Without careful planning and thorough attention to detail, a commercial construction project can quickly get out of hand. Below is an overview of some of the key factors The FGX Group prioritizes to ensure successful execution.
How to stay on budget
Your budget should guide the entire project. As such, it should be your number one priority and one of the first things you put together for the project. When we are hired as an Owner’s Representative, we craft a comprehensive conceptual budget that serves as a starting point for the entire project. To do this, we work with all stakeholders within a client company, from IT to procurement, to understand their wants, their needs, and what their roles are. This budget also typically includes some contingency money to account for unexpected issues that may arise.
Once the client agrees to the budget, we put it into action, meaning that we track all expenses against it from day one. For bigger projects, we track and update the budget on a monthly basis, for smaller projects, a weekly basis. This is key. If you don’t track against the budget on a regular basis, you can run into unexpected surprises that can affect the entire project.
Working with an Owner’s Representative helps to ensure that your budget is comprehensive – that it’s not missing any line items that, when they come up, can throw you off track. An Owner’s Representative will also meticulously track your spending to ensure you are in line with the set expectations and can quickly raise and address any issues as they arise.
How to stay on schedule
As you build your budget, you should also put together a timeline for the project that you share with the team members. Again, you should track against this schedule as the project progresses to ensure that you are meeting expectations.
With any construction project, there will always be challenges that arise that are out of the team’s control. Weather, for example, is often an issue. However, with a documented baseline schedule, you can more easily see how these challenges will impact the project and what you can do to address them, making minor adjustments that may save a day or two (or even more) to get the project back on schedule.
The importance of communication
With both the budget and the schedule, communication is crucial. Make sure all stakeholders are aware of their role in helping to maintain the expected costs and timeline, and then regularly touch base with them to stay on top of any issues they are having.
When issues arise, be transparent about them, openly sharing both good news and bad news. Effective communication keeps the entire team on the same page and makes it easier to deal with unexpected challenges and capitalize on areas of opportunity.
As an Owner’s Representative, The FGX Group is often brought on board to manage the budget and timeline for commercial construction projects of all sizes. Increased cost control throughout every phase guarantees that your project will be completed within or under your budget, and effective project management increases the likelihood of a delay-free schedule, promoting a project that will run smoothly from start to finish. Contact us to learn more about how we can assist with your commercial construction project.
