AEC definitions
The terms that run a construction project
Plain-language definitions of the terms, documents, processes, and roles on a construction project. Each page answers the question the way someone would type it, including what the term commits people to and where the process usually slips.
Industry terms
The words people search before they open a set: what the industry is called, how models are described, and how specifications are numbered.
AEC (Architecture, Engineering, and Construction)
What Is AEC?
AEC stands for Architecture, Engineering, and Construction. It is the group of professions that plan, design, and build buildings and infrastructure, from the architect and the engineers through the contractors who put the work in place.
Read the definitionBIM (Building Information Modeling)
What Is BIM?
BIM stands for building information modeling. It is the process of creating and using a model that carries both geometry and data about building elements, so architects, engineers, and contractors can coordinate and query the design instead of redrawing it in isolated files.
Read the definitionVDC (Virtual Design and Construction)
What Is VDC?
VDC stands for virtual design and construction. It is the practice of using building models and project data to plan construction: coordination, sequencing, quantities, and logistics, before crews build the same work in the field.
Read the definitionMEP (Mechanical, Electrical, and Plumbing)
What Is MEP?
MEP stands for mechanical, electrical, and plumbing. It is the set of building systems that heat and cool, power and light, and supply water and drain waste, and the engineers and contractors who design and install them.
Read the definitionCSI MasterFormat
What Is CSI MasterFormat?
MasterFormat is the Construction Specifications Institute system for organizing construction specifications into numbered divisions and sections. A six-digit section number such as 03 30 00 tells you the subject of that spec, and where to file a submittal that cites it.
Read the definitionLOD (Level of Development)
What Is LOD in BIM?
LOD in BIM means level of development: how completely an element’s geometry and attached information have been resolved, and how much other team members may rely on them. It is not the same thing as how detailed the element looks on screen.
Read the definitionBuilding Code
What Is a Building Code?
A building code is the set of minimum legal requirements for the design and construction of buildings in a jurisdiction, covering structural safety, fire and life safety, accessibility, and related systems. Most U.S. cities adopt a model code such as the International Building Code, plus local amendments.
Read the definitionFire protection
What Is Fire Protection?
Fire protection is the work that detects and suppresses fire and that keeps it from spreading. Active systems include sprinklers, standpipes, and alarms. Passive protection includes rated walls, floors, and spray fireproofing. The building code decides what a project needs. A fire-protection engineer or a qualified designer designs the active systems.
Read the definitionHVAC
What Is HVAC?
HVAC stands for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. It is the mechanical systems that control temperature and bring outdoor air into a building. In construction it is the H of a broader mechanical scope, and part of MEP. The mechanical engineer designs it. The mechanical contractor installs it.
Read the definitionInternational Building Code
What Is the International Building Code?
The International Building Code, or IBC, is a model building code published by the International Code Council. It is not law until a state or city adopts it. Jurisdictions adopt an edition, often with amendments. The requirement on your project is the adopted code, not the latest IBC on a bookshelf.
Read the definitionDocuments and deliverables
The instruments a project exchanges: what each one is for, who issues it, and what it commits its author to.
RFI (Request for Information)
What Is an RFI in Construction?
RFI stands for Request for Information. In construction it is a formal written question from the contractor to the design team asking for clarification of something in the drawings or specifications, and the written answer becomes part of the contract record.
Read the definitionSubmittals in Construction
What Are Submittals in Construction?
A submittal is the package a contractor provides to the design team to demonstrate that the product they intend to buy, or the assembly they intend to build, matches what the contract documents specify. The design team reviews it and returns a review action.
Read the definitionShop Drawing
What Is a Shop Drawing in Construction?
A shop drawing is a detailed drawing prepared by a fabricator, subcontractor or supplier showing exactly how a specific component will be made and installed. It is submitted to the design team for review against the contract documents before fabrication begins.
Read the definitionConstruction Specification
What Is a Specification in Construction?
A specification is the written portion of the contract documents. It states the quality, materials, standards, workmanship and administrative requirements that drawings cannot convey, and it is read together with the drawings as a single set of obligations.
Read the definitionConstruction Documents (CDs)
What Are Construction Documents?
Construction documents, or CDs, are the drawings and specifications that describe the work in enough detail to permit it, price it, and build it. When the owner and contractor sign the agreement, those documents become part of the contract documents.
Read the definition30% CD (30 Percent Construction Documents)
What Is a 30% CD?
A 30% CD is a construction document set that is about 30 percent complete: plans established, major systems selected, and specifications started, but details, schedules, and coordination still open. On many civil and federal jobs the same checkpoint is called 30% design, and that package is earlier than a building project’s 30% CD.
Read the definition60% CD (60 Percent Construction Documents)
What Is a 60% CD?
A 60% CD is a construction document set about 60 percent complete. Most plans are drawn, major systems are sized, and specifications are in draft, so disciplines can coordinate before details and the project manual lock in at 90 percent.
Read the definition90% CD (90 Percent Construction Documents)
What Is a 90% CD?
A 90% CD is a construction document set that is nearly complete: drawings coordinated, specifications written, and schedules filled, issued for a final review before the team seals the set for bid or permit.
Read the definitionIssued for Construction (IFC)
What Does Issued for Construction Mean?
Issued for construction, stamped IFC, means this is the drawing set the contractor is authorized to build from. It incorporates the bid documents and the addenda issued before award. On a drawing it does not mean an IFC file, which is a model exchange format.
Read the definitionAddendum
What Is an Addendum in Construction?
An addendum is a written change to the bidding documents, issued before the owner and contractor sign the contract. It modifies the drawings or specifications so every bidder prices the same scope. After award, the same kind of change is a change order, an ASI, or a construction change directive, not an addendum.
