Years ago, while attending an annual corporate meeting at RedGuard, a member of our finance team led a discussion about project change orders on custom-built blast-resistant buildings. He described the negative effect of change orders on both our business and, more importantly, our customers' experience. The intent was to minimize the expensive, time-consuming process of running mid-project changes through our engineering and production departments and the customers' review and approval process. Curious, I asked how common change orders were and who on our staff generated the most. He replied, "You do, Bryan!"
At that point, I realized I needed to focus on what was causing projects to stall. I identified the typical causes of changes to custom projects and began employing best practices to avoid them.
Building Project Delay Causes
1. Establishing client needs before circulating a drawing and quote among the project team is critical. Occupancy, compliance, size restrictions, fire ratings, area classifications and other basic design elements are the base parameters. Identifying and understanding state and local codes that the customer will ultimately be required to meet is also critical in guiding a new project design.
2. Start with a Strong Concept. Good design of an initial concept based on the initial needs of the end-user will transition into drawings that will trigger discussion, markups, and new and forgotten ideas. Dedication to this phase, which might include project team and peer reviews on both sides, might be the best opportunity to avoid change orders.
3. Collaboration Between Departments. The most flawless projects I've managed involved substantial collaboration between all departments with an interest in the project's completion. Members of the team who deal with elements like electrical, plumbing, mechanical and masonry should share and be aware of their responsibilities and the responsibilities of other team members. This is especially true on large custom projects. The most difficult change orders arise when multiple trades share a common issue, which ultimately ends up in the owner and builder's lap.
4. Conduct Site Visit. Many individuals are exceptional at looking beyond standard topographical drawings for potential unforeseen issues that could trigger a change order. However, a site visit nearly always exposes something not seen on the drawing: an overhead obstacle, sloping grade or drainage concerns, lack of sufficient crane space, etc. While conducting business from a distance, our amazing technological tools may seem adequate, but there is always something to be found or learned on-site.
5. Define the Scope of Work. Clearly defining and articulating specs, clarifications, exclusions and all other essential elements discussed in the first two phases for the estimating team is critical to avoiding change orders. Many designers will unintentionally rely on estimators to make substantial assumptions while they are deep in the project details. Although a good estimator might be able to identify overlooked items, it's always prudent to provide a fully developed scope of work, specs and parameters. Errors made in estimating always result in difficult conversations later. All efforts made to collaborate in the estimating phase will shine a light on potential change orders.
6. Host a Constructability Review. A constructability review meeting between project teams to ask questions and make clarifications always results in some last-minute changes, which prevents change orders. At RedGuard, I have found a 15-minute call just before commitment between the project stakeholders and members of my team from drafting, estimating and project management commonly results in minor last-minute changes that do not affect cost or delivery lead time. Had the same minor changes been requested several weeks later, additional time and cost would have come into play. In my experience, project teams from both sides will always jump at an opportunity for a constructability review.
7. Review Past Projects for Changes. Identifying historical changes from past experience offers a chance to avert change orders. It's helpful to review similar project files and past challenges and even tap into project managers who aren't typically involved in the design or estimating phase. This method is useful in finding details that did or, more importantly, did not result in a change order. I recall early projects with a particular customer when we found ourselves discussing IT changes in the late phases, resulting in change orders for additional needs. Now, when a project is in development with this client, we share a review of the previous building's IT installation and incorporate any changes previously made into the new plan.
At RedGuard, we understand all processes are connected and do our best to ensure customer satisfaction. If you have a custom blast-resistant building project coming up, let's start a conversation.
For more information, visit www.redguard.com or call (316) 554-9000.
