C&E Exam Question 65

construction & evaluation
1

Hi, I’m a bit confused about the answer to this question.

"The university has requested that the architect and general contractor review ideas for decreasing project costs. The architect and general contractor are reviewing value engineering options for the proposed dormitories.

Which of the following items would best decrease the cost of the project and maintain the university’s design intent?"

It says the removing the basements of the building is the preferred answer as the costs of removing significant amounts of cost savings in the foundation walls alone. Yet, it also says the removing the clouded areas including a cafeteria would lead to great cost savings but would not align with the uni’s design intent. The info provided in the scenario also states that the the dormitory buildings shall have a cafeteria which makes sense for why that would be the wrong answer. However, it also states that “All dormitory buildings will have a basement” which would make it seem that the provided right answer is incorrect as well for the same reason as the cafeteria. Am I missing something here in the language or is this just a poorly worded question?

Thanks!

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2

Hi,

Both areas are important as they are part of the original program, but in this question the architect and contractor are value engineering and they are addressing the budget concern by reducing the scope. Remember that for the test we have to choose the best answer and eliminating subsurface construction will provide the most savings without taking away important support area to the dormitory such as a cafeteria.

Hope this helps!

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