Read the definitionASI (Architect’s Supplemental Instruction)
What Is an ASI in Construction?
ASI stands for Architect’s Supplemental Instruction. It is a written order for a minor change in the work that does not change the contract sum or the contract time. If the change affects price or time, it needs a change order or a construction change directive instead.
Read the definitionConstruction Change Directive (CCD)
What Is a Construction Change Directive?
A construction change directive, or CCD, is a written order directing the contractor to change the work before the owner and contractor have agreed on the price or time adjustment. The work proceeds, and the adjustment is determined afterward by the method in the contract.
Read the definitionChange Order
What Is a Change Order in Construction?
A change order is a written amendment to the construction contract, signed by the owner and contractor, that modifies the scope of work, the contract price, the contract time, or all three. Until it is signed, the original contract still governs.
Read the definitionBasis of Design
What Is a Basis of Design?
A basis of design is the engineer’s statement of the criteria, assumptions, and often the specific products used to design a system. Substitutions and commissioning are judged against it. It is the design response to the owner’s requirements, not the requirements themselves.
Read the definitionPay Application
What Is a Pay Application in Construction?
A pay application, or pay app, is the contractor’s formal request for a progress payment. It bills a percentage complete against each line of the schedule of values, minus retainage and previous payments, for a defined period.
Read the definitionSchedule of Values (SOV)
What Is a Schedule of Values?
A schedule of values, or SOV, is a breakdown of the contract sum into line items the project will use to measure progress payments. The owner or architect approves it before the first pay application, and every later pay app bills against those same lines.
Read the definitionNotice to Proceed (NTP)
What Is a Notice to Proceed?
A notice to proceed, or NTP, is the owner’s written direction authorizing the contractor to start the work. On most contracts the NTP date starts the contract time. It is not the award letter, and it is not permission to ignore required submittals or permits.
Read the definitionCertificate of Occupancy (CO)
What Is a Certificate of Occupancy?
A certificate of occupancy, or CO, is the document from the authority having jurisdiction that says a building may be occupied because it complies with the adopted codes. A temporary certificate, a TCO, allows occupancy with listed conditions still open. Neither one is the contractor’s certificate of substantial completion.
Read the definitionO&M Manual (Operations and Maintenance)
What Is an O&M Manual?
An O&M manual is the operations and maintenance record turned over at closeout. It collects product data, startup reports, maintenance procedures, and warranties for the equipment that was actually installed, so the owner’s facilities staff can run the building.
Read the definitionAs-Built Drawings
What Are As-Built Drawings?
As-built drawings are the marked-up set showing what was actually constructed, including every deviation from the original design. They are produced by the contractor during construction and handed over at closeout as part of the permanent record of the building.
Read the definitionTransmittal
What Is a Transmittal in Construction?
A transmittal is the cover record that accompanies documents moving between parties on a project. It states what was sent, in what revision, by whom, to whom, on what date and for what purpose. It carries no approval of its own: the transmittal proves the transfer happened, while the documents inside it carry the content.
Read the definitionAllowance
What Is an Allowance in Construction?
An allowance is a fixed sum or quantity written into the contract for a part of the work that is not fully selected or designed. The contractor includes that sum in the price. When the actual cost is known, the contract sum is adjusted up or down by the difference.
Read the definitionBid alternate
What Is a Bid Alternate?
A bid alternate is a separately priced piece of scope on the bid form. An add alternate states the cost to add work. A deduct alternate states the credit to remove work. The owner decides which alternates to accept, in the order the instructions require, without asking bidders to reprice the base.
Read the definitionBid bond
What Is a Bid Bond?
A bid bond is the bidder's security for the bid itself. The surety promises that if the bidder is awarded the job, the bidder will sign the contract and deliver the performance and payment bonds. If the bidder refuses, the owner can recover against the bid bond, up to its amount, typically the difference between that bid and the next one the owner accepts.
Read the definitionBid package
What Is a Bid Package?
A bid package is the set of documents a bidder is asked to price. For a whole project it includes drawings, specifications, the bid form, instructions, and addenda. A general contractor also builds trade bid packages that carve the same documents into subcontractor scopes.
Read the definitionBill of quantities
What Is a Bill of Quantities?
A bill of quantities is a document that lists the measured items of work, prepared so every bidder prices the same quantities. Contractors enter unit rates. The total is the price. It is standard in many international and quantity-surveying contracts. In U.S. lump-sum practice each bidder often does their own takeoff instead.
Read the definitionBlueprint
What Is a Blueprint?
A blueprint is the common name for a construction drawing: the sheet that shows how a building is laid out, sized, and put together. The word comes from a white-on-blue chemical print that construction stopped using decades ago. People still say blueprint when they mean the plan set.
Read the definitionBuilder's risk insurance
What Is Builder's Risk Insurance?
Builder's risk insurance covers physical loss to the work under construction, from causes the policy lists, such as fire, wind, or theft of installed materials. The contract says who buys it. It is not liability insurance, and it is not a performance bond.
Read the definitionBuilding section
What Is a Building Section?
A building section is a drawing of the building as if it were cut through on a vertical plane, with the portion in front removed. It shows floor-to-floor heights, the structure, and how roofs, floors, and walls stack. The cut line is marked on the floor plan.
Read the definitionColumn grid
What Is a Column Grid?
A column grid is the set of reference lines on the drawings, usually lettered one way and numbered the other, that locate the columns and align every discipline's plans. A point such as A-3 is the intersection of grid A and grid 3. Dimensions locate the grids. The grids then locate the building.
Read the definitionConstruction bulletin
What Is a Construction Bulletin?
