5.

Project mobilisation phase

ARE 4122
CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT

By
TADESSE AYALEW

LECTURER

CHAIR OF CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT, EiABC

5.1 Introduction

 This chapter deals with many of the activities that take place

between the award of the construction contract and the beginning

of construction work in the field.

 Some of this work may have begun prior to, and in anticipation of,

the award, and much of it will continue into the days and weeks
during which fieldwork is beginning.
5.2 Legal and contractual issues
 The contractor may be required to make a number of

arrangements for various kinds of ‘paperwork’ as part of the pre-

construction mobilization.

 Because these requirements vary from project to project and

especially from country to country, we deal with them in a general

way.
5.3 Bonding

 A surety bond is a legal instrument issued by a third party to

guarantee the obligations of a first party to a second party. This
suretyship can be thought of as a guarantee of performance.
 In construction,

 the first party, or the one that takes on the obligation, is the
contractor, or the principal.
 The second party, the owner with whom the contractor enters, or
anticipates entering, into a contract is the obligee.
 The third party, the bonding company that guarantees the obligation,
is the surety
 If the principal (contractor) fails to carry out its obligations, the surety

makes good the loss to the owner, but the surety then has recourse to
the contractor for reimbursement if possible.

 Of the three types of bonds the contractor may be required to obtain,

the tender bond (or bid bond, or proposal bond) is issued during the contractor
selection phase, whereas the other two, the performance bond and the labor and
material payment bond, are obtained during project mobilization

 The tender bond provides the owner with bid security. The purpose is

to protect the owner against loss if the selected contractor does not
begin the project as directed.
 A performance bond acts to protect the owner from nonperformance by the
contractor.
 Upon signing the contract, the owner is entitled to receive what it
contracted for: a completed project in substantial accordance with
the contract documents.
 If the contractor (the principal, in the parlance used above) defaults by
not delivering in accordance with the contract, the surety is
responsible to the owner (obligee) to complete the project or have it
completed, at the price agreed upon between the owner and the
defaulting contractor, provided that the owner has met its
obligations under the contract.
 A labour and material payment bond also provides protection to the owner, but

in a different way. Such a bond protects the owner against claims from
subcontractors, material suppliers, workers and others that the
contractor has not paid them moneys due.

 If the contractor fails to pay outstanding charges incurred in

connection with the project, the surety will pay those debts.

 Tender bonds are furnished with the tender. Performance and payment

bonds are furnished to the owner during project mobilization, within a

specified time limit after contract signing (or perhaps at the time of
signing).
5.4 Insurance

 Although the available insurance coverages and the regulations

governing insurance vary among different countries, the

contractor, in mobilising for the project, will always have to
arrange for appropriate insurance.

 This section gives a brief review of the types of insurance

utilised in the construction industry.

 An insurance policy is an agreement under which the insurer agrees to

assume financial responsibility for a loss or liability covered by the

policy. The insurance company has the duty;

(1) to defend the contractor if a claim covered by the policy is brought

against the contractor and

(2) to protect the contractor against loss covered by the policy.

 As consideration for the insurance company’s promise to provide such

protection, the contractor pays a fee, called apremium.

 The contract with the owner will specify certain types of required

insurance coverage to be purchased and maintained by the contractor.

 Beyond that, some insurance may be a legal requirement even if not

stipulated in the contract.

 Furthermore, the contractor may choose to carry other insurance not

required by law or by contract. It is helpful to divide the types of

construction insurance into;
 property insurance,

 liability insurance,

 employee insurance and other types.

 Insurance against the contractor’s own plant and other property will probably

not be required by the contract, but the contractor may choose to purchase this
coverage.

 A common form of liability insurance is comprehensive general liability insurance,

which protects the contractor, in a single policy, against liability to the public.
 It covers injuries to people not employed on the project and damage to the property

of others arising from operations on the project.

 Various other kinds of coverage may be included, such as liability to the public due

to actions of subcontractors, completed-operations coverage for work handed over

to the owner, professional liability insurance for design and other professional
services rendered by the contractor and protection for injury and property damage
caused by the contractor’s vehicles.
 Among common forms of employee insurance, some of which may be required

as part of a collective bargaining contract, are employee benefit

insurance, covering medical and hospital costs beyond those provided by
workers’ compensation, social security or similar government
programmes
5.4 Programming, planning and scheduling
 With the contract in hand and the project mobilization phase

underway, the contractor will undertake to develop a more

detailed plan and schedule for the project’s time dimensions.

 The result will be a document that will assist with deploying

personnel and equipment, procuring materials and supplies and

planning cash flows.

