as setting out and checking the building on site during construction and this is usually the source of problems during construction.
Where a building is not set out correctly, for instance, where a building is designed as a rectangle but is set out as a parallelogram then all future building operations would be affected; it would be difficult to satisfactorily fit in such factory made modular materials like tiles, ceiling panels and roofing sheets.
It is in fact at construction stage that architecturally excellent designs get spoiled if construction drawings are not properly translated into a physical building this is more pronounced where the developer employs incompetent artisans especially where workers are employed separately on a trade by trade basis; a brick layer will construct a wall and leave the site to be followed by another worker employed to fit in doors and windows only to find that openings are not square and walls are not plumb.
Each subsequent worker will blame the previous worker for his incompetence.
The result may be delivery of unsatisfactory product and/or increased building costs partly because of failure to assign liability for poor workmanship.
The principle of knowing them by their “fruits” may be a good approach when assessing the caliber of the builder but this ought to be done with caution because some of the “builders” have a tendency to claim credit for having built this and that building when in actual fact they were just casuals or “ndaka boys” on the project.
There are some builders, as stated above, who approach potential developers with the “sweet song” of leave everything with us we will design and build for you.
While this one-entry approach is theoretically possible it requires a lot of caution because this approach tends to remove checks and balances and separation of responsibilities in the construction process where the builder designs and builds while inspecting and passing his own workmanship and since buildings rarely collapse instantaneously it will take some time before defects start appearing and by that time the “contractor” is long gone.
A building can fail because of either a defective design or poor construction.
It is therefore up to the developer to ensure that his interests are well taken care of.
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