A construction bulletin is a package of revised drawings or instructions issued during construction. It tells the field what the new design is. It changes the contract price or time only when a change order, or another instrument the contract names, says so. An addendum is the cousin used during bidding, before the contract is signed.
Read the definitionConstruction drawing
What Is a Construction Drawing?
A construction drawing is a sheet in the contract set, prepared by the architect or an engineer, that shows the location, size, and relationship of the work. Together with the specifications, the drawings describe what the contractor is required to build.
Read the definitionCoordination drawing
What Is a Coordination Drawing?
A coordination drawing is a combined overlay, usually produced by the contractor during construction, that shows how two or more trades will install their work in the same space. It is built from shop drawings, not from the design model alone.
Read the definitionCut sheet
What Is a Cut Sheet?
A cut sheet is a manufacturer's product page, sometimes called a catalog cut, submitted to identify the exact item proposed. In practice it is the everyday form of product data. The model, options, and accessories have to be marked, or the page is only advertising.
Read the definitionDetail drawing
What Is a Detail Drawing?
A detail drawing is an enlarged drawing of one condition: a jamb, a flashing, a footing, a connection. It is drawn at a scale large enough to dimension the pieces. Plans and sections point to it with a callout.
Read the definitionDivision 01
What Is Division 01?
Division 01 is the MasterFormat division for general requirements. It states the administrative rules of the project: how submittals work, how meetings run, what closeout requires, and which temporary facilities the contractor provides. It applies to every trade, not to one product.
Read the definitionDoor schedule
What Is a Door Schedule?
A door schedule is a table on the drawings that lists each door by its mark and states the size, thickness, material, rating, frame, and hardware set. The number in the tag on the floor plan is the row in the schedule.
Read the definitionDrawing scale
What Is Drawing Scale?
Drawing scale is the stated ratio between a distance on the sheet and the same distance in the building. A scale of 1/8 inch equals 1 foot means a line that is 1/8 inch long on paper stands for 1 foot of building. The scale is printed on the sheet. It is not a suggestion to measure the PDF.
Read the definitionElevation
What Is an Elevation Drawing?
An elevation is a scaled drawing of a vertical surface, seen straight on, with no perspective. Exterior elevations show each face of the building. Interior elevations show a wall inside a room, with finishes, fixtures, and heights the floor plan does not carry.
Read the definitionEquipment schedule
What Is an Equipment Schedule?
An equipment schedule is a table on the drawings that lists pieces of equipment, keyed by a mark, with the capacity, size, and electrical data the design requires. The plans show where the mark sits. The specification states quality. The submittal has to satisfy both the schedule and the spec.
Read the definitionFinish schedule
What Is a Finish Schedule?
A finish schedule is a room-by-room table of interior finishes: floor, base, walls, and ceiling. Room numbers on the floor plan match the rows. A finish legend defines the codes the table uses, and the specifications define the products.
Read the definitionFloor plan
What Is a Floor Plan?
A floor plan is a scaled drawing of one level of a building, drawn as if the building were cut horizontally and you were looking down. It shows walls, doors, windows, rooms, dimensions, and the tags that point to schedules and details.
Read the definitionGeneral conditions
What Are General Conditions?
General conditions are the standard legal terms of the construction contract. They define the roles of owner, contractor, and architect, and the rules for payment, changes, time, claims, and insurance. AIA Document A201 is the form many private projects mean by the phrase. They are not the same as Division 01, and they are not the contractor's job-site overhead.
Read the definitionGeneral notes
What Are General Notes?
General notes are numbered instructions on a drawing that apply to the whole sheet or the whole discipline set, not to a single pointer. They define abbreviations, tell you which other documents govern, and state rules such as 'do not scale the drawings.'
Read the definitionInvitation for bid
What Is an Invitation for Bid?
An invitation for bid, also called an invitation to bid, asks contractors to submit a price to build a defined set of documents. On public work the award often goes to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder. The design is meant to be complete enough that price is the main variable.
Read the definitionKeynote
What Is a Keynote?
A keynote is a number on a drawing that refers to a legend. The legend states the requirement, often by naming a specification section instead of writing the product on the sheet. The same number means the same thing wherever it appears.
Read the definitionLien waiver
What Is a Lien Waiver?
A lien waiver is a document in which a contractor, subcontractor, or supplier gives up the right to file a lien for the amount of work the waiver covers, in exchange for payment. A conditional waiver is effective when the payment clears. An unconditional waiver is effective when it is signed, so it should not be signed before the money is in hand.
Read the definitionMechanic's lien
What Is a Mechanic's Lien?
A mechanic's lien is a claim against real property, created by statute, for labor or materials that improved the property and were not paid. It can allow the unpaid party to force a sale if the claim is perfected. Each state sets the notices and deadlines. Missing one usually defeats the lien.
Read the definitionMockup
What Is a Mockup in Construction?
A mockup is a full-size sample of a portion of the work, built so the owner and the design team can review appearance and fit before that work is repeated. Some mockups are also tested for performance, such as water penetration at a wall.
Read the definitionNIC (not in contract)
What Does NIC Mean on Drawings?
NIC means not in contract. The item is drawn so you can coordinate around it, but it is not work the contractor includes in the price. The general notes should define the abbreviation. A tag without that definition is ambiguous.
Read the definitionOne-line diagram
What Is a One-Line Diagram?
A one-line diagram, also called a single-line diagram, shows an electrical power system as one line from the utility service through switchgear, transformers, and feeders to the panels. The single line stands for all phases. It is a schematic, not a conduit route.
Read the definitionOutline specification
What Is an Outline Specification?