 Equally as important, it will provide the basis for monitoring and

controlling project progress as the project proceeds.

5.5 Organizing the worksite

 An important activity as the contractor begins work in the field is

to set up the site in a manner that will allow the work to proceed
efficiently and effectively.

Temporary services and facilities

 The following are among the various temporary services and

facilities that will likely be needed.

5.5.1 Temporary services and facilities

 The following are among the various temporary services and

facilities that will likely be needed.
 Offices

 The office must be lockable and secure, have adequate desk space
and areas for accessing drawings and other contract documents,
provide wall space to display the project programme, have meeting
and storage space and, if possible, offer a direct view of the worksite.
 The contractor may be responsible for providing office space for
design professional and owner representatives or subcontractors;
even if not, locations for such quarters must be provided in the site
layout plan.
 Workshops and indoor storage
 On a construction project of even modest size, it is likely that some on-site
fabrication will be required and often such work is performed at inside
locations protected from the weather.

 Temporary housing and food service

 The ‘construction camp’ is an important feature of many projects in remote

locations. When a project is located such that it is unreasonable for workers
to return home every night, sleeping quarters and food service will be
provided.

 Temporary utilities

 The office and shops will need the usual kinds of utilities, such as electric

power, water and communication.

 Sanitary facilities
 Drinking water, washing water and toilets must be provided for
employees, including those of subcontractors.
 Medical and first aid facilities

 If the project is sufficiently large, the contractor may need to

provide a separate building, staffed with medical personnel, to care
for the injuries and other health issues that are likely to arise.
 Access and delivery

 Like any other community, the worksite must be planned so that it

has adequate access to it and within it for the movement of people
and the delivery and handling of materials.
Storage/laydown areas
 The systematic storage of materials ensures savings in time when it is

time to install the materials. These storage areas are frequently referred
to as laydown areas on the jobsite.

 An area should be established for the delivery of each major material.

Sorting of materials as they are delivered will reduce confusion later. The
construction programme will be a helpful tool to determine when and
in what quantities the various materials will need to be stored.

 Sufficient space must be provided not only for the materials themselves

but also for handling equipment to manoeuvre in aisles or roadways.

 Jobsite security must be considered in planning the layout and

staffing of the worksite. Any construction project is of interest to

the public. While the contractor probably appreciates this interest,
the public must nonetheless be excluded from the site, for reasons
of both safety of the public and security of the completed works,
the construction equipment and the stored materials.
 Quarries and borrow areas
 Worksite planning may involve the contractor in acquiring and
developing sites that will provide rock, gravel and other materials..
 Depending on the nature of the project, these sites may be on the
worksite itself or some distance away.
 On many projects, the development of such sites and the loading and
hauling of the materials represent major proportions of the total project
cost.
 Thus, access to rock quarries and borrow areas, the movement of
vehicles and loading equipment within them and the routes used to haul
to the areas where the materials will be deposited deserve detailed
planning.
5.5.2 The site layout plan
 All of the worksite organisation considerations discussed above will
converge in a plan that will be described in writing and shown on a
drawing or series of drawings.
 According to Mincks and Johnston (1998), the jobsite layout plan
includes the following: jobsite space allocation, jobsite access, material
handling, worker transportation, temporary facilities, jobsite security
etc.
 Helpful references for establishing the plan include the construction
documents, the programme, technical data on lifting and conveyance
equipment, local codes, safety standards, size and weights of the large
anticipated lifting loads and information from subcontractors and their
storage needs.
5.6 Buying out the job

 The term buyout, in the context of construction project

mobilisation, refers to procuring the materials and equipment

that will be installed in the project and arranging
subcontracts.

 It includes both selecting suppliers and subcontractors

and finalising their purchase orders or subcontracts.

5.6.1 Material procurement

 The materials procurement process consists of several interrelated steps, as

follows:
 receipt and evaluation of offers,

 purchasing or placement of the purchase order,

 approval by the owner or owner’s representative,

 expediting or contact with the supplier to assure timely

delivery, fabrication, shipping, delivery and inspection.

5.6.2 Subcontracting
 The contractor’s other major responsibility under ‘buying out the

job’ is to arrange subcontract for those portions of the work the

contractor will not perform itself.

 First, the contractor must decide which work will be

subcontracted, a decision that is made, for most subcontracts,
before the project mobilization phase.

 Then, proposals will be received and analyzed and finally,

negotiations lead to finalising the subcontracts.

5.7 Project staffing

 To carry out the work in the field requires people and those

people must be organized in effective relationships.

 This section considers the organization structure at the

worksite and the sources of the laborers whose hands, minds,

tools and equipment will assemble the final product in the
field.
Thank you