Five reasons to trust contractors
(From left) Andy McBeth, Liz Mason and Tom Dube are the founders of Green Leaf Construction in Leominster.
Let's face it: contractor is often considered a dirty word. However, in an economy driven by budgets and deadlines, it may be in your best interest to qualify and select a trustworthy contractor at the earliest stages of your project.
1. Time – Time is money for all of us, including your contractor. The early involvement of the contractor will help you understand the cost, schedule and constructability of methods and materials under consideration. Making changes after design documents are underway, or after construction has begun, costs significantly.
2. Budget – Many people feel that disclosing their project budget to their contractor means sacrificing savings or budget variances. This is not, in fact, the case. A good contractor always has the best interest of the customer in mind. Disclosing your budget will allow your contractor to help manage your project to fit within your parameters. Waiting to hire your contractor using a hard-bid method might yield lowest first cost, but it increases the likelihood for change orders to be issued during construction.
3. Headaches – Selecting your contractor at the onset of the project enables you to choose the team you'd like to work with, including the subcontractors. Your construction manager has strong relationships with various subcontractors and knows their abilities. Awards based on a hard-bid process dictates subcontractors carried in final bid might not be a good fit.
Know your team: request qualifications from prospective firms and check references. Review the construction manager's qualifications and references to develop a short-list of firms to meet with. Request that the project manager and superintendent be present at the interview.
4. Experience – Many projects involve new systems for your internal project team, including building methods, safety and maintaining ongoing operations. A strong contractor with experience in your type of project will be familiar with implementing and managing these processes.
5. Management – What are your key objectives for your project? Chances are that you've included budget and scheduling items. Your contractor is an expert at managing these items – it's what we do, and we enjoy doing it. As an integrated part of your team, a contractor will be a budget and schedule watchdog who will advise you and keep your objectives in mind throughout design and construction.
Selecting a contractor who you can trust and working collaboratively will yield an efficient (even enjoyable) project delivery.
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