With the continuous expansion of China's capital construction scale, the number of engineering construction projects is also increasing, and the investment in engineering projects is also increasing. In the whole national economy, the output value of construction industry ranks fourth, and it is the main economic industry of the country. Therefore, it is urgent to control and save the project investment with effective methods. Past practice has proved that the proportion of invalid investment and investment out of control in China's engineering projects is obviously higher than that in western developed countries. The investment in engineering projects in China has been high, which is related to the management means and methods in China. As a management method, value engineering has been widely used in manufacturing industry and achieved great success. This paper analyzes the characteristics of project investment, and tries to use the method of value engineering to analyze the investment control of the whole life cycle of the project, so as to achieve the purpose of saving the investment of the project, and thus puts forward the necessity and suggestions of vigorously popularizing value engineering in construction projects. ? First, the basic principle of value engineering? Value engineering (VE) came into being in the late 1940s, accompanied by modern production. It is a systematic analysis of the function and cost of the research object, so as to make rational use of resources and reliably realize the functions required by users at the lowest life cycle cost. It is a modern management science and technical and economic analysis method centered on improving technical and economic benefits. After more than 60 years of development, value engineering has been widely used in military industry, agricultural production, scientific research, enterprise management and manufacturing industry, and has achieved remarkable economic benefits. In China's construction industry, there are also some applications, but they are relatively shallow, and they have not received enough attention and effective application in controlling engineering investment. The value in value engineering is different from the general concept of value, which is the ratio of the function to the cost of the research object. For an engineering project, the cost includes the expenses incurred in the whole life cycle such as planning, design, construction, use and maintenance. Second, the formation and characteristics of project investment? From the life cycle analysis of the project, the project has gone through pre-planning, project design, project construction stage, project end stage, project post-evaluation stage and maintenance stage. The expenses incurred in these processes constitute the investment of the project, so the investment of the project is formed in stages. Among them, the expenses incurred in the pre-planning and design stage are less, but they have the greatest impact on the project investment, which can be as high as more than 70%, while the direct expenses incurred in the project construction stage, termination and maintenance stage are larger, but there is little room for the impact on the project investment. The project legal person fee in the total investment of the project is determined by the decision-making stage and the design stage. The most likely period to save project investment is the stage of project opportunity identification and project definition. Therefore, early decision-making and design stage are the focus of investment control. The investment in engineering projects is huge, and the investment that can be saved by applying value engineering is very large. Value engineering can be applied to all places where expenses occur, and the investment of the project occurs in stages, so value engineering can be applied to all stages of the project, so as to realize the effective saving of investment in the whole process. Rational use of resources, improve the economic benefits and value of the project. ? Third, the application space of value engineering in saving project investment? 1. In the decision-making stage of investment strategy, the value of modern projects has changed from cost, quality and progress to strategy, resources and coordination. The value of the project must be consistent with the project strategy, and the project strategy must be consistent with the overall strategy of enterprise development. Early investment strategy decision-making mistakes will cause great harm to the value of the project, even invalid investment. With the emergence of economies of scale and diversification of enterprise management, an enterprise is facing more and more projects, and it is rare for an enterprise to invest in a project. How to ensure that these projects are consistent with the strategic objectives of the enterprise and can effectively realize the strategy of the enterprise? In the case of limited resources, it is particularly important for strategic decision makers of projects to implement and finally realize the enterprise development strategy while using existing resources to realize multiple projects. Each project has a specific role in the overall development of the enterprise. How much should each project invest? The principle of value engineering revolves around the coordination of function and cost, so the application of value engineering can solve the above problems and realize the rational allocation of resources. The United States and other western developed countries have achieved good results in applying value engineering in enterprise strategic decision-making. 2. Feasibility study stage China has carried out feasibility study of engineering projects for more than 20 years. Practice has proved that feasibility study is an indispensable and important link in the construction process. From the analysis of many projects' cost overruns, time delays and failure to meet the scheduled completion standards, many of them are caused by the lack of in-depth, scientific and meticulous feasibility studies in the early stage. Because the purpose of value engineering is to realize the value of the project at the lowest life cycle cost under the premise of meeting the functions of the project, value engineering activities can run through the whole process of the project, so they can also be carried out in the feasibility study stage. The research shows that the cost of the feasibility study is very small, but the impact on the project cost is as high as 95%. Therefore, at this stage, value engineering analysis, full understanding of the owner's requirements for the project, full consideration of the project function and cost, and selection of a more reasonable and scientific scheme can maximize investment savings. 