Ideally, this work is carried out by a specialist in the field of construction and design. Yes, and the project is also controlled by technical supervision, already during construction, catching minor errors, inconsistencies of one drawing with another, not allowing the problem to appear during installation. In such situations, technical supervision seeks to adjust the project while there is time, and before the builders run into a problem. An important part of the work of technical supervision, but not the main one.
At a construction site, of course, there is a foreman who controls quality, but even here we need control, quality supervision – which, in fact, is the main mission of this inconspicuous with the appearance of a man who never raises his voice, but is always heard. How the walls are laid, how the concrete mixture is compacted in the formwork is his daily work; requesting documents for this mixture and having the foreman supervise its pouring into boxes to record its real quality is a lot of work, and with the intensive pace of construction this happens approximately once every two to three days.
For a private house, the best technical supervision is a former builder who has gone through “fire, water and copper pipes” in low-rise construction. He knows where most often builders make their work easier, and he knows where to fight this and where to help. Wherever they cheated or hurried, he will not let it go, but where it is objectively difficult to do according to the project, where the project contains inaccessible material – here technical supervision will involve the designer and try to solve the problem through joint efforts. Often an arbiter is needed in disputes: “This (in the project) is not the best solution, let’s do it like this…” – say the builders, the designers in response justify their decision, and here you need to navigate complex matters, know construction physics, and without giving disputes grow into a problem, reach an optimal solution.
We imagine technical supervision as a person with a tape measure, and that’s right: you need to check the dimensions of walls, foundations and columns, but this is just the tip of the iceberg. Yes, and roulette is not always in use here – upon completion of the foundation structures, or the structures of the next floor, he, the technical supervision, orders the so-called surveyors. executive survey, where the actual position of the structures is recorded, and then they can be accurately compared with the project. This is how stage-by-stage acceptance of structures is carried out-as-built survey plus acts of acceptance of hidden works.
Who is hiding work and why? This is the name in construction for such work that is available for control for a short time until the next stage of work buries it forever. Reinforcement of reinforced concrete structures before pouring concrete, waterproofing of roofs before installing a covering, insulation of walls before finishing the facade – all this is clearly visible immediately upon completion, and at this moment three people are required to check the work and record the result: the author of the design solution (architect or civil engineer), technical supervision and contractor. Acceptance certificates for hidden work are stored with the project by the construction customer, and everyone wants them to never be needed again after the house is accepted into operation – but let the acts sit, they don’t take up much space.
The quality of materials is another rather serious point. Floor panels, wood for rafters, metal for beams, foundation blocks and concrete for the installation of load-bearing structures – for all this, technical supervision will require documents from the supplier confirming their quality (grade of concrete, class of wood and metal). It’s rare that a supplier will risk bringing unusable material if he knows that the construction site has technical supervision.
Checking ‘percentages’. At the end of the month, the contractor draws up a report on the advances received, this is a list of work performed, materials and consumables purchased, which is at least difficult and often unrealistic for an outsider, far from the practice of construction, to understand. The technical supervision mission is to go out to the site with an inspection, carry out measurements and calculations, and then endorse the ‘percentage’ – that’s the name of this document, which serves as the basis for payment to the contractor. A technical supervision visa at a ‘percentage’ point is not only a pass for the builder “to the cash register”, it is also a lever in the hands of the technical supervision, which allows him to ask: “What about that hole in the waterproofing that I fixed at the beginning of the month? Will it be closed soon? … Well, OK, when it’s ready, then we’ll meet.” Technical supervision does not need a loud voice; it is heard very well at the end of the month – and an experienced foreman understands everything from the first word, from the moment of receiving the rebuke.
There is one thing I need to say that you should know. Unfortunately, technical supervision has been made absolutely mandatory for construction of any scale, including private housing construction. An act of acceptance into operation with the signature of technical supervision is required, and this cannot be anyone – only the holder of the appropriate (and expensive) certificate. Regret here is appropriate for the reason that in response, a whole industry of fictitious technical supervision appeared, only for the final act of acceptance into operation. Such “technical supervision” does not appear at a construction site (and does not want to do what it knows only from studying at courses), its mission is only to “rent” a signature with a certificate. Accordingly, real technical supervision must now be distinguished from ritual supervision, that is, ask about the work path.
Another fictitious function is a “construction audit” of a finished house, or its “box”. It is impossible to evaluate the quality of construction in its already completed form, unless there are frankly crooked walls – but this is not all that hacks are famous for. The quality of laying concrete, knitting reinforcement, gluing waterproofing seams, and everything else that is inaccessible to inspection, but critically important for the house, remains unknown to such a post-audit.
This is, in fact, the picture we get with technical supervision – which, I hope, will now be perceived differently by you, to the benefit of your construction.
P.S. To avoid confusion, it must be said that our work, as designers, is Design Supervision, where it is necessary to check compliance with the project. The designer-constructor, the author of solutions for reinforced concrete structures, will come to accept reinforcement in reinforced concrete, I will come to accept waterproofing, and none of us will do the work described above, and which only he, technical supervision, can do.
