Expert Consulting Solutions and Change Order Management
Scale your business, increase revenue, and protect your profitability.
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Pre-Construction Consulting
Start the job off right with expert input before breaking ground. Oak & Iron offers the below Pre-Construction Consulting services to prevent errors before they weigh the project down.
Contractual Document Review
Construction Sequencing
Constructability Review
Structural Steel Connection Review
Structural Steel Ease of Erection Review
Trade Coordination
Project Budgeting
Cost Estimation
Estimation Support
Value Engineering and Cost Optimization
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Change Order Management
Change Management is a critical driver of profitability on contract work. Oak & Iron provides the below services to revolutionize how contract changes are managed, compiled, and presented to clients to optimize cost recovery and drive project profitability.
Contract Review for Change Order Requirements
Contractual Document Review
Contractor/Subcontractor Coordination
Documentation and Compliance Support
Change Identification
Automated Change Notifications
Digital Change Tracking and Reporting
Change Event Reporting
Estimation of Costs
Scheduling Impact
Sequence of Erection Impact
Compilation of Costs
Preparation of Consolidated Change Reports
Parallel Change Management/Change Management Support
Presentation of Consolidated Change Reports to Owner/Senior Executives
Expert Backup for Change Negotiations
Claim Preparation
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Operational Efficiency Consulting
Margins are so tight in the Construction Industry that you can’t afford to be inefficient. Oak & Iron offers the below Operational Efficiency Consulting services to streamline processes and expand your margins.
Comprehensive Operational Audits
Process Mapping and Workflow Analysis
Optimization and Efficiency Recommendations
Performance Metrics
KPI Evaluation
Implementation Support and Project Management
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Development
Waste Reduction and Value Stream Mapping
Organizational Structure Review
Role Clarity and Responsibility Alignment
Change Management Support
Talent Utilization and Skills Gap Analysis
Operational Strategy Alignment with Business Goals
Pre-Construction Consulting
Contractual Document Review
O&I will conduct a comprehensive review of the contractual documents, including all design drawings, scheduling, site logistics plans, etc, to identify areas that need attention and potential hazards that warrant further investigation.
Construction Sequencing
The sequence of construction activities will be investigated to determine if conflicts exist, provide suggestions to resolve conflicts, and optimize construction scheduling to ensure the project runs smoothly. This service typically includes a comprehensive analysis of the different trade activities, resource and manpower loading of each subcontractor, site constraints, and potential logistical issues. Additionally, the sequencing or blocking diagrams for each trade will be reviewed to ensure there are no erection continuity issues present.
Constructability Review
Contractual documents issued for construction, especially in the early stages of a project, frequently have inherent contradictions that complicate the constructability of the structure. This service provides a sanity check that the structure as currently detailed is constructable in a manner that is safe, efficient, and consistent with the highest industry standards.
Structural Steel Connection Review
For steel structures, connection design is often delegated to the structural steel fabricator and erector, who aim to ensure the connections are erectable, safe, and straightforward to fabricate. When the EOR takes point on designing connections, they are often designed for loading not for practicality or ease of fabrication. This service reviews the structural steel connections, ensuring they are economical from a fabrication perspective, safe, and erection efficient. In addition, this offering can be provided on an ongoing basis, helping to guide the detailers to ensure structural steel connections that arise during the project’s lifecycle conform to these standards.
Structural Steel Ease of Erection Review
Efficient and safe structural steel erection benefits all project stakeholders. This service aims to ensure that the logistics surrounding structural steel erection are up to industry standards, from site lay down areas, shakeout activities, blocking sequencing, load list and logistics system set up, hoisting areas, and workflow.
Trade Coordination
O&I will contribute to the trade coordination effort, increasing stakeholder collaboration and helping trade partners contribute to optimizing the pre-construction phase, ensuring their workflow can proceed efficiently.
Project Budgeting
O&I can contribute to establishing project budgets, cost analysis, and overall project financials during the pre-construction phase, providing more stability and confidence during the early phases of the project.
Cost Estimation
O&I provides cost estimation services to help clients explore different options, make important decisions, and generate intelligent solutions during the design and pre-construction phases.
Estimation Support
Working in tandem with the client’s staff, O&I can help cover knowledge gaps, provide additional estimation capacity, and analyze previous estimations to ensure compliance and accuracy. This parallel service can support the growth and expansion needs of your business while efforts are made to hire and onboard additional in-house estimators.
Value Engineering and Cost Optimization
O&I will conduct a comprehensive review of the project to identify areas that can be optimized through materials substitutions, means & methods substitutions, alternate connections, design modifications, and construction methods to reduce costs while maintaining or improving quality and schedule concerns.
Change Order Management
Core Services
Contract Review for Change Order Requirements
At the start of each job, a redacted copy of our client’s master contract with the owner will be requested, for the purpose of reviewing the relevant Change Order requirements, specifically the list of contractual documents and their revisions, change notification deadline, submission deadline, and formatting requirements, to ensure all deliverables are compliant.
Contractual Document Review
As new documents are issued by the Architect, EOR, and/or owner/client, O&I will receive, file, review, and recommend action based on revision and context analysis.
Contractor/Subcontractor Coordination
Large contracts involving multiple tiers of subcontractors can be a bear to manage. O&I can provide coordination services to help align different subcontractors during the design and detailing phase, helping ensure collaboration and the resolution of clashes before they snowball into large issues.
Documentation and Compliance Support
Large contracts often require significant reporting and document compliance, which O&I can help manage. This typically includes as-builts, material certifications, Mill testing documents, coating specification sheets, warranties, and other compliance documentation.
