A communication-based examination of construction planning and tendering

The traditional separation of the design and construction phases of the traditional building procurement process, itself a barrier to effective communication and data transfer between the various role players, invariably means the delayed involvement of the contractor in the decision-making process. Thus, the expertise necessary to assess the construction implications of design decisions is effectively excluded from the pre-tender phase. The introduction of contractor's expertise regarding construction planning methods and the cost implications of design into price / cost and time forecasting models is therefore seen by some as having the potential for improving not only the basis upon which the prediction of building price / cost and time is established, but the quality of the tendering process as well. In contrast to the material available on the price forecasting procedures employed by professional quantity surveyors in South Africa, little or no evidence exists of an understanding of the contractor's tendering process, an appreciation of the extent to which construction planning techniques are formally incorporated in the tendering process, and the degree to which the practice of contractors' cost estimating follows the doctrines laid down in current theoretical textbooks. This paper presents the findings of an empirical study of the process by which contractors compile a tender bid, based on a national questionnaire survey of building contractors in South Africa.