BUSINESS AND TRAINING
11
The role players of a project( Part 1)
By
Uwe Putlitz
Here, we look at the different role players in construction projects, as well as the roles they play.
Projects, by their very nature, require numerous people with unique skills and access to specialised equipment – during each of the implementation phases – to contribute their expertise in compliance with statutory requirements and / or recognised( international) standards. This is part one in a multiple-part series.
Construction role players typically fall into ten categories: 1. Initiator: The owner or developer of a project, who facilitates the design, construction and commissioning of a project for own use or on behalf of others.
2. User: A single user( may be the initiator) or multiple users.
3. Explorer: A person with skills generally required during the initial stages of a project, including a property broker, town planner, environmental practitioner, geotechnical engineer,( cultural) historian and / or a transferring attorney. 4. Designer: This could be the architect, quantity surveyor, engineer, health and safety agent.
5. Guarantor: Provide financial services as an investor in a project, or issues guarantees for performance by the principal and subcontractors / contractors or for payment by the owner and / or provides insurance of the works during and after construction to the owner and / or to the principal and subcontractors / contractors.
6. Buyer: Typically uses the quantity surveyor’ s information to source the best value for money – specified products or services on behalf of the initiator or any other service provider.
7. Builder: Principal contractor typically specialising in one or more fields of construction to build the utilities infrastructure, roads and bridges, domestic, commercial and industrial buildings and / or is responsible for interior fitouts or renovation of existing structures employing domestic, selected or nominated subcontractors.
8. Contract administrator: The responsible person to manage the implementation of a contract referred to in standard form construction contracts( SfCC), in FIDIC: the engineer, in GCC: the employer’ s agent, in JBCC: the principal agent, and in NEC: the project manager.
9. Moderator: Mediator, adjudicator or arbitrator – and, in extreme cases, the judge should litigation be necessary.
10. Fixer: An experienced industry practitioner acting as a trouble shooter / advisor to timeously identify avoidable poor or dangerous practices and to guide possible remedial action.
The Initiator The initiator commissions projects for its own use or on behalf of identified users.
The initiator – sometimes in conjunction with the user – is responsible for the formulation of a project from the first perception of a need for a project by the user to its validation. They give the project‘ status’ to proceed to the next work stage, failed receival of which results in abandonment of the project. The project should now be allocated resources of people, time and money to flesh out the first draft of a project brief.
The user may have strict spatial building requirements, for example column spacing and / or height in a warehouse to suit pallet stacking or display shelving in a supermarket.
Uwe Putlitz is a registered professional Architect and Construction Project Manager, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors( RICS) and is a visiting lecturer at the School of Construction Economics and Management at the University of the Witwatersrand. Having recently retired as the Chief Executive Officer of the Joint Building Contracts Committee( JBCC) he specialises in the avoidance of construction disputes by way of lectures, technical articles dealing with aspects of contract administration for various industry publications arising from the use of Standardform Contracts including the Federation Internationale des Ingenieurs-Conseils( FIDIC), the General Conditions of Contract( GCC), the JBCC or the New Engineering Contract( NEC) to find an acceptable settlement without resorting to legal processes, where possible.
More info: info @ buildstrat. co. za
“ Projects, by their very nature, require numerous people with unique skills and access to specialised equipment”
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October 2026 Volume 32 I Number 08 www. plumbingafrica. co. za