Are you looking for ways to improve the value and efficiency of your construction projects? Value engineering could be the solution for significant cost savings without compromising quality. In this guide, we explore the benefits of value engineering, its role in the construction industry, and how it can lead to successful project outcomes. Let’s unlock the benefits of value engineering in construction.
Key Takeaways
- Value engineering optimises project value by balancing cost, quality, and performance.
- Collaboration between stakeholders is essential for identifying cost-saving opportunities.
- The process follows six phases, from information gathering to final presentation.
- Value engineering achieves cost reductions without compromising on quality or safety.
- Tools like estimating software help streamline value engineering and improve project outcomes.
Understanding Value Engineering
Value engineering is a systematic approach that has revolutionised the construction industry since its introduction in 1947 by Larry Miles at General Electric. This method improves project value by delivering essential functions at the lowest cost, while maintaining quality, performance, and safety.
Its use in construction has resulted in significant cost savings and enhanced project value, making it an important part of the process.
Definition and History
Value engineering aims to achieve essential functions at the lowest life cycle cost while ensuring performance, quality, reliability, and safety. The concept emerged in the 1940s at General Electric during the Second World War when there was a shortage of materials, parts, and skilled workers. Engineers at the company needed to find alternative resources to keep production moving.
Lawrence Miles, Harry Ehrlicher, Jerry Leftow, and others sought suitable substitutes that would lower production costs without affecting product functionality. Their efforts laid the foundation for what would become value engineering, a process focused on maintaining quality while cutting costs.
Application in Construction
In construction, value engineering optimises project value by identifying cost-saving opportunities without compromising quality. This gives contractors a competitive edge and delivers great returns for clients. Ideally, value engineering should be implemented during the design phase, before construction begins, to maximise benefits.
The beenfits of value engineering in construction relies on collaboration between project stakeholders, including owners, clients, design teams, contractors, and suppliers. Working together helps to identify cost-saving opportunities and evaluate alternative solutions. Ultimately this collaboration allows for the project to achieve the highest value at the most cost-effective rate.
The Value Engineering Process
To understand how value engineering can improve construction projects, it’s important to look at its six-phase process: information gathering, functional analysis, creativity, evaluation, development, and presentation.
Information Gathering
This initial phase focuses on understanding the key factors and decisions that shaped the design. Stakeholders assess the project’s function, associated costs, and effects of each element, laying the foundation for a successful value engineering study.
Functional Analysis
In this phase, the team evaluates the project’s primary and secondary functions. The primary function is the most important, while secondary functions have less importance. By identifying these, the team can better optimise the project to meet both cost and performance goals.
Creativity and Innovation
Here, stakeholders brainstorm creative ideas to achieve necessary functions at lower costs. The project’s lifespan, safety, environmental factors, materials, and site conditions are all considered. The goal is to develop innovative ideas that reduce initial costs while increasing project value.
Evaluation and Development
After the brainstorming phase, ideas are evaluated for practicality and refined for maximum value. A comparison of costs, advantages, and lifecycle calculations is conducted before making any changes.
Presentation and Implementation
The final stages involve preparing presentations to share the findings in a report with the client and stakeholders, followed by implementing the recommendations to increase value and reduce costs while maintaining quality.
Key Players in Value Engineering
Value engineering relies on the collaboration and expertise of several key players, including owners and clients, the design team, and contractors and suppliers. Each party plays a key role in ensuring the project’s success.
Let’s explore the roles of each stakeholder in more detail.
Owners and Clients
Owners and clients initiate value engineering by defining project goals. They work with the design team to evaluate project elements and ensure maximum value for money. Collaboration in the initial stage between both parties is key to generating creative, cost-effective solutions.
Design Team
The design team assesses design features, materials, and systems to ensure essential functions are delivered at the lowest cost while meeting performance, quality, and safety requirements. They collaborate with contractors to ensure the project meets its goals.
The design team may use estimating software, value engineering software, and triple bottom line analysis tools. These tools help assess design features and optimise the project for maximum value.
Contractors and Suppliers
Contractors and suppliers bring expertise in cost management, local planning, materials, and procurement to identify and eliminate unwanted costs while improving function and quality.
Collaboration and communication between contractors and suppliers is paramount for successful value engineering. It ensures that all parties are working towards a common goal and helps guarantee that the project is completed on time and within budget.
