Third Party Inspection services in construction

During construction project leader must be quality cautious.Moreover if possible two Engineers of senior level must be deputed for quality checking alongwith the project leader.A strict supervison will be able to controll the quality.This is being implemented practically and the results are quite satisfying.Supervisor working on regular basis can never controll the because he is at a different level and he emotionally involves in such matter and deciplane and emotions are two seperate segements.

You cannot attribute third party inspection service for all construction activities. Both the client & contractor must have some responsibility towards quality & sould be committed for work ethics. However third party inspection service is very essential for important & risky activities. Third party inspection should not be meant to caught contractor for bad quality work. In fact due to work pressure & urgency of time both contractor & client some times do mistakes or ignore some aspects unintensionally which may be dangerous if goes unnoticed. Big erections, launching of superstructures in bridge, commisioning of big equipments & other important activities not only involve many steps but also involves safety aspect too. A third party when inspects can find out the ignored steps, missed points & that is good for client, contractor & the project.

Thus third party inspection is not only essential but also in the interest of the client & contractor. For example in DMRC, there is an urgency of work. One cannot question the integrity of DMRC, its PMC or its Contractors. But due to urgency every body is focussed to complete the work as early as possible. During such emergency execution it is natural that some mistakes remain unnoticed & the result is the accidents. A third party who does not woorie for C'mmon wealth game if vested with mandatory third party inspection, I am sure there would not be fatal accidents occured in last two years.

Inspection always suspect others work. can we create such a enviorenment where no need of inspection. every body be honest and perform as per design. I do agree that quality engineer should be qualified in that level where he can check the cercumstances for that reason quality was not maintained. quality downgrading not only by negligency but some times commited intentionally to cover other factor

Construction projects are divided in two major phases, planning and designing and execution. In the design process generally two parties are involved, the client and the consultant, and in the execution phase three parties are involved, as per old fidic, and four parties as per new fidic viz client, project manager, consultant and the contractor (project manager is not meintioned in old fidic). During the execution the role of consultant is to supervise the execution as per design and to solve issues/problems/errors in design. Since the consultant is present on full time basis and only to inspect and supervise so that project specs are met, I dont think we need another party to be involved for quality.
In design phase wherein only the client is supervising things, may be, there is a scope of further involvement of third party.

One of the basics of Civil Engineering is to give QUALITY and ECONOMICAL construction and involvement of more and more parties will bring further overheads for the project. DO NOT FOLLOW THE EXAMPLE OF DUBAI where in the cost of projects went as much as 1.5 to 1.75 times because of the overheads.

The idea is good,but it is used as a tool to save skin of those who are directly masters of projects.It means another expert, another team and another contract.The corporate house may not absolve of their resposibility of choosing the right combination.

Third partyconsultancy is made mandatory nowadays for the major projects for three reasons.
1. For concurrent control of the project works to avoid accumulation of errors on the long run.
2. For preventive control to avoid the committance of mistakes through periodical checks.
3. For continuous improvement in the methodology adopted in the Project execution. 

It is good to have third party inspection but in Government firms it it is only for their safety not for quality. although their are no of firms which are doing quality control but they dont have qualified professionals. so it is good to give good rates to executing agency to maintain proper quality 

The taste of the food one cooks is better felt by another. Likewise, a third party quality check is definitely helpful in analyzing the shortcomings. 

A PMI certified Professional, especialy Six Sigma holder should be hired as quality consultant. He will have no biase.

Its a 50:50 proposal. As per my knowledge, the third party inspection is the 50% solution to the quality assurance. In my opinion, the client should select the contractor who having a specialized quality control & assurance dept. In small projects third party inspection may be a good one. But in large size projects contractor's won quality control system is better and cost effective also.

Pragya I appreciate your views. But when u talk about full time Supervisor on construction site, there is always a chance that he gets involved with the people on site. takes things for granted ( say for example when the contractor asks him to check slab reinforcement he might , after his previous exp say , its okay proceed no need to check. 

Again he is a single individual on the 24* 7 so the contractor knows his competences, what he checks and accordingly corrects.

And when we talk about a Third Party Body , its not same individual going every time on site. So obviously has different competences and different knowledge base. 
As he is not  there for 24*7 there is alwasy a fear in the mind of Contractor that he can come anytime ( Surprise Visit)

And about commercial - The supervisor needs to be deployed for whole months and the inspector can be deployed for say 10 days a month , resulting in cost reduction..

   
But

I always believe there should be a supervisor who can supervise each and every step going on in a project in the absence of whom, the construction work cannot end up successfully. In this growing competition of construction projects it is very much recommended to have a project supervisor to overview each and every step of the project. This will give a very good finishing as planned. Also, when the instrustries are getting outsourced, it is recommended to have a supervisor from the venue country, train him and make him do the work by which not only the work will get proper supervision giving good finishing but also the cost incurred will be much lesser. Nice article Pandurang, thanks for sharing...