An outline specification is a short, early description of the systems and materials a project intends to use. It is written during schematic design or early design development, before a full project manual exists. It is enough to price a concept. It is not the construction specification.
Read the definitionPanel schedule
What Is a Panel Schedule?
A panel schedule is the table for one electrical panel. Each row is a circuit: breaker size, poles, the load it serves, and often the calculated volt-amperes. The panel name on the schedule must match the one-line diagram and the label on the equipment.
Read the definitionPayment bond
What Is a Payment Bond?
A payment bond is a surety's promise that subcontractors, suppliers, and sometimes laborers will be paid if the contractor does not pay them. On public projects, where a mechanic's lien is usually unavailable, the payment bond is the statutory substitute. A claimant must follow the bond's notice deadlines.
Read the definitionPerformance bond
What Is a Performance Bond?
A performance bond is a three-party guarantee. The surety promises the owner that the contractor will perform the contract. If the contractor defaults, the surety must complete the work, find a new contractor, or pay the owner's loss, up to the bond's penal sum. It does not insure the building against fire. That is builder's risk.
Read the definitionPerformance specification
What Is a Performance Specification?
A performance specification states what the finished work must achieve: a structural capacity, an acoustic rating, a U-factor, a clearance. It does not dictate the product or the method, as long as the result is met and demonstrated. A prescriptive specification names the products and the installation.
Read the definitionPlan check comment
What Is a Plan Check Comment?
A plan check comment is one numbered correction from the building department's review of a permit set. The design team answers it in writing, revises the sheets if the comment requires a change, and the plans examiner clears it on backcheck.
Read the definitionPotential change order
What Is a Potential Change Order?
A potential change order, or PCO, is a tracked item that might change the contract sum or time and has not yet been approved. It can start from an RFI, a bulletin, a field condition, or a proposal request. Until a change order is signed, it is not a change. It still belongs in the forecast.
Read the definitionProduct data
What Is Product Data?
Product data is the manufacturer's information submitted for review: catalog cuts, data sheets, and performance tables that show a proposed product matches the specification. It is a submittal type. It is not a shop drawing, and it is not a sample.
Read the definitionProposal request
What Is a Proposal Request?
A proposal request asks the contractor to propose a price and a time adjustment for a change the owner is considering. It is not authorization to do the work. If the owner accepts the proposal, a change order follows. If the work must start before agreement, the contract uses a change directive, not a proposal request.
Read the definitionPurchase order
What Is a Purchase Order?
A purchase order is a buyer's written offer to buy specific materials or equipment at a stated price, quantity, and delivery date. When the seller accepts it, it is the contract for that purchase. It is narrower than a subcontract, which buys labor and installation as well as materials.
Read the definitionRecord drawing
What Is a Record Drawing?
A record drawing is a drawing the design professional issues at closeout, incorporating the changes and the contractor's field markups so the sheet shows the work as constructed. The contractor's marked-up set is the as-built information. The record drawing is the design team's compiled document. Specs often require both, and they are not interchangeable.
Read the definitionReflected ceiling plan
What Is a Reflected Ceiling Plan?
A reflected ceiling plan, often called an RCP, is a drawing that looks up at the ceiling of one floor, mirrored so it lines up with the floor plan below. It shows ceiling types, heights, lights, diffusers, sprinklers, and access panels.
Read the definitionRFP (request for proposal)
What Is an RFP in Construction?
An RFP is a request for proposal. The owner asks firms to propose how they would do the work and what they would charge. Selection can weigh qualifications and approach, not only price. The same words are also used for a proposal request that prices a change during construction.
Read the definitionRFQ (request for quotation)
What Is an RFQ?
RFQ means two things in construction. A request for quotation asks a supplier or subcontractor for a price on a defined scope. A request for qualifications asks a firm to show its experience so it can be shortlisted. The document's contents tell you which one you are holding.
Read the definitionRevision cloud
What Is a Revision Cloud?
A revision cloud is a scalloped line drawn around the part of a sheet that changed, with a revision number or letter that matches the title block. It tells the reader what is different from the previous issue, and it leaves the rest of the sheet alone.
Read the definitionRiser diagram
What Is a Riser Diagram?
A riser diagram is a schematic that shows a system running vertically through a building, floor by floor. It is not drawn to scale. Plumbing, electrical distribution, and fire protection use riser diagrams to show how stacks and feeders connect.
Read the definitionScope of work
What Is a Scope of Work?
A scope of work is the description of what a party must do under a contract. On a construction project the drawings and specifications are the project scope. A subcontract scope of work states which parts of those documents a trade owns, and which parts it does not.
Read the definitionSheet index
What Is a Sheet Index?
A sheet index is the list of every sheet in a drawing set, by number and title. It is the table of contents, usually on the cover sheet. If a sheet is in the PDF and not in the index, or the reverse, the set is not the set it claims to be.
Read the definitionSite plan
What Is a Site Plan?
A site plan shows a building on its lot, seen from above, with property lines, setbacks, grades, utilities, paving, and landscaping. It ties the building to zoning, to the street, and to the civil work. It is not a floor plan.
Read the definitionSubmittal register
What Is a Submittal Register?
A submittal register is the project's list of required submittals, usually with the specification section, the responsible contractor, the date due, the date received, the action, and whether a resubmittal is open. People also call it a submittal log.
Read the definitionSupplementary conditions
What Are Supplementary Conditions?
Supplementary conditions are the project-specific amendments to the general conditions. They change insurance limits, retainage, notice periods, liquidated damages, and dispute resolution for this job. Where they conflict with the printed general conditions, the supplements control.
Read the definitionTemporary certificate of occupancy
What Is a Temporary Certificate of Occupancy?