3. In the design stage, we can deeply realize that the design scheme should not only meet the functional requirements, but also meet the economic requirements, and the feasibility of the scheme should be considered. Cost (investment) is the main factor to be considered in the design stage. With the development of engineering design, the composition of engineering projects is further clarified, the space for optimization is narrower and narrower, and the restrictions for optimization are more and more. Many problems are often encountered in design. How to evaluate the design scheme? The design is different. Is this a good plan? The design scheme looks good, but what is the actual effect? Is the lowest cost solution the best? The application of value engineering can solve these problems well. Using value engineering in the design stage can remind designers to consider many value factors such as environment, function, cost, safety, time, humanity and technology, and constantly optimize and balance these factors. Advocating the application of value engineering in the design stage can effectively avoid the situation that China's current design is limited to contract or professional knowledge, ignoring other value factors of the project. For example, small paper mills have developed the local economy, but their waste liquid has polluted the surrounding water environment. Through carrying out value engineering activities, it is required that all majors cooperate closely, strengthen the communication between designers and project stakeholders, and truly realize the value of the project. 4. In the bidding stage, China began to implement the bidding system in the construction industry from 1984. The current construction market in China is a typical buyer's market. According to the provisions of the Bidding Law, the reasonable lowest price is adopted to win the bid, and the lowest price after evaluation is also adopted to win the bid. Using this method, the owner can only choose the construction enterprise (low cost) from the units participating in the bidding, but can't evaluate the value of the project. Especially in the face of comparable construction enterprises, which construction enterprise should the owner choose to achieve the ultimate goal of reducing costs and improving functions? Although the existing analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy bid evaluation methods have their own advantages and disadvantages, they cannot best reflect the reduction of project cost and the enhancement of project functions. Using the value analysis method, a value engineering team led by the tendering unit was established, and the project implementation scheme provided by each contractor was regarded as an innovative scheme in value management, with technology, quality, construction period and reputation as functional evaluation indexes of the project, and the corresponding quotation of the contractor as the cost. The bid evaluation is based on the scheme value provided by each contractor, and the one with the highest value is selected as the winning bidder. ? 5. Application in the construction stage At present, there are some common problems in China's construction enterprises, such as outdated management methods, bloated management personnel, low technical quality, declining project quality, serious waste, rising project cost, disconnection between technology and economy, and rising rework cost. There are many investments in the construction stage, the most resources are needed, and the investment saving potential is great. Carrying out value engineering, on the one hand, through the technical and economic analysis and evaluation of different construction schemes, selects the best construction scheme, reduces the individual consumption of each building product, and finally reduces the average labor consumption of all departments in the construction production field, which can reduce investment. On the other hand, when compiling the construction organization design, the construction activities are reasonable and scientific. Accurately calculate the physical quantity, workload and labor quantity in construction, rationally allocate limited manpower and material resources under the premise of ensuring normal construction, and strive to achieve the established functions at the lowest cost and realize economy. Under the condition of satisfying the function, we can choose substitute materials, change the concrete mix ratio, reduce the cost, and choose construction machinery with low machine-shift cost. At the same time, the construction organization design and scheme can ensure the completion of the construction period and realize the value of the project on schedule. ? Four. Factors restricting the development of virtual enterprises in China and suggestions? From the above analysis, it can be seen that the application of value engineering in each stage of the project life cycle can save investment to varying degrees. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out value engineering in engineering projects. However, the application status of value engineering in Chinese engineering projects is worrying. ? The main factors that restrict the development of value engineering in China's engineering projects are as follows: First, there are irregular competitive behaviors in the construction market. For example, the design and construction tasks depend not on their own technical strength and management strength, but on local protectionism and social relations. Second, the owner's utilitarianism is serious, and he only cares about immediate interests. In addition, the blind obedience and irrationality of consumers and the lack of correct judgment criteria for the design structure and appearance function of buildings will make the owners lack patience and motivation for the application of new technologies and management methods. Third, there are mistakes in concept and lack of time arrangement for carrying out value engineering. I think that the development of VE research will delay the construction period, but I don't see that the actual development of VE will produce huge investment savings and shorten the construction period. Fourthly, China still lacks technical norms and standards to promote the application of value engineering, experts to carry out the application of value engineering, and a fund and reward system to carry out value engineering. Fifth, the designer pays insufficient attention to the economy and creativity of the scheme. In view of the above reasons, China's construction industry should carry out value engineering work from the following aspects.
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