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Three Reasons to Listen
If Your Contractor Says, "No!"
As a regional commercial contractor, we are first and foremost in the Customer Service Business.
We want to please our clients and be a good partner/advisor to them as well as to everyone involved on a project. But that does not mean that we subscribe to the YES theory – i.e., were our clients are always correct even when they are not.
In fact, as experts in the commercial construction industry one of our primary roles is to be the best possible advisors for them which sometimes mean we need to say NO – and when we do, you can bet it’s for a good reason which we will gladly explain.
Reason #1 - Not long ago, one of our construction superintendents was notified by a client that they would be supplying the mechanical equipment for the project. Despite our advice that the equipment they selected was not sufficiently-sized for this space, the equipment was still installed. Sure enough, less than six months later the bargain equipment was replaced; cost of replacement far exceeded the initial savings. Remember, you hire a successful construction firm because of the expertise related to construction, so you need to trust your contractor and listen to their advice.
Reason #2 – During the bidding process of a project the word “No” can also arise, particularly when there are unknown/unforeseen issues that simply cannot be quantified and, therefore, cannot be assigned a respective cost. As an example – when bidding on the restoration of an existing building, the drawings & specifications called for the exterior brick walls to be “restored as necessary,” with no quantification of area. We were asked to submit a fixed price for this aspect of the project. We requested that the all bidders be given an allowance value to be assigned to this item in order to better-represent “reality” in the bids. When our request was declined we knew that it was in the best interest of our firm to decline this bid opportunity. Later we heard that this project was being held up due to differences associated with who would decide on the interpretation of “restored as necessary.”
This is also a good example of how working with a trusted general contractor on a negotiated bid works better than an open competitive bid. In a design-build job your general contractor gets those hard to define items quantified and incorporates that actual cost in your construction budget. This saves time for everyone and money in the long run.
Reason #3 – SAFETY & QUALITY should never be sacrificed when it comes to making a construction budget work. To cut costs, consider building a smaller structure or a building with simpler or less ornate trim; you can always add those extra moldings later. Many contractors, including Brookstone Builders, use only premium quality