What is a lot

The first step to understanding how lot based quality assurance (LQA) works  is understanding the concept of a lot.

A lot is simply a specific, discrete section of the physical work or a process which forms part of the works being constructed. For a small, simple project you may simply break lots as;

Generally on larger projects, many lots would make up each of these categories. This may be because a section of work is too big to easily be managed in its entirety, works of a similar type occur at different times or locations, or because of other restrictions imposed on lot definition by the project specification.

An example of this may be the pavements where a lot could be restricted to a single day's production with a paving machine, of a single type of gravel (such as with Main Roads Qld projects). In this case the lots may be as follows;

When do I define a lot?

Lots can be defined before a project commences or, more commonly immediately prior to commencement of a section of work. It is best practice to define a lot BEFORE work starts rather than completing work and then defining lots. Contracts are quite often very specific about the timing and definition of lots for particular work types.

Civil pro maintains your lot in the lot register, the central reference point for all of the individual elements of work that comprise your project.