For the Tulsa commercial contractor, there are several roles that must be fulfilled to oversee a project and ensure that the project is done correctly. There are administrative and onsite roles that must be fulfilled to ensure that the project is successfully complete. The American institute for Constructors or AIC defined project executives below:
“…The specific title of this position may change from company to company but titles such as vice president of operations, construction manager, and project executive have often been used. These people oversee multiple projects and have many project managers report to them. Their role is to make sure the project is going well from a high level. They look at overall profitability, scheduling trends, and the relationship with the owner. They are rarely involved in the day-to-day operations but may attend owner/architect/contractor update meetings occasionally. Their salaries are often part of office overhead and not part of the site-specific general conditions. In addition to their involvement with the specific projects, they are also involved with senior leadership to set strategic goals and the direction of the company…”
Tulsa commercial contractors have several different responsibilities. At the top of the project is the project manager, or a Senior Project Manager depending on the project. The AIC describes senior project managers and project managers as follows:
“…Senior project managers (SPMs) are responsible for the overall success of the project. SPMs may be responsible for several smaller projects or one large project. Their daily responsibilities include developing/managing the overall project plan, drafting subcontracts and purchase orders, processing progress payments, scheduling, change orders, negotiating claims, and managing relationships with the owner and designer. They are also responsible for job-site HR responsibilities, such as evaluations and disciplinary actions…The responsibilities of project managers (PMs) are the same as those of SPMs for small to midsize projects. On large projects, there may be multiple PMs to support the SPM. On these projects, the PMs will be assigned specific aspects of the project to manage, such as core and shell or the MEPs…”
At the project site, the Tulsa commercial contractor will have personnel onsite to oversee the day-to-day construction of the project. The AIC describes senior superintendents, superintendents, and crew leaders in this way:
“…Senior superintendents report to the SPMs or PMs. Their core responsibility is to the field. They are responsible for planning and scheduling construction activities, coordinating with subcontractors, maintaining daily logs and records, coordinating changes in the field, managing inspections, quality control and assurance, safety inspections, and all activities related to putting work in place… The responsibilities of the superintendents are the same as those of the senior superintendents on small to midsize projects. On large projects there may be multiple superintendents to support the senior superintendent. On these projects each superintendent will be assigned to a particular aspect of the job. This could be several trades, such as concrete and steel, or a particular area or phase of the project… The position of crew leader is commonly called a field superintendent. Their responsibilities are to support the superintendent in the field. They conduct activities such as leading crews for a specific task, preparing daily time cards, conducting safety inspections, performing manual labor in support of crews, and training new personnel…”
Depending on the size of the project and the size of the organization of the Tulsa commercial contractor, there can be people who fall into or between several positions and the AIC calls this role a project engineer, define as follows:
“…The project engineer position is often called a field engineer or assistant project manager depending on the company. Their core responsibilities are to support the project manager and superintendent although their career track generally follows a path that leads to project management. Specific activities they will be responsible for are managing submittals, requests for information (RFIs), and meeting minutes. Other responsibilities include taking field dimensions, negotiating minor change orders, scheduling updates, coordinating BIM files, tracking and documenting LEED points, creating punch lists, closing out documents, and anything else that may be required by the PM or superintendent to complete the project…”
Tulsa commercial contractors are responsible for the flow of information from subcontractor or vendor to the architect or engineer. Some of the most important information to travel between the parties are submittals and shop drawings. The AIC describes submittals and shop drawings in this way:
“…The term submittal is a general term that refers to product/material data, shop drawings, and samples required by the designer to be reviewed prior to installation. Which materials required to be submitted, the number of copies, and the specific information to be provided can be found in the technical specification section of the project manual. The purpose of the submittals is to verify that the contractor has understood the design intent and/or to complete the design to fulfill the designer’s intent.
In most cases, submittals are first assembled by the Tulsa Commercial Contractor subcontractor. Product/material data, commonly called cut sheets are produced by the manufacturer of the material. Cut sheets provide the specific tests and standards that the material meets. It also may include the various options the material or equipment has and may be used by the subcontractor to order the material from the vendor. Shop drawings are different than product/material data sheets in that they are usually custom documents for the specific project. Shop drawings often resemble the designer’s drawings except have a great deal more detail. The purpose of shop drawings is to show the designer the specific means and methods for meeting the design intent of the contract drawings. Approved shop drawings are then used to fabricate and install the material.
Once the subcontractor assembles the product data, shop drawings, and samples, the submittal package is formally submitted to the general contractor. There should be a transmittal that accompanies the submittal package that specifically indicates what is submitted, the number of copies included, and what the relevant specification sections are. The Tulsa Commercial Contractor then reviews the package and verifies that what is submitted is consistent with the contract documents. In addition, it is the general contractor’s responsibility to coordinate all of the trades’ submittals to avoid conflicts. For example, the elevator submittals should be coordinated with the structural steel shop drawings to make sure the shaft opening is the correct dimensions. The trade-specific information of the elevator shaft size won’t be shown on the contract documents but is a critical means-and-methods responsibility of the contractor. After the review, the contractors put their stamps on the drawings indicating whether or not they accept the submittals. Most contractors’ stamps will indicate whether the submittal 1) is accepted, 2) is accepted with comments, 3) needs to be revised and resubmitted, or 4) is rejected. Contractors will commonly use green ink for their review, architects will use red, and engineers blue…”
Tulsa commercial contractors have to oversee a variety of trades and coordinate the work and material of the parties involved and ensure that the process follows the plans and specifications.