There’s a lot that goes into hiring and implementing work for commercial construction projects. There’s time honored ways of doing things and ways to shake up a project for cost effectiveness and efficiency. Do you hire a contractor first? Do you hire an architect or designer who handles the hiring of a contractor and their subcontractors? Who should be your ultimate point of contact during a project? Who will you feel most comfortable going to for help?
Commercial construction projects are a robust animal. You’re not just creating something that can stand on its own, you’re building something that needs to be safe and functional for all the guests and employees who will be inside the building. There are building codes that need to be adhered to and certain schedules to follow for public construction projects. Do you hire out a designer and let them take care of it or do you go with a commercial company that can provide all the work in one?
Traditionally, you’ll hire a designer of some sort, usually an architect, who will put together a project proposal and other documents. From there, the architect will allow contractors to bid on the project. It seems nice to take away the work and put it off on someone else. But there are some snags. This creates a communication problem as the architect is relaying your wants, secondhand, to the people who will be doing the handson work for your job.
This can also drive up the cost, as you’re paying the architect who is going to draw in fees as they work through the proposal process. There may also be added fees as they work through negotiations with contractors. This also slows the process as you go through proposal review and the architect handles the bid process which can be long, competitive, and arduous. Something else to be mindful of is that the bidding process can cause the bidder with the lowest cost to win a job, which results in quality problems for your project.
This model eliminants a lot of the steps, gaps between processes, and the middle men who clog up the process. A commercial contractor, hired directly by a property owner, can streamline the construction process and prevent multiple communication channels from being clogged. You relay your needs and wants first-hand to your contractor and they’re able to communicate with you regularly on the status of your project. It keeps projects on time, keeps communication open, and can save you money.
There are some things to consider, however. You’re getting a package deal which can result in some limitations in skill and experience, you’ll have to vet the contractor yourself, and the negotiations will be entirely on you to see through. It puts more responsibility on you to keep on top of your contractor and you need to trust their ability to hire out reliable subcontractors to get the job done.
Looking to start commercial construction in Denver? Start with a phone call and a quote with Milo Construction.