A temporary certificate of occupancy, or TCO, is the building department's permission to occupy part of a building before all work is complete. It lists conditions and an expiration date. Life safety for the occupied area has to be in place. A TCO is not a final certificate of occupancy, and it can be revoked if the conditions are missed.
Read the definitionTitle block
What Is a Title Block?
A title block is the ruled area on a drawing sheet, usually along the right edge or the bottom, that identifies the project, the sheet number and title, the author, the date, the scale, and the revision history. It is how you tell one issue of a sheet from another.
Read the definitionVIF (verify in field)
What Does VIF Mean on Drawings?
VIF means verify in field. The dimension or condition is based on available information, and the contractor must measure the existing work before ordering or building the new piece that depends on it. It shifts the duty to check. It does not make a wrong drawing the contractor's design error if they reported the conflict.
Read the definitionWall section
What Is a Wall Section?
A wall section is an enlarged vertical cut through one wall assembly, drawn from the foundation up through the floors to the roof, usually at 1/2 or 3/4 inch to the foot. It shows every layer of the wall in order and keys each joint to a larger detail and each material to a specification section.
Read the definitionWarranty
What Is a Construction Warranty?
A construction warranty is the contractor's obligation to repair work that does not conform to the contract, for the period the contract states, often one year from substantial completion. Manufacturer warranties on a roof or a chiller are additional. They do not replace the contractor's duty, and the contractor's duty does not replace a manufacturer warranty the spec required.
Read the definitionWindow schedule
What Is a Window Schedule?
A window schedule is a table that identifies each window, storefront, or curtain-wall opening by mark and states its size, type, frame, glazing, and how it operates. Tags on the plans and elevations point to the rows.
Read the definitionReview and delivery processes
The recurring processes that move a project from design to handover, and the points where each one usually slips.
Schematic Design (SD)
What Is Schematic Design?
Schematic design, often called SD, is the first design phase after programming. It establishes the building’s arrangement, scale, structural concept, and code strategy with drawings that are still diagrammatic enough to change.
Read the definitionDesign Development (DD)
What Is Design Development?
Design development, or DD, is the phase that develops an approved schematic design into sized systems, selected materials, and outline specifications. It fixes enough of the building that construction documents can be drawn without reopening the scheme.
Read the definitionConstruction Administration (CA)
What Is Construction Administration?
Construction administration, or CA, is the architect’s or engineer’s service during construction. It includes answering RFIs, reviewing submittals, visiting the site, and certifying payments. The contractor still runs means, methods, and the schedule.
Read the definitionQA/QC in Construction
What Is QA/QC in Construction?
QA/QC stands for quality assurance and quality control, and it is also written QAQC, QA-QC or QCQA. Quality assurance is the process a project puts in place to prevent defects; quality control is the inspection and testing that verifies completed work meets the contract requirements. QA controls how the work is done, QC verifies the result, and a complete quality program runs both.
Read the definitionNCR (Nonconformance Report)
What Is an NCR in Construction?
NCR stands for nonconformance report, also written non-conformance report or nonconformity report. In construction it is the formal record that work, material or documentation does not meet a stated requirement, together with the disposition chosen and the corrective action that closes it.
Read the definitionDrawing Review
What Is Drawing Review in Construction?
Drawing review is the systematic check of a construction document set before it is issued, confirming that the drawings agree with each other and with the specifications, that nothing required is missing, and that the set can actually be built from.
Read the definitionPlan Review
What Is Plan Review in Construction?
Plan review is the examination of a permit set by the authority having jurisdiction, or a third party acting for it, to confirm the design complies with the adopted building codes and local amendments before a building permit is issued. The reviewer returns written comments, the design team responds, and the cycle repeats until the set is approved.
Read the definitionConstructability Review
What Is a Constructability Review?
A constructability review examines a design from the builder’s point of view, asking whether the work can actually be sequenced, accessed, delivered and installed as drawn — and what it would cost in time and money to try.
Read the definitionCode Compliance
What Is Code Compliance in Construction?
Code compliance means a design, and the work built from it, satisfy the building codes and standards the local jurisdiction has adopted. It is demonstrated through a code analysis, verified at plan review for permit, and confirmed by inspection during construction.
Read the definitionClash Detection
What Is Clash Detection in Construction?
Clash detection is the process of comparing the 3D models of different building systems to find where they occupy the same space, or violate each other’s required clearances, before any of it is built.
Read the definitionMEP Coordination
What Is MEP Coordination?
MEP coordination is the process of working out how mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems physically fit together in the space available, and producing the coordinated drawings each trade installs from.
Read the definitionQuantity Takeoff
What Is a Quantity Takeoff?
A quantity takeoff is the measured list of materials and work a project requires, counted and calculated directly from the drawings and specifications. It is the factual basis an estimate is built on, before any pricing is applied.
Read the definitionValue Engineering (VE)
What Is Value Engineering in Construction?
Value engineering is a structured review of a design to deliver the function the owner actually needs at a lower life-cycle cost. Done during design, it can change systems before they are detailed. Used as a nickname for cuts after pricing, it often deletes scope instead.
Read the definitionCommissioning (Cx)
What Is Commissioning in Construction?
Commissioning, or Cx, is a process that verifies building systems are designed, installed, and tested to meet the owner’s project requirements. A commissioning agent leads it from design through occupancy. It is not the same as contractor startup or punch list closeout.
Read the definitionDesign-Build
What Is Design-Build?
Design-build is a delivery method in which one entity, the design-builder, holds a single contract with the owner for both design and construction. The owner selects that entity on qualifications, price, or both, instead of finishing the design and then bidding it to a general contractor.
