Quality inspection in construction projects

Quality Inspection in Construction Projects 

     Inspection is a specific examination, testing, and formal evaluation exercise and overall appraisal of a process, product, or service to ascertain if it meets the established requirements. It includes measurements, tests, and gauges applied to certain characteristics in regard to an object or an activity. The results are usually compared to specified requirements and standards for determining whether the item or activity is in line with the target.

Project specifications

     Construction drawings are supplemented by written project specifications.  Project specifications provide detailed information related with materials and methods of work for a specified construction project.

    They cover different factors relating to the project, such as general conditions,  scope  of  work,  quality  of  materials, standards  of  workmanship,  and  protection  of  finished work. The drawings with the project specifications both define the project in detail and show exactly how it is to be constructed. Usually, any set of drawings for an important project is accompanied by a set of project specifications.  The drawings and project specifications are indivisible, the drawings mention what the project specifications do not cover; the project specifications mention what the drawings do not describe, or they further clarify details that are not covered amply by the drawings and notes on the drawings.

    When  project specification are preparing , it is important that the specifications  and  drawings  be  carefully  coordinated  so that  contradiction  and  vagueness  are minimized. Whenever there is conflicting information between the drawings and project specs, the specifications take precedence over the drawings.

Inspections and tastings

    Some project components are customarily tried by third-party organizations; examples of these are concrete strength, soil compaction, and so forth. Inspections beside tests for these are usually managed during the execution of the work wherein the product quality is ascertained and communicated immediately alongside the progress following the inspections. Other than the contractor or the project manager, quality of certain project elements are inspected and fixed by the architect or third party consultants during scheduled site visits.

     For those on-site products that do not pass the primary inspection and quality tests, the architect or the project manager will create a list of items that need to be corrected and redone in order to meet the set project specifications and quality standards.

Quality management program

   A quality management program includes frequent short-term actions taken by company by:

Quality policies: include all rules and regulations concerning with quality aspects for company as well as how the respond to make things right when quality drops.

Quality planning: produces a quality plan document specifically outlining all of policies and procedures when it comes to quality as well as the measures will be used to gauge quality management efforts.

Quality assurance: ensures that the processes of company will result in the level of products required to offer customers.

Quality control: is about ensuring that the end products will satisfy customers. This includes inspecting and testing all goods before their sale.

Quality improvement: is the continuous assessment of how current quality management efforts are working in order to pull them for better and better results over time.

Quality control and quality assurance

    Construction project quality is managed by quality management program that involves a quality control (QC) program and a quality assurance (QA) process. Quality control can be defined as "part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements." While quality assurance relates to how a process is performed or how a product is made, quality control is more the inspection aspect of quality management.      An alternate definition is the operational techniques and activities used to fulfill requirements for quality.

     Strict inspection processes in QC/QA management program are critical to hand over project successfully. Furthermore, rigid QC/QA inspection system provides a beneficial guideline for managing the quality of the subcontractors work.

The role of inspections in quality management program

    Inspection, only one of different elements in an effective quality management program, is even so a crucial means for controlling conformance to requirements and a primary part of any quality management program. However, the value of inspection has limits and over-inspection wastes agencies resources, adds to the cost of construction, and establishes unproductive adversarial relationships among owners, designers, and constructor. "Agencies should avoid excessive controlled and superfluous discretionary inspections". a methodical review by each agencies of its inspection practices, conducted within the context of cost and schedule preservation planning, can detect when inspections are being called for out of proportion to the inspected items to overall quality.

Effective inspection

     The resources available for inspection must be distributed effectively and will be more productive when all parties to the facility development process accept the value and importance of the inspection. To assure this effective distribution and acceptance, agencies should develop integrated inspection plans for their construction project. These plans prepared by the agencies their design consultants, should be check out with the construction contractor and accepted prior to start construction, probably at the prebid conference, as part of the contract negotiations, and at the preconstruction conference. When the user agency and construction agency are not the same, both agencies should be participated in developing the plan.

Quality control inspections

    Quality control team should ensure that the facilities comply with the project requirements as derived from all the applicable standards and legislation. Quality control inspections are performed for technical specifications and usually include the processes of execution, and materials for all facilities of the construction.

     With QC inspections, inspection schedules should be set, as well as pre cover up and per-closure inspections. These inspections should all be accompanied with proper documentation including written reports and photo and document attachments.

Quality assurance inspections

    Quality assurance team should ensure that quality control program is running smoothly and that quality assurance processes are performed carefully. QA inspections play a big role in:

•          Meeting quality standards by establishing work practices.
•          Determine if ongoing and completed works and their quality meet project specifications by examination.
•          Ensuring that the materials used conform to project quality standards.
•          Assuring that finished work is protected from damage or destroys.
•          Issuing reports related to both acceptable and below standard works.

•          Follow up on corrective actions, reworks and issuing project status updates until completed satisfactorily.
•          Examining quality control processes and methods used to make sure the project manager is controlling on-site activities properly.
•          Reviewing processes, procedures, and practices and determination possible areas for changes in order to improve the quality.
•          Recommending or requesting changes to the project team and management.
•          Reviewing quality control documentation to obtain the efficiency of the systems in place.

    QA inspections are usually conducted by systemic actions and plans based on applicable external quality management system standards like ISO 9000 family of standards.

     Basically, standardized inspections account for a good quality management program and assure quality for several important reasons such as:

•          Expert inspection protects the industry from criticism and loss of confidence that would result from poor work.
•          Good inspection protects the contractor’s reputation from unintentional failure of trusted employees to perform properly.
•          Expert inspection protects the contractor from placing him in a disadvantageous position that may result if other contractors are permitted to perform below standard work.
•          Good inspection protects other contractors and subcontractors.

    Standardized quality inspections are the way to a firm quality management system and overall quality project delivery. Having construction software supports on-site quality inspections and provides the power to conduct easy inspections that eventually lead to quality project delivery, increased productivity, and an overall successful construction project.