Most construction schedules leave very little wiggle room. This makes any type of project delay costly. Potentially disastrous. This is why commercial construction mistakes must be avoided at all costs. Surprisingly, there are many common delays that occur before the first day of actual construction. Many of these are completely avoidable. In today’s blog post, we offer some steps to avoid these very common reasons for construction schedule delays.
Don’t Think You Can Fast-Track Permit Review
DO NOT give yourself unrealistic expectations as to how long the permitting process takes. Building permits are required for any private property construction or alteration/repair of a standing structure. While the city of Los Angeles and some Southern California municipalities do offer express permits, these are generally for simple projects like HVAC, plumbing, or electrical updates.
Truth is, it’s near impossible to fast-track most permit reviews. Even if you pride yourself on having connections. Political pull can only work to a point. Most of the time, no special accommodations apply. This is why you must plan accordingly to ensure no project schedule is squeezed by permitting taking longer than anticipated. Always remember that the permit process will vary from city to city, municipality to municipality, and county to county.
Don’t Hesitate to Start Creating Shop Drawings
From the moment H.W. Holmes, Inc. is contracted for a commercial construction project, the process of hiring subcontractors or suppliers to create shop drawings begins. We feel shop drawings are vital to preventing heartache or headaches down the road. Shop drawings are a means of double checking that everyone is on the same page.
Completed shop drawings must be submitted in a timely manner. There’s no telling how long the client, architect, or engineer will need to sign off on them. Without their approval, subcontractors can’t move on to production, which delays delivery and installation, throwing the entire construction schedule off.
A good commercial contractor will direct traffic. They’ll do this by building in sufficient time to ensure subcontractors can submit shop drawings in a timely manner. This will give the client, architect, and engineer plenty of time to comment and approve.
Plan for Long-Lead Materials
Most construction projects will involve several materials with a long lead time from order to delivery. In most cases, these are fixed items with no accelerated manufacturing rushes available. These can be anything from unique or imported construction materials and finishes to specialty glass or flooring, HVAC units, and elevators.
A delay in the manufacturing, delivery, and installation of any of these can delay an entire construction schedule. For example, if specialty flooring with a 7-week delivery time is wanted for an 8-week project, either the construction schedule will need to be amended or an alternative product will need to be used.
Commercial construction projects are a gamble for those with money in the game. A delay here and there can lose days. Days can turn into weeks which can turn into months. The margin for error is very slim if you need your project done on time and on budget.
This is why a little careful planning from the start can take your commercial construction project to the finish line perhaps even ahead of schedule.