Glossary

Construction & Development

40 terms in this category

Architect

An architect is an engineer specialized in designing buildings and spaces that combine function, aesthetics, sustainability and safety requirements; the architect prepares the architectural drawings, coordinates them with the structural, electrical and mechanical disciplines, and may supervise construction.

Blueprint

A blueprint, or engineering drawing set, is the collection of technical drawings and documents that describe a building precisely — its plans, elevations, sections, dimensions, structural elements and electrical, mechanical and plumbing systems — and against which construction is carried out once approved.

Building Code

A building code is the set of mandatory technical requirements governing the design, construction, operation, maintenance and alteration of buildings to ensure safety and public health.

Civil Engineer

A civil engineer is an engineer specialized in planning, designing, building and maintaining structures and infrastructure — buildings, roads, bridges, water and sewer networks and dams — with a focus on structural safety, soil behaviour and material properties.

Construction Cost

Construction cost is the total amount spent to build a structure until it is ready for occupancy, including direct costs (materials, labour, equipment and the contractor's profit) and soft costs (design, supervision, permits, soil testing, insurance and financing), usually excluding land value.

Construction Project

A construction project is an organized set of works to build a new building or to extend, renovate or alter an existing one, with a defined scope, budget and schedule, delivered by key parties: the owner (employer), the designer, the supervisor and the contractor.

Contractor

A contractor is a natural or legal person who, under a construction contract, undertakes to carry out building, construction, installation or maintenance work for the employer in return for payment, without being the employer's subordinate or agent.

Defects Liability Period

The Defects Liability Period (DLP) is a contractual period, typically 12 months from provisional acceptance of the works, during which the contractor must repair or replace at its own cost any defects that appear in materials, equipment or workmanship.

Design-Build

Design-build is a project delivery method in which the owner contracts a single entity to handle both design and construction under one contract, giving single-point responsibility for design, quality, cost and time.

Electrical System

A property's electrical system is the wiring and equipment that distributes electric power inside a building, from the utility connection and meter through distribution boards, circuit breakers and cables to sockets, lighting and appliances, including earthing.

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency in buildings means achieving the same level of comfort and service with less energy, through a good thermal envelope (insulated walls and roofs, low-heat-gain windows and air-tightness), high-efficiency systems for cooling, lighting and water heating, and sensible controls and operation.

Environmental Impact

Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is a systematic study carried out before a project is built to identify and predict its likely effects on air, water, soil, biodiversity and the surrounding community, and to set measures to prevent or mitigate them.

Finishing

Finishing is the final stage of construction that follows completion of the structure and main services, covering plaster, paint, flooring, suspended ceilings, doors and windows, sanitary and electrical fittings and façade cladding, turning the building from a shell into a usable unit.

Fire Safety

Fire safety is an integrated system of design features, installations and procedures that prevent fires in a building, detect them early, limit their spread and allow safe evacuation and firefighting.

Foundation

A foundation is the lowest part of a structure, which safely transfers the building's loads to the soil or rock and is designed not to exceed the soil's bearing capacity or cause harmful or uneven settlement between parts of the building.

Green Building

A green building is one designed, built and operated to reduce energy, water and material use and to limit emissions and waste while providing a healthy indoor environment, with its performance usually verified by a rating system such as Saudi Arabia's Mostadam or the US LEED.

Handover

Handover is the act of enabling the buyer or owner to actually possess and use a property once its construction or fit-out is complete, usually documented in a handover report recording its condition and conformity with the agreed specifications.

HVAC

HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) refers to the mechanical systems that control temperature, humidity, air quality and air movement inside a building, including cooling units, ductwork, extract and ventilation fans and controls.

Interior Design

Interior design is the planning and fitting out of a building's interior spaces — furniture layout, lighting, colours, materials, ceilings, floors and fixed fittings — to achieve function, comfort and visual identity within safety requirements.

Milestone

A milestone is a specific event in the schedule that marks the completion of a phase or a key deliverable — such as completion of foundations, the frame, finishes or handover — and has no duration of its own; it is used to measure progress and report to the parties and is often linked to payments.

