AWI Quality Review for 10/03/2017

The actual costs of AWI’s Quality Certification Program (QCP) project certification are NOT what you may think!

In response to unfortunate and persistent misinformation directed at architects who have specified QCP as their primary woodwork quality assurance, QCP has been engaged in an ongoing advertising campaign aiming to raise awareness within the design community of the actual cost and nature of QCP project certification.

Here are the facts:  The actual cost of QCP project certification is 1/2 % of the woodwork subcontract value, or $500, whichever is greater.  Up to a subcontract value of $100,000, the certification cost will be $500. Administrative responsibilities and the certification fee payment are handled by the woodwork subcontractor, with that cost appearing as a bid line-item.  

Over its twenty years of operation, the Quality Certification Program (administered by the not-for-profit Quality Certification Corporation) has typically functioned as intended, with all project stakeholders buying into a mutually beneficial “symbiotic” relationship:

• Owners, architects, and general contractors know they are receiving woodwork produced by a company which has earned licensing based on QCP-tested knowledge of AWI standards, and ability to produce work based on those standards.  Expert QCP “third party” physical inspection is automatic in some cases, and always available for any project stakeholder upon request, usually at no additional cost. Certification includes verification of conformance with specifications. Architects receive illustrated, detailed conformance reports of project inspections at no cost (also available to any project stakeholder).

• Licensed woodworking firms may enjoy a market advantage, since they are pre-qualified to bid on projects requiring QCP certification. Only licensed firms may certify a project under the auspices of QCP.

This model of quality assurance has a proven track record.  However, QCP has also seen many instances of a project’s general contractor and/or the awarded woodworker misrepresenting basic facts about the program (especially regarding cost) to the owner or architect.  In such cases, the goal is to create enough apprehension to cause the architect to withdraw his/her initial QCP requirement from the specifications. Simply put, the “benefit” of this for the GC or woodworker is that AWI standards may be ignored or corners cut without the possibility of QCP’s scrutiny.  (For a striking real-life example of this phenomenon, click the following link to an article by QCP Executive Director Randy Estabrook, which appeared in AWI’s Design Solutions Magazine.)

Also important to note is that scare tactics regarding costs are often accompanied by the false narrative that certification will in some way delay the woodwork component of the project schedule.  But in fact, one of QCP’s “Prime Directives” to its inspectors is that no step taken in the inspection process should ever compromise the woodworker’s ability to deliver and/or install architectural woodwork as required by project deadlines.

Based on market research, and conversations similar to the one described by Randy in the above-referenced article, QCP has been sponsoring a digital ad campaign emphasizing the actual cost of QCP. The ads appear on three websites:  Architectmagazine.com, constructionspecifier.comand enr.com. Check them out and get the real facts!  Selected graphic elements of those ads also appear in this article.

This Quality Review regular feature will strive to present woodwork-related technical topics of common interest and importance to the design community, general contractors, and the architectural woodwork industry.  >

On Sept. 9, 2015, AWI’s Quality Certification Program (QCP) offered the last in its series of educational webinars for that year.  The presentation was titled “The Irresistible Force and the Moveable Object”, and was a fairly comprehensive discussion of the often contentious relationship between fine woodwork and humidity.  This webinar was also presented the previous year, but was reprised because of the high attendance and keen interest in the topic.

QCP’s webinars have often addressed technical matters of day-to-day importance to the architectural woodwork fabricators, finishers, and installers which comprise QCP’s 500+ licensees.  However, some of the areas discussed are unquestionably of interest and consequence not only to woodwork subcontractors, but to all stakeholders of a commercial or institutional construction project. The issue of uncontrolled humidity and the havoc it can wreak with installed woodwork certainly falls into that category.  In fact, only a team effort involving designers, general contractors, and woodwork manufacturers can guarantee avoidance of the very negative situations which can result from either excessive or insufficient humidity:

• Wood products must be designed to move and adjust to changing humidity.
• Interior spaces must be closed and conditioned prior to delivery of woodwork, and wood products allowed to acclimate prior to installation for a reasonable amount of time.
• Wood products must be manufactured and finished with consideration of material moisture content, and humidity conditions in storage and finishing areas.  The fabricator and installer must incorporate expansion joints in certain products where required by AWI Standards.

When any of these aspects are omitted, catastrophic results can and do occasionally occur.

 The 2014 webinar included the scientific definition of “relative humidity,” the requirements of the Architectural Woodwork Standards regarding humidity, instrumentation available to general contractors and woodworkers to monitor RH conditions, and the process of documenting humidity levels over time.

To access this webinar.  Scroll down to select “2014 QCP Talk – The Irresistable Force and the Movable Object”.

The Quality Certification Program shared a booth with the Architectural Woodwork Institute and exhibited at the Construct 2017 Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) trade show held at the Providence, Rhode Island Convention Center in September.  QCC Executive Director Randy Estabrook and Operations Director Tricia Roberts manned the QCP booth, along with AWI’s Standards Editor Margaret Fisher.  Nothing beats the opportunity this show provides to have face-to-face interactions with specifiers from top architectural firms as well as consultants from the commercial building industry.  The booth had steady traffic and we were able to meet with many CSI specifiers who regularly use QCP.

Pictured above Quality Certification Corporation Executive Director Randy Estabrook and Operations Manager Tricia Roberts get ready for opening day at CONSTRUCT in Providence, RI.

Prior to CONSTRUCT, QCP participated in the SCIP (Specification Consultants in Independent Practice) meeting at the Hilton Hotel in Providence Rhode Island. Each SCIP member maintains an office with an extensive reference library and is primarily engaged in the practice of specification consulting. Membership includes about 180 full time independent consultants in practice from coast to coast and beyond. SCIP members subscribe to a Standard Code of Practice.

SCIP welcomes specifiers who are in-house specialist employees of firms providing a broader range of professional design services to join as Affiliate Members. Although they are not responsible for managing their own firms, they encounter many of the same specifications services issues as Independent Members.