Are you about to start a construction project? Whether it’s building a gazebo, adding a room to your home, or installing a swimming pool in your backyard, construction projects are time-consuming and cost money.
It’s typical for projects to over-run their deadlines for completion and to overrun the allocated budget. There are various factors responsible for delays and over-spending that are beyond your control. For example, working with contractors means that you’re at the mercy of their team.
If your project is running behind schedule, it could cost you thousands of dollars for every day they spend on site past the agreed deadline date. If you haven’t protected yourself with a contract, you could end up liable for any additional costs involved with completing the project.
Read through these ideas for reducing costs surrounding your project before you break ground and start construction. Also, don’t forget that using construction project management software programs is a great way to save money during your project.
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1. Plan The Work And Then Work The Plan
Before you get started with your project, ensure that you have a sound plan that includes all the details necessary to manage the project from start to finish. If you’re using a contractor, ask them to send you a step-by-step review of every step in the process.
Poor planning is the number one reason why construction projects end up running out of time and money. The plan should include possible contingency’s, milestones and deadlines. Make your contractor commit and write clauses into the contract that penalize them for running over the milestones or deadline dates. The thought of losing money on the deal will keep your contractor committed to finishing on time.
2. Compare Contractor Rates
There are hundreds of contractors in your immediate area in desperate need of work. Slow economic growth means that the building industry is under pressure. Fortunately, this situation serves your interests.
Search online for reputable contractors in your area. Make a list of your top-5 prospective contractors and send them all the scope of work for an estimate. Select the three options with the best pricing after you’ve received all 5 quotes.
Call the contractors and play their quotes against them. Negotiate the best deal you can and then award the contract. Using this simple negotiation strategy could save you thousands of Dollars, give it a try.
3. Stick To Your Budget
When you’ve established the scope of work and received your quotes, it’s essential that you stick within your budget for the project. If you run out of money in the final days, your contractor will refuse to continue with the work, leaving you out of money and out of time.
Review all of your costs carefully before awarding a contract and add 10 percent of the total contract value to the final budget. This strategy allows you to keep some money aside for unforeseen expenses that may arise during the course of the project.
4. Shop Around For Materials And Equipment
If you’ve decided to take on a construction project yourself, then you’ll probably need tools to get the job done. Construction equipment isn’t cheap, tools and specialist machines can run into thousands of Dollars.
Instead of buying new tools and machinery from a supplier, consider visiting Equify Auctions to acquire used equipment that’s still in decent condition. By purchasing equipment at auction, you can expect to pay a fraction of the price that you would for new tools and machines.
5. A Final Tip – Improve Communication With Your Contractor
A lack of clear communication between yourself and the contractor is one of the main reasons why construction projects miss their deadlines. You can’t be around the job-site all day to monitor the contractor, and you shouldn’t have to either.
However, if you leave contractors to their own devices, they often become lax and fall behind on their project milestones without notifying you. If you don’t ask your contractor how things are progressing with the construction, you can expect that they won’t be in a rush to follow up with you either.
Keep your contractor on a tight leash and ask them for a daily status report at the end of the day. If you don’t receive it at the end of the day, make sure that you follow up immediately and ask them why they failed to to communicate. This approach keeps your contractor accountable throughout the entire project.
If you are interested in even more business-related articles and information from us here at Bit Rebels then we have a lot to choose from.
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