Value Engineering and Optimal Building Projects

The goal of any engineering design is to obtain an optimal solution to the design problem. This paper examines how value engineering contributes to the process of obtaining an optimal solution to the design problem for a building project. The factors that determine a building project and its costs are listed and these factors fall into two groups; one group relates to specific engineering systems, while the other group is general in character and relates to the whole building. Value engineering is effective because its procedures give opportunities for raising design issues associated with the latter group of factors as well as for providing for peer-review of the design. A summary of other methods of optimal design—such as design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA), concurrent engineering, and total quality management—is given, and these methods are compared with value engineering. Cost minimization in building construction is discussed with examples from the writer's experience on building projects in West Africa and the Middle East.