One of my most memorable constructability issues involved a window and a shower enclosure. You can probably guess the story, but here is the math: one six foot pre-manufactured shower enclosure plus one 18 inch window does not fit in a room with an eight foot ceiling.  And, of course, the problem came to light after the framing, plumbing and drywall were complete.  But, that's not the memorable part..

This project was a simple re-use and we were the design-builders.  I was new to the project, but my Superintendent was on his second re-use.  "I can't believe we did it again!" he says.  "What do you mean, 'again'?" was my response.  You guessed it, not only did the feedback from our last three similar projects not translate into a plan revision for this and future builds, but "we" managed to build it per plans again, forgetting that the plans would paint us into a corner we would have trouble getting out of.  And, this was a relatively simple project!

As a Construction Project Manager, I had worked through problems like this before. The details of each problem vary depending on the delivery method (design-bid-build, design-build, CM-at-risk, etc) and the project team members involved, but one consistent theme runs through them all: this is going to cost the project both time and money.  

For me, this was a watershed moment in my thinking on Construction Document Review.  It wasn't as painful when I was "just the GC, building it per plan."  We were the design-builders and we had egg on our face.  I vowed then and there to make sure that this particular problem was fixed, and started my thinking on how I would do a Constructability or Construction Document Review.  

Oh, you want to know what our solution was?  Nothing remarkable.  We cut out enough of the enclosure to make room for the window, added some trim and a generous amount of caulking. And, all it cost us was time and money...