Change Identification and Highlighting
As new contractual documents are received, O&I will review and identify changes introduced by the new documents, highlighting them on the relevant drawings and creating a report of all changes introduced, to be presented to our client.
Automated Change Notifications
As changes are identified, automated Change Notifications to the Owner will be issued within the required deadlines, notifying them of the presence of the change, providing a rough order of magnitude of the cost and potential schedule impacts, to be further refined via the estimation process.
Digital Change Tracking and Reporting
As change notifications are sent to the Owner, Change Event numbers will be requested from the Owner, and internal tracking numbers assigned to the changes, ensuring consistent and reliable tracking of change events. Includes filing, updating, and current set functions.
Change Event Reporting
As the project progresses, regular Change Event Reports (CERs) will be issued to ensure the client is updated on the current status of each change, the values, outstanding amounts, negotiated amounts, agreed upon amounts, and any potential issues.
Estimation of Costs
Direct and indirect costs of each change will be evaluated and a detailed estimation summary will be provided for the client’s review. As part of this service, O&I can work with our clients to ensure rates and markup requirements are met, providing seamless integration with existing client standards.
Scheduling Impact
As part of the change estimation process, O&I can provide schedule impact analysis for each change event, providing an estimate of the duration of schedule delays, impacts to other trades, and other indirect impacts from each change event.
Sequence of Erection Impact
As part of the change estimation process, an analysis of the impact of the changes on the overall erection sequence can be provided, highlighting sequencing problems that may not be evident during a cursory review. This service allows the client to recoup indirect costs that may otherwise be missed, ensuring limited out-of-pocket impacts.
Compilation of Costs
O&I acknowledges that other subcontractors will need to provide estimates for their own work areas. O&I can act in the client’s interest by compiling costs from other subcontractors, integrating them into the final proposal, and consolidating any backup required to support the claims. As part of this service, O&I can also communicate directly with other subcontractors to request information, pricing, or updates on behalf of the client.
Preparation of Consolidated Change Reports
As a final deliverable for each change event, O&I will provide a polished Change Report including all pricing data, backup documentation, and schedule impacts to the client, with a report indicating the primary arguments that senior management should push as negotiating vectors
Parallel Change Management/Change Management Support
In lieu of taking over the management of changes entirely, or in order to support your organization as you scale, O&I can provide parallel change management services, allowing clients to scale operations and continue delivering on contracts while hiring operations work to ramp up internal capacity.
Additional Services
Presentation of Consolidated Change Reports to Owner/Senior Executives
As an additional service, O&I representatives can aid in the presentation of the final Change Report to the Owner, helping to explain the methodology behind the preparation of the report, the estimating process, the historical context, and present the recovery case for the client.
Expert Backup for Change Negotiations
As an additional service, O&I representatives can serve as experts during the negotiation process to further support our deliverables, including interfacing with arbiters, legal counsel, and other resources to provide a consolidated defense for the client.
Claim Preparation
As an additional service, O&I can aid in the preparation of complex claims for large project issues such as schedule shifts, global market fluctuation impacts, act-of-god events, jobsite safety shutdowns, etc. The scope and breadth of this additional service is to be determined on a case-by-case basis with the client.
Operational Efficiency Consulting
Comprehensive Operational Audits
O&I will review all the existing policies and procedures in place in each department, mapping the workflows, and identifying opportunities for improvement. A comprehensive report will be issued to management detailing the areas that could be improved upon and the potential efficiency gains associated with each option.
Process Mapping and Workflow Analysis
The process maps and workflow analysis will be presented to management, providing a detailed description of how each department works, the different policies and procedures in place, how they interact with other departments, and how improvements can be made.
Optimization and Efficiency Recommendations
The results of the audit will be translated into a set of recommendations that can be applied throughout each department in the organization to help modernize operations and reduce waste.
Performance Metrics
If desired by the client, O&I can set performance metrics by department, aid in the establishment of monitoring procedures, and set up data analytics to help management interpret the information provided.
KPI Evaluation
O&I can evaluate established KPIs, audit current policies and procedures for alignment with the selected KPIs, and provide recommendations of how to best align policies and procedures moving forward.
Implementation Support and Project Management
O&I can conduct an audit of current project management policies and procedures, provide recommendations of how to modernize and streamline project management within the organization, and provide implementation support to help eliminate waste and inefficiencies.
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) Development
For clients looking to establish standard operating procedures, whether in one department or for the entire organization, O&I can help review, recommend action, and provide implementation support as your business works through this transition.
Waste Reduction and Value Stream Mapping
Value stream mapping is a Lean Manufacturing tool used to visualize, analyze, and improve the material and information flows within a process to deliver a product or service. By creating a detailed map of the current state and a future state, organizations identify non-value-adding activities (waste) and implement changes to optimize the entire workflow, reduce costs, and increase efficiency.
Organizational Structure Review
O&I can review the organizational structure of your organization, identifying departments with staffing issues, and providing suggestions to streamline workflow.
Role Clarity and Responsibility Alignment
As part of the organizational structure review, O&I can perform a role audit, identifying the various positions and roles throughout the organization, document their responsibilities, direct reports, and other duties, then provide recommendations to management to reduce waste and increase efficiency across the organization.
Change Management Support
Implementation of changes within an organization is tumultuous, even when well managed. O&I can aid management in the implementation of these changes, helping to explain and answer employee questions or concerns.
Talent Utilization and Skills Gap Analysis
Identifying skilled internal talent is critical to the success of organizations, such that key positions can be filled with internal candidates, enriching company knowledge base and motivating employees.
Operational Strategy Alignment with Business Goals
O&I can provide a comprehensive audit of the overall organizational strategy, its alignment with current policies, procedures, goals, and objectives, and provide recommendations to ensure any non-aligned areas are corrected.