Modular Construction

Modular construction is an off-site building method in which three-dimensional modules, such as complete rooms or apartments with their finishes and services, are manufactured in a factory and then transported and assembled on prepared foundations on site.

Occupancy Certificate

Document issued through the Balady platform confirming a building is complete and fit for use, requiring a building permit issued at least six months earlier and a ten-year inherent defects insurance policy.

Off-Plan Sale

An off-plan sale is the sale of developed land or a real estate unit — an apartment, villa or office — before construction starts or during construction, based on approved designs and drawings, with the price paid in instalments deposited into a project-specific escrow account.

Permit Fees

Permit fees are the amounts paid to the municipality through the Balady platform for issuing construction permits and related certificates, calculated electronically according to the type of service and the project's area, use and location.

Plumbing

Plumbing (sanitary works) is the network of pipes, fixtures and equipment that supplies a building with cold and hot drinking water and removes wastewater and gases through drainage and vent systems.

Post-Construction

Post-construction is the phase following the physical completion of works, covering commissioning, final inspection, the occupancy certificate, handover, snag rectification and the start of operation, maintenance and warranty periods.

Prefabricated Construction

Prefabricated construction is the manufacture of building components in a factory under controlled conditions, such as precast concrete panels, columns, beams and slabs, steel frames, insulated sandwich panels and bathroom pods, which are then transported, installed and connected on site.

Project Management

Project management in construction is the planning, organizing, leading and controlling of a project's work from concept to handover in order to deliver the required scope at the specified quality, within budget and schedule, while managing risks, contracts and communication between the parties.

Real Estate Developer

A real estate developer is the person — usually a company with legal personality — that owns, leases or partners with the owner of land in order to build a real estate project on it and then sell or lease its units, bearing the financing, execution and marketing risks in return for profit.

Real Estate Development

Real estate development is the activity of turning raw land or an existing property into a residential, commercial, office or service project ready for sale or lease, through stages that start with a feasibility study and end with handover and operation.

Remodeling

Remodeling is altering the design of a building or unit or the layout of its spaces or components — demolishing walls, adding a room, floor or annex, merging two units or changing the use — so that its form or function differs from the original, rather than simply restoring it to its previous state.

Renovation

Renovation is restoring a building or part of it to its previous good condition by repairing its defects — such as cracks, leaks, concrete deterioration and damaged finishes and services — without adding new components or changing its structural elements, in order to extend its life and keep it safe to use.

Safety Standards

Construction safety standards are the mandatory technical and procedural requirements that protect the lives and property of occupants, workers and the public during the design, construction and operation of buildings.

Schedule

A project schedule is a time plan that sets out the project's activities, their sequence, the duration of each, start and finish dates and the relationships between them; it is used to measure progress, identify the critical path and calculate the effect of any delay on the completion date.

Soil Test

A soil test is a geotechnical investigation done before structural design, drilling boreholes on site and testing samples in the field and laboratory to determine soil type, bearing capacity, groundwater and chemical content, so the engineer can recommend the foundation type and depth.

Structural Design

Structural design is the engineering process that defines a building's load-bearing system — foundations, columns, beams, slabs and bearing walls — and the size, reinforcement and materials of each element, so it safely resists dead, live, wind and seismic loads throughout its design life.

Subcontractor

A subcontractor is a contractor to whom the main contractor assigns part of the work — or sometimes all of it — under a separate contract between them, such as electrical, plumbing, HVAC, waterproofing or lift works, with no direct contract with the employer in principle.

Sustainability

Sustainability in real estate and construction means designing, building and operating properties to meet present needs without compromising future generations, by balancing environmental, economic and social dimensions over the building's whole life.

Turnkey

Turnkey describes a contract or deal in which the contractor or developer undertakes to deliver the project or unit complete and ready for immediate use, designed, built, equipped and tested, for a lump-sum price, so that the client only has to 'turn the key'.

Warranty

A warranty in real estate is the statutory or contractual obligation of a seller, developer or contractor that the property is free from defects reducing its value or usefulness, and to repair or compensate for defects that appear within a set period after handover.