Value engineering frequently endangers American education. This claim may seem far-fetched, but a strong argument can be made that many common value engineering decisions have harmful effects on school building quality that also adversely impact our childrens learning experience.
These days, the term "value engineering" often seems a misnomer when applied to school construction projects. Value engineering is supposed to identify a decision making process where the owner and the design/construction team controls costs while maintaining the buildings long-term value. Unfortunately, construction managers frequently present value engineering choices that shorten school buildings life spans, lead to a higher incidence of building component failure and have a negative impact on education.