SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/50965
OVERSIGHT Once design and construction has begun, the sports turf manager should work as an active liaison between the professional team and the owner. The manager should be relaying questions, getting answers and most importantly, ascertaining the project remains on budget and on time. Remember your prospectus? Keep checking it and making sure the project is conforming to what you had in mind all along. The construction team will have a project foreman, and the sports turf manager should be on good terms with that person, and should keep open the lines of communica- tion. We prefer the sports turf manager to be our 'point person' rather than having us need to address multiple questions to different contacts within the administration. Knowing there is one person we can turn to makes our job a lot easier. (Designers and builders know the turf manager may need to consult with an athletic director, coach, school prin- cipal or other authority before giving us a re- sponse to a specific question, but the fact is we're just grateful that we don't have to hunt for that person ourselves, and then get passed around the administration while we wait for an answer). Oversight should include regular visits to the site, regular conversations with the design and build pros, and regular check- ups to make sure materials will come in as ordered, payments are being made on time and that work is progressing. If weather is causing delays, or if some unexpected prob- lem with the site crops up, this information should be relayed to the sports turf man- ager so that he or she can help address the issue and pass any information along to the appropriate group(s). Punch list approval: When the project is completed, the sports turf manager, as the point person, will probably be the one who signs off on it. This is another place where your prospectus will come into play. Use it to create a checklist of any problems or outstanding work, and communicate with the project foreman. Check off items as they're addressed. The sports turf manager may not be signing the final check, but he or she should be responsible for making sure each aspect of the finished project has been com- www.stma.org SportsTurf 35 pleted to the satisfaction of the client. And ultimately, that's what the design and build professionals want too. ■ Mary Helen Sprecher wrote this article on behalf of the American Sports Builders Associ- ation, which helps designers, builders, owners, operators and users understand quality sports facility construction. The ASBA sponsors in- formative meetings and publishes newsletters, books and technical construction guidelines for athletic facilities including sports fields. It also offers voluntary certification programs in sports facility construction and maintenance. Available at no charge is a listing of all publi- cations offered by the Association, as well as the ASBA's Membership Directory. Info: 866- 501-ASBA (2722) or www.sportsbuilders.org