Written by Sam Justice, P.E. Building roads, housing, and other critical infrastructure is a great responsibility taken on by engineers, architects and project owners. Ensuring that these structures are safe and reliable for years and decades is of the utmost importance at all stages of design and construction. The Challenge of Maintaining Quality in Construction The design team creates building plans and the associated specification that capture the essence of their vision as they work to write the guiding documents for their project. They make decisions about product types, grades, and take great pains to build into their documents citations of certifications and standards to assure only quality materials are allowed on the site. However, product competition and budget demands are a concern seen in many projects that can challenge the specifications intended to produce the best possible structure. Substandard “or equal” substitutions can be encountered in the critical moments between design, bid awards, and construction. It is up to the specifying engineers and architects to hold their spec in all phases of the process to ensure the right materials and installation procedures are used. The Bidding Process and Material Selection Contractors often produce bids with the materials indicated by the… Read more »