Maximising Cost Savings and Project Value
To maximise cost savings and project value, a balance between quality and cost is essential. Being open to alternative solutions and fostering collaboration among stakeholders is key.
Balancing Quality and Cost
Striking the right balance ensures the construction of high-quality buildings within budget. Value engineering plays a critical role by delivering necessary functions at the lowest cost.
Openness to Alternatives
Flexibility and openness to alternative solutions encourage innovation. Exploring different approaches can lead to cost savings and better functionality.
Collaboration and Communication
Effective communication among stakeholders helps avoid misunderstandings, prevent delays, and improve project outcomes. Strong collaboration also reduces waste and ensures timely delivery.
Tools and Technologies for Value Engineering
To effectively gain the benefits value engineering in construction projects, various tools and technologies are employed to streamline the process and optimize results. These tools include estimating software, value engineering software, and triple bottom line analysis tools.
Estimating Software
Estimating software calculates precise cost forecasting, detects opportunities for cost reduction, and improves efficiency. By providing detailed cost breakdowns and analysis, estimating software allows for more informed decisions to be made regarding cost reduction without compromising the quality of the project.
The utilisation of estimating software can lead to faster completion times and cost savings, making it an indispensable tool in the value engineering process.
Value Engineering Software
Value engineering software provides assistance with data analysis and visualisation to facilitate decision-making. Some popular value engineering software options include CostX, Primavera, and Microsoft Project.
Triple Bottom Line Analysis Tools
To do a thorough assessment of a project’s effects on economic, social, and environmental elements, triple bottom line analysis tools are used. Triple bottom line analysis tools promotes sustainable and responsible construction practices.
Real-World Examples of Value Engineering Success
Cast Study 1
Aarsleff recently completed a project in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, involving the design and installation of a sheet piled retaining wall. The client required this structure to accommodate alterations in existing levels due to earthworks cut and fill for a commercial development platform. While most of the wall was constructed using bottom-up methods to raise levels, a short section in the north-eastern area employed top-down methods to lower the ground in front of the wall.
Following the project award, Aarsleff’s design engineers analysed over 15 bespoke design cases to optimise the wall’s geometry and reduce material usage. The final design featured a wall length of over 300 metres and a retained height of up to 5 metres, resulting in a steel saving of 57 tonnes. This optimisation led to over £100,000 in material cost savings and a reduction of 157 tonnes of CO2 emissions, demonstrating the effectiveness of value engineering in minimising material redundancy.
Case Study 2
The Crossrail Stepney Green project illustrates the effective application of value engineering during construction. Initially, excavation commenced with low-capacity Boat Skips, which posed safety challenges for banksmen during spoil discharge and resulted in a time-consuming loading and lifting process. These factors threatened to delay the excavation programme.
To address these issues, the Conquip Group introduced their BulkX excavation system, which can discharge 10,000 litres of spoil. This innovation significantly enhanced waste removal efficiency, reducing cycle times and ultimately shortening the excavation programme by 12 weeks.
Summary
In conclusion, value engineering is an effective way to improve the value and efficiency of construction projects. This approach uses a systematic process and involves working closely with key stakeholders. By using advanced tools and technologies, value engineering can deliver significant cost savings while maintaining quality.
Being open to alternative solutions and encouraging collaboration and communication among all parties can truly transform construction projects. Explore the benefits of value engineering in your next construction project and experience the positive impact for yourself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are examples of value engineering?
Value engineering is an effective tool for assessing the costs associated with production, design, maintenance, and replacement. Examples of value engineering include framing estimating software and concrete estimating software, which can be used to identify cost savings while still meeting desired performance goals.
What is the aim of value engineering in construction?
The primary goal of value engineering in construction is to optimise the project’s quality and performance while reducing its overall cost, ultimately enhancing the project’s value. This is achieved by focusing on both design features and material selection to provide the best combination of performance, quality, reliability, safety, and cost.
What are the 6 phases of value engineering?
Value engineering consists of six phases: information gathering, functional analysis, creative and innovative solutions, evaluation, development, and presentation.
What is value engineering in BIM?
Value engineering in BIM is a systematic approach for managing construction projects in terms of cost, time and quality. It uses tools to identify cost savings without sacrificing project quality or safety. Value engineering helps ensure a project is completed successfully and of the highest quality within budget.