Read the definitionDesign-Bid-Build
What Is Design-Bid-Build?
Design-bid-build is the delivery method in which the owner contracts separately with a designer and, after the construction documents are finished, with a contractor who bids that completed set. Design is complete before the construction price is set.
Read the definitionGMP (Guaranteed Maximum Price)
What Is a GMP in Construction?
A guaranteed maximum price, or GMP, is a cap on the amount the owner will pay a contractor under a cost-plus contract. The owner pays actual allowable cost plus a fee, up to that cap. Costs above the GMP are the contractor’s, unless the owner changes the scope.
Read the definitionPreconstruction
What Is Preconstruction?
Preconstruction is the planning phase that runs alongside and after design, before construction begins. It covers estimating, scheduling, constructability review, procurement planning, permitting and risk analysis, so that decisions get made while they are still cheap to change.
Read the definitionCritical Path
What Is the Critical Path in Construction?
The critical path is the longest sequence of dependent construction activities. It determines the shortest time the project can finish. Activities on it have zero total float, so a delay to one of them delays the project end unless the schedule is changed.
Read the definitionSubstantial Completion
What Is Substantial Completion?
Substantial completion is the point when the work is complete enough that the owner can occupy or use it for its intended purpose. Punch work can remain. It is a contract milestone between owner and contractor, not the city’s permission to occupy.
Read the definitionRetainage
What Is Retainage in Construction?
Retainage is a percentage of each progress payment that the owner withholds until the contractor finishes the work. It gives the owner security for punch, closeout, and correction. Five or ten percent is common, and many states cap the rate or the period.
Read the definitionConstruction Closeout
What Is Construction Closeout?
Construction closeout is the process of completing a project contractually rather than physically: finishing punch list work, achieving substantial completion, delivering warranties, O&M manuals and as-builts, and satisfying the conditions for final payment and retainage release.
Read the definitionPunch List
What Is a Punch List in Construction?
A punch list, known as a snag list in the UK and Ireland (the process is called snagging), is the itemised record of work that is incomplete, defective or not in conformance with the contract documents at the point of substantial completion. Each item has to be corrected and verified before final completion and final payment.
Read the definitionConstruction Phases
What Are the Phases of a Construction Project?
A construction project runs through seven phases: programming, schematic design, design development, construction documents, procurement and permitting, construction administration, and closeout. Each phase produces a defined set of documents, and each handover between phases is where information is most likely to be lost.
Read the definitionAccessibility
What Is Accessibility in Construction?
Accessibility, in construction, is the set of requirements that make a building usable by people with disabilities: routes, doors, toilets, parking, and signage. In the United States the adopted building code and ICC A117.1 govern the permit. The ADA Standards are federal civil-rights requirements. A permit does not, by itself, prove ADA compliance, and an ADA survey does not replace the building code.
Read the definitionBack charge
What Is a Back Charge?
A back charge is a deduction from money owed to a subcontractor or supplier, for a cost the contractor incurred because that party failed to do its work. Typical items are cleanup, damage, or unfinished punch. The subcontract must allow it, notice should come first, and the backup has to show the cost.
Read the definitionBaseline schedule
What Is a Baseline Schedule?
A baseline schedule is the contractor's logic-based plan, accepted by the owner, that becomes the measuring stick for progress and delay. Dates and relationships are frozen in that version. Monthly updates copy it and add actuals. A baseline that was never reviewed is a weak baseline when a claim arrives.
Read the definitionBeneficial occupancy
What Is Beneficial Occupancy?
Beneficial occupancy means the owner is using the building, or a part of it, for the purpose it was built. It is a contract and business milestone. It is not, by itself, a certificate of occupancy, and it is not automatically substantial completion. The agreement should say what the date triggers.
Read the definitionBid leveling
What Is Bid Leveling?
Bid leveling is the comparison of quotes on a common scope. Exclusions are added back, missing items are filled with a plug number, and the adjusted totals are what the estimator compares. The lowest raw bid is often not the lowest complete bid.
Read the definitionCM at risk
What Is CM at Risk?
CM at risk, or CMAR, hires a construction manager during design to estimate, schedule, and advise, and then to build the project, usually under a guaranteed maximum price. The construction manager holds the trade contracts and the risk of delivering within that price. An agency CM only advises and does not hold that risk.
Read the definitionConceptual estimate
What Is a Conceptual Estimate?
A conceptual estimate prices a project before detailed drawings exist, using building systems, historical unit costs, and stated assumptions. It is a budget tool during programming or schematic design. It is not a number a contractor should be asked to hold as a lump sum.
Read the definitionConstruction estimate
What Is a Construction Estimate?
A construction estimate is a priced prediction of what the work will cost, built from quantities, production rates, subcontractor quotes, and allowances for risk. A bid is an estimate the contractor is willing to contract for. The estimate is only as firm as the drawings and specifications it was built from.
Read the definitionConstruction type
What Is Construction Type?
Construction type is the building code's classification of a building's resistance to fire, based on whether the structure is combustible and what fire ratings the frame, walls, and floors have. Types run from Type I, the most fire-resistive, to Type V, ordinary wood frame. Together with occupancy, it sets allowable height and area.
Read the definitionContingency
What Is Contingency in Construction?
Contingency is money set aside for risks that are not yet a defined change. Design contingency covers incomplete documents. Construction contingency covers field surprises. In a GMP, the contractor's contingency and the owner's contingency follow different rules, and neither is profit until the contract says a savings clause applies.
Read the definitionCost code
What Is a Cost Code?
