Risk Analyst: A New Player in the Construction Processes – Portugal

Centro de investigação em Arquitetura, Urbanismo e Design at Faculdade de Arquitetura, Universidade de Lisboa/Secção das Tecnologias de Construção, Lisbon, Portugal

Abstract

In Portugal, the established structure for the construction, does not work in favor of its quality! The construction sector, at the height of its financial strength, from 1980 to 2007, has always had the tendency to skid beyond the initial budgets. It is true that these were drawn up on a stage still under construction, for the sake of time management and to please the Project Owner (P.O.). When transiting to the construction site all was uncovered, and the P.O. had to deal with higher costs and unanticipated. The General Contractor (G.C.) took advantage of this weakness and would rework its proposal - dumping was a current practice, with the certainty of what would happen - what in fact only aggravated the situation. The designers were averse to change and conflicts would arise with the P.O. and G.C.. Given this the only entity considered to be independent, to mediate the situation was the Inspection. This, for its part, took the side of the strong players - P.O. and G.C. - in an attempt to balance the immediate savings of both, leading to systemic build failures with huge impact on the edified, which in turn affected the warranty period. As a rule the G.C. would refuse to do any repair - claiming that she had just built in accordance with the instructions - hiding behind the imposed economy and ignoring the projects - with the consent of the P.O.