工商管理毕业论文外文文献翻译.pdf

The Contractors Role in Building Cost Reduction After Design Author ：Waddle,Todd W. Nationality：UK Derivation：Cost Engineering; Feb2008, Vol. 50 Issue 2, p14-21 It has become evident from recent news articles that inflationary pressures and increased construction activity are causing many building projects to come in well over owners budgets. This trend has increased dramatically over the past few years, as much of the construction industry has been impacted by an unprecedented increase in the cost of construction. The historical rate of increase in construction cost has been under five percent per year, as reported by the Engineering News Record . Over the last few years, the industry has seen a significant increase from historical escalation rates, up to 10-15 percent per year in many regions of the US. These increases have been caused by a variety of factors, including the following. • Shortage of steel resulting from rapid growth in China. • Demand for materials in the US resulting from increased hurricane damage. • Rising oil prices leading to higher manufacturing and transportation cost. • Rising labor cost because of increased construction activity . To be successful in having over budget projects awarded, the building contractor has had to take a proactive role in working with owners and design teams to reduce project cost to amounts that owners are able to award. Th is cost reduction is normally accomplished through the following methods. • value engineering; • scope reduction; Value Engineering Value engineering (VE) has been defined as a systematic method to improve the value of goods and services by using an examination of function. Value, as defined, is the ratio of function to cost. Value can therefore be increased by either improving the function or reducing the cost. It