When one works within an industry, industry-specific terminology becomes second nature, but sometimes we inaccurately assume that individuals outside of our industry automatically understand the words and acronyms we so often toss around. Therefore, we thought it made sense to share some common industry terms and definitions to help take the mystery out of construction.

  • BIM: BIM, otherwise known as Building Information Modeling, is the development and use of a computer software model to simulate the construction and operation of a facility. The resulting model, a Building Information Model, is a digital representation of the facility, from which views and data can be extracted and analyzed to generate information that can be used to make decisions and improve the process of delivering the facility.
  • Conceptual Estimating: This is the practice of figuring an approximate cost for a particular project before the drawings are complete and all details are known. Conceptual estimates take in the big-picture view and are used primarily for budgeting purposes.
  • Commissioning: Building commissioning (Cx) is the process of verifying, in new construction, all of the subsystems (i.e. mechanical (HVAC), plumbing, electrical, fire, building envelope, interior systems, lighting, utilities, sustainable systems and security) to fulfill an owner’s project requirements as designed and constructed.
  • Delivery Methods
  • Evidence-Based Design: The process of basing decisions about the built environment on credible research to achieve the best possible outcomes.
  • Experience-Based Design: The process of identify areas for change within an organization and then designing, and building, a unique experience (for customers and staff members) with efficiency and effectiveness that supports an organizations culture and streamlines its processes.
  • General Conditions: These are ancillary project costs that aren’t typically subcontracted or directly attributable to construction activities. These typically include the project manager and superintendent’s salary, field offices and phones, signage, safety equipment, liability insurance, temporary utilities and labor, accounting and estimating services, concrete, soil testing, dumpsters, construction cleaning and final cleaning upon project completion.
  • Guaranteed Maximum Price: Also known as a GMP, with this type of contract, the contractor is compensated for actual costs incurred, on a time and materials basis, plus a fixed fee subject to a guaranteed maximum price. This type of contract allows an owner to enjoy both budgetary certainty and the benefit of any cost savings resulting from underruns.
  • Integrated Project Delivery
  • LEED: A third-party measurement and verification program for owners and builders that provides guidelines for identifying and carrying out sustainable building elements (design, construction, operations, etc.) within their buildings.
  • Lean Construction: This is a production management-based approach to project delivery. Lean changes the way work is completely throughout the delivery process by focusing on maximizing value and minimizing waste. This approach tries to manage and improve construction processes with minimum cost and maximum value by considering customer needs.
  • Life-cycle cost analysis: This is a method for assessing the total cost of facility ownership. It takes into account all costs of acquiring, owning, and disposing of a building or building system. It is especially useful when project alternatives that fulfill the same performance requirements, but differ with respect to initial costs and operating costs, have to be compared in order to select the one that maximizes net savings.
  • Pull Planning: Pull planning is a central practice in the Last Planner® System. It requires a collaborative approach—a team must work backward from a target completion date. Tasks are defined and sequenced so that their completion releases the next portion of work. Work tasks, information flow and material deliveries are planned based on the request (or “pull”) of downstream customers and workflow becomes more reliable and efficient as the waste of waiting, redundancy and overprocessing are eliminated. This type of scheduling will often expose the need for smaller batches, just in time delivery, improved leveling of resources and reduced lead times.
  • Pre-referendum Services: A referendum is a direct vote in which a community is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. Pre-referendum services involve engaging the community regarding needs, developing solutions, and helping to inform the voters of the benefits of an optimum solution.
  • Self-Performed Work: Unlike a traditional broker of construction services, a self-performing general contractor is a builder. Self-performing general contractors use their own labor force to accomplish portions of a construction project, particularly critical path components such as steel erection, concrete work, and masonry. A self-performing contractor brings qualified labor, specialized equipment, and building expertise to a project. These enable the contractor to identify and solve construction challenges, offer scheduling flexibility and assure a higher level of quality.
  • Value Engineering (VE): This is a specific process in which a team collaborates to analyze the essential functions and goals of a project (performance, reliability, quality, safety and lifecycle cost) to explore opportunities to create the best value-added solutions from each of their unique perspectives. VE is not simply a cost-cutting exercise; however, cost reduction is often an outcome of the VE process. VE identifies project issues and provides the team with opportunities to optimize the design while validating project scope, budget, and costs. The goal of VE is to meet the objectives of the project at the lowest total cost (capital, operation and maintenance) over the life of the project.