A cost code is a label in the contractor's job-cost system. Labor, materials, subcontract, and equipment for one piece of work are estimated, committed, and spent against the same code so the project manager can see variance. The list is the contractor's. It may follow MasterFormat. It does not have to.
Read the definitionCost-plus contract
What Is a Cost-Plus Contract?
A cost-plus contract pays the contractor the actual, allowable cost of the work plus a fee. The fee can be a percentage of cost or a fixed amount. With a guaranteed maximum price, the owner pays cost-plus only up to the cap. Without a cap, the owner carries the cost risk.
Read the definitionDelegated design
What Is Delegated Design?
Delegated design means the contract assigns the detailed engineering of a component to a licensed engineer working for the contractor, using performance criteria the architect or engineer of record wrote. Common items are stairs, cold-formed framing, curtain walls, and precast connections. The seal on the shop drawings is the delegated engineer's. The design team still reviews for fit with the rest of the building.
Read the definitionDiffering site condition
What Is a Differing Site Condition?
A differing site condition is a physical condition at the site that was not visible and that differs materially from what the contract documents indicated, or from what a contractor would ordinarily expect. Federal practice calls these Type I and Type II. The remedy exists only if the contract includes the clause and the contractor gives prompt notice.
Read the definitionDrawing coordination
What Is Drawing Coordination?
Drawing coordination is the work of making every discipline's sheets describe the same building. Architectural, structural, civil, and MEP drawings are checked against each other, and against the specifications, so a duct, a beam, a ceiling, and a door are not fighting for the same space.
Read the definitionEnergy code
What Is an Energy Code?
An energy code is the minimum efficiency the law requires for a building's envelope, lighting, and mechanical systems. In much of the United States the adopted model is the International Energy Conservation Code, sometimes with ASHRAE 90.1 as a compliance path. A green rating program is voluntary. The energy code is a permit requirement.
Read the definitionFire-resistance rating
What Is a Fire-Resistance Rating?
A fire-resistance rating is the period, in hours, that a building assembly is shown by test or listed design to withstand fire and transfer of heat. A 1-hour wall meets that test only if it is built as the listed assembly, including the fasteners, the joints, and the penetrations. Writing '1-HR' on a wall type without an assembly is not a rating.
Read the definitionForce account
What Is Force Account?
Force account is a way to pay for extra work using set rates for labor, equipment, and materials, plus a stated markup, when the parties cannot agree on a lump sum or a unit price in time. It is common in public works and DOT specifications. Daily records are the payment.
Read the definitionIntegrated project delivery
What Is Integrated Project Delivery?
Integrated project delivery, or IPD, is a project structure in which the owner, the designer, and the builder sign one agreement, or a set of linked agreements, and share the project's risk and reward. Profit is tied to outcomes they control together. Meeting early is not, by itself, IPD.
Read the definitionLiquidated damages
What Are Liquidated Damages?
Liquidated damages are a stated amount, usually per day, that the contractor pays the owner for finishing after the contract date. The parties agree the figure in advance as a reasonable estimate of the owner's loss, because actual delay damages would be hard to prove. A number that is a punishment, rather than an estimate, is a penalty, and penalties are often unenforceable.
Read the definitionLook-ahead schedule
What Is a Look-Ahead Schedule?
A look-ahead schedule is a short-horizon plan, commonly three weeks, that says what crews will do, what must be delivered, and which inspections must happen. The superintendent uses it to coordinate. It should be consistent with the baseline schedule. It does not replace the baseline, and it is not, by itself, a delay analysis.
Read the definitionLump-sum contract
What Is a Lump-Sum Contract?
A lump-sum contract, also called a stipulated sum, pays the contractor one fixed price to complete a defined scope. If the work costs less, the contractor benefits. If it costs more, the contractor pays the difference, except for changes and for risks the contract assigns to the owner.
Read the definitionMeans of egress
What Is a Means of Egress?
A means of egress is the continuous path people use to leave a building in an emergency, from any occupied point to a public way. The building code divides it into exit access, the exit itself, and the exit discharge. Width, number of exits, and travel distance are calculated from occupant load, not drawn to taste.
Read the definitionOccupant load
What Is Occupant Load in Building Code?
Occupant load is the number of people the building code assumes can be in a space at once. Under the IBC it is usually the floor area of each space divided by the occupant load factor for its use, measured in gross or net square feet per occupant. The result sizes the means of egress: how many exits, how wide, and how far people can travel to reach them.
Read the definitionNot-to-exceed
What Does Not-to-Exceed Mean?
A not-to-exceed amount, or NTE, is the most that will be paid for a defined piece of work unless a higher cap is approved first. It is common on time-and-materials authorizations and purchase orders. It is a ceiling, not a price the contractor is entitled to bill in full.
Read the definitionOccupancy classification
What Is an Occupancy Classification?
Occupancy classification is the building code's category for how a space is used: assembly, business, educational, residential, and the other groups in the adopted code. The classification drives allowable height and area, fire separation, and egress. A change in how a space is used can be a change of occupancy, which is a permit problem, not an interior-design choice.
Read the definitionPlan check
What Is Plan Check?
Plan check is the review a building department runs on construction drawings and calculations before it issues a permit. In much of the western United States, especially California, that permit review is called plan check. Elsewhere the same gate is usually called plan review.
Read the definitionRough-in
What Is Rough-In?
Rough-in is the installation of mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire-protection lines inside walls, floors, and ceilings before those surfaces are closed. The inspection happens then, while connections are visible. Trim-out, or finish, is the later installation of fixtures and devices on the completed surfaces.
Read the definitionSchedule float
What Is Float in a Construction Schedule?
