Warranties for a capital project typically start at the substantial performance of the work or on the date of beneficial occupancy. Any extended warranties typically start at the expiration of the contractor’s one or two-year warranty that covers all the work. As part of the final submittals, the contractor will typically provide a letter of warranty for the entire work. Letters from vendors and subcontractors are only required if the specifications have called for extended warranties for products such as windows, roofing materials, mechanical systems, etc. In these cases, the contractor is required to obtain these warranties for the owner, and a direct contractual relationship between the owner and the respective subcontractor or supplier will occur after the initial warranty.
The Construction Specification Institute (CSI) Specification section 01 78 00, Closeout Submittals details the requirements for obtaining, verifying, and monitoring the contractor warranties. The contractor needs to prepare a Warranty Register should and copies of all Warranties and Extended Warranties shall be provided to the project owner. The register will enable the identifying all warranties that are due to expire and if actions are needed to renew the warranty certificate.
Using a Project Management Information System (PMIS) like PMWeb will enable managing the warranties of all equipment, products, and systems that are part of the completed project. PMWeb Equipment module will be used to capture the warranty details of all equipment, products, and systems. To start with, PMWeb allows creating a location breakdown structure to detail the zones, levels, and rooms or spaces of the project and where equipment, product, or system will be located. In addition, the details of each of equipment, product, or system such as ID, name, type, status, and whether the equipment is a component of a building system. Further, the template allows capturing additional details on each equipment, product, or system such as subcontractor or vendor name, equipment or product brand, when the equipment was received, and the warranty expiry date among others. In addition, PMWeb allows adding additional information that could not available by default such as contract reference numbers among others.
The attachment tab will be used to attach pictures of equipment, product or system, brochures, operation and maintenance manual, warranty certificate, as-built drawings, testing and commissioning checklists, and certificates among others. The images of equipment or products can be selected to be displayed on the equipment page by selecting the display option.
The Warranty Register report will use the data captured in the Equipment module to provide a comprehensive list of all equipment, products, and systems warranty certificates that need to be monitored and tracked by the project owner. The most important field on this report is the Days to Expire field which is a calculated field that will calculate the difference between “Today’s Date” and the warranty certificate “Expiry Date”. The field background will be colored in “Red” for those certificates that are due to expire in 60 days or less, “Cyan” for those that are due to expire in 90 days, and “Green” for those certificates that have more than 90 days to expire.
About the Author
Bassam Samman, PMP, PSP, EVP, GPM is a Senior Project Management Consultant with more than 35-year service record providing project management and control services to over 100 projects with a total value of over US $5 Billion. Those projects included Commercial, Residential, Education and Healthcare Buildings and Infrastructure, Entertainment and Shopping Malls, Oil and Gas Plants and Refineries, and Telecommunication and Information Technology projects. He is thoroughly experienced in complete project management including project management control systems, computerized project control software, claims analysis/prevention, risk analysis/management (contingency planning), design, supervision, training, and business development.
Bassam is a frequent speaker on topics relating to Project Management, Strategic Project Management, and Project Management Personal Skills. Over the past 35 years, he has lectured at more than 350 events and courses at different locations in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and South America. He has written more than 250 articles on project management and project management information systems that were featured in international and regional magazines and newspapers. He is a co-founder of the Project Management Institute- Arabian Gulf Chapter (PMI-AGC) and has served on its board of directors for more than 6 years. He is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) from the Project Management Institute (PMI), a certified Planning and Scheduling Professional (PSP), and Earned Value Professional (EVP) from the American Association of Cost Engineers (AACE) and Green Project Management (GPM).
Bassam holds a Masters in Engineering Administration (Construction Management) with Faculty Commendation, George Washington University, Washington, D.C., USA, Bachelor in Civil Engineering – Kuwait University, Kuwait and has attended many executive management programs at Harvard Business School, Boston, USA and London Business School, London, UK.