by: Ronald L. Geren, AIA, CSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP
ÏQuality is never an accident; it is always the result of intelligent effort. John Ruskin, author and critic of art and architecture
Nobody likes to redo work that he or she has already completed. However, time and again, some design professionals seem satisfied to let the building department review their designs and then make any corrections that are noted. This may work well for very small projects, where the impact of a correction has minimal effect on the overall design. Large, complex projects, on the other hand, will likely suffer delays and significant changes if code compliance errors are left for the building department to find. For example, if the design professional for a multistory building miscalculated the occupant load on the low side for a restaurant on the top story, the error might require widening of stairs, or worse, the addition of another stair. Checking or inspecting work after completion is referred to asquality control, or QC. For construction, the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) definesquality controlas the Ïprocedures for evaluating completed activities and elements of the design for conformance with the requirements. Although some design firms use the local building department to perform the QC review, other design firms may have internal reviews conducted at the end of document production either by in-house staff or third-party peer reviewers to perform the QC review. However, relying only on QC to ensure a quality project is neither efficient nor cost effectiveÓregardless of who performs the review. Read More...
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