For any construction job, there is a phase of the work known throughout the industry as the pre-construction phase. This phase serves to survey the landscape of the project, the goals, the timelines, materials, and more. It’s essentially a planning phase to help make the actual labor portion of the work go by as smoothly as possible. It’s also a time for the client to offer advice, desires, input, and generally be a part of the conversation around the construction.
But what exactly happens, on a granular level, during pre-construction? What questions should be asked and what concerns should be brought up? It’s an important and pivotal phase. Even if you want to just get to work and get the job started, this phase can’t be skipped and it can’t be truncated. If you’re confused or nervous about it, we can help you work through it.
Pre-construction services are the preliminary services around planning and plotting for a construction project. This is a planning stage that involves outlining the scope of a project and beginning planning around timelines, logistics, materials, and budget. It is also an imperative step for outlining and anticipating problems or roadblocks that are likely to come up during a project. While you can’t predict everything, a pre-construction phase can offset some costs from road bumps that could have been foreseen.
Ideally, the pre-construction process will follow a few necessary steps where important conversations are had between stakeholders and contractors. It starts with a client meeting. This will typically be between the client and the general contractor initially where they will get to know each other and develop a working relationship. Next, the development of initial designs takes place. This may be several meetings and should involve trips to the construction site by team members to properly survey. It helps everyone to visualize a project.
Then comes the engineering assessment. Needs are figured out here, based on site visits, to understand materials and body needs to work through the project. Cost estimates and budgets come next followed by scheduling and responsibility matrices to determine hierarchy on different parts of the project.
Having multiple meetings and not rushing through the process is important. It’s also important to develop a checklist of everything you need to have discussed or determined from your meetings. Go through the checklist and make sure you have an answer for each question. Go into the meeting with expected outcomes and make sure they’re met. Ideally, your pre-construction process should take at least 12 weeks to get through, which is a lot of time, but worth it to keep your project safe, on budget, and on time when it comes to actually getting the work done. Don’t skip this important step. Contact Milo Construction for an appointment to begin the pre-construction phase of your project today.