Float is the time a schedule activity can be delayed before it affects another date. Total float is how long it can slip before the project finish moves. Free float is how long it can slip before it delays the next activity. Negative float means the schedule already misses a required date. The contract should say who may use the float.
Read the definitionScope creep
What Is Scope Creep?
Scope creep is the gradual addition of work, or of a higher standard, without a corresponding change to the contract. It shows up as informal requests, extra meetings, and 'while you're here' tasks that never become a change order. The cost lands on whoever was too polite to price it.
Read the definitionSetback
What Is a Setback?
A setback is the minimum distance a building must be kept from a property line, a street, or another feature the zoning ordinance names. The site plan dimensions it. How you measure height, eaves, and steps is defined by the ordinance, not by custom.
Read the definitionSpecial inspection
What Is a Special Inspection?
A special inspection is an observation or test the building code requires for specific work, performed by a qualified special inspector rather than only by the city building inspector. Concrete, structural steel, soils, sprayed fireproofing, and some firestopping are typical. The permit set includes a statement of special inspections.
Read the definitionTime and materials
What Is Time and Materials?
Time and materials, often called T&M, pays the contractor for labor hours at agreed rates plus the actual cost of materials, usually with a markup. It is used when the scope is too unclear for a lump sum, including some changes and repair work. A not-to-exceed amount can cap it.
Read the definitionUnit-price contract
What Is a Unit-Price Contract?
A unit-price contract pays the contractor a stated price for each unit of work actually performed, such as a cubic yard of rock or a foot of pipe. The bid quantity is an estimate. The final contract sum is the unit price times the measured quantity.
Read the definitionWork breakdown structure
What Is a Work Breakdown Structure?
A work breakdown structure is a hierarchy that breaks the project into smaller deliverables until each piece can be estimated, scheduled, and assigned. The top is the project. The bottom is work packages. It is organized by what will be delivered, not by the departments doing the work.
Read the definitionZoning
What Is Zoning?
Zoning is the local law that says what you may build on a parcel and how large it may be: use, height, setbacks, lot coverage, and parking. The building code says how the building must perform once that use and size are allowed. A zoning approval does not issue a building permit, and a building permit does not cure a zoning violation.
Read the definitionRoles and meetings
Who carries responsibility on a project, and the forums where decisions get made and recorded.
General Contractor (GC)
What Is a General Contractor?
A general contractor, or GC, is the firm that holds the prime construction contract with the owner and coordinates the subcontractors who perform the trade work. The GC is responsible for building the project according to the contract documents, schedule, and price.
Read the definitionArchitect of Record
What Is an Architect of Record?
The architect of record is the licensed architect who seals the architectural construction documents and is responsible for that design’s conformance with applicable codes and the professional standard of care. Other designers may shape the project. The seal says who is responsible for the documents.
Read the definitionEngineer of Record (EOR)
What Is an Engineer of Record?
The engineer of record is the licensed professional engineer who seals a portion of the design and takes legal and professional responsibility for it. The seal is a personal representation that the work was prepared by, or under the direct supervision of, that engineer.
Read the definitionAHJ (Authority Having Jurisdiction)
What Is an AHJ?
AHJ stands for authority having jurisdiction. It is the organization empowered to enforce a code on a project, most often the local building department, and also the fire marshal or other agencies that must approve their piece. A project can have several AHJs. The owner is not one of them.
Read the definitionOwner’s Representative
What Is an Owner’s Representative?
An owner’s representative is a person or firm the owner hires to manage the project on the owner’s behalf. They coordinate the designer, the contractor, budget, and schedule. They do not replace the owner’s approval authority unless the contract delegates it, and they do not design or build the work.
Read the definitionOAC Meeting
What Is an OAC Meeting?
OAC stands for owner, architect, contractor. An OAC meeting is the recurring meeting between those three parties during construction, usually weekly or biweekly, where the team reviews progress and schedule, works through open RFIs and submittals, discusses changes and issues, and assigns action items with named owners and dates.
Read the definitionForeman
What Is a Foreman?
A foreman leads a single crew, usually for one trade. They lay out the day's work, read the drawings and shops for that scope, check quality as it goes in, and report problems to the superintendent. A general foreman coordinates several foremen. A foreman is not the project superintendent.
Read the definitionPlans examiner
What Is a Plans Examiner?
A plans examiner reviews construction documents for the authority having jurisdiction before a permit is issued. They check the drawings and calculations against the adopted codes and write comments. A building inspector visits the site later to see whether the work matches the approved permit set. The two jobs are not the same.
Read the definitionProject manager
What Is a Construction Project Manager?
A construction project manager is the person accountable for a project's cost, schedule, contracts, and communication. On the contractor's side they manage subcontractors, changes, and pay applications. On the owner's side they watch the same topics for the owner. The superintendent, not the PM, runs the daily site.
Read the definitionSpecifier
What Is a Specifier?
A specifier writes and coordinates the project specifications. They turn design decisions into sections that state products, reference standards, and execution, and they check that the drawings do not contradict the book. On many projects the architect of record employs the specifier. The specifier does not seal drawings unless they are also the architect.
Read the definitionSubcontractor
What Is a Subcontractor?
A subcontractor is a firm the prime contractor hires to perform part of the work under the prime contract. The subcontractor's contract is with the prime, not the owner. Flow-down clauses pass schedule, safety, and document duties to the sub. Suppliers who only deliver materials are not subcontractors, and the difference matters for bonds and liens.
Read the definitionSuperintendent
What Is a Superintendent?
A superintendent is the contractor's field lead. They coordinate trades, enforce safety, keep the daily schedule, and check that work matches the drawings. The project manager typically owns the contract, the cost, and the paperwork. The superintendent owns the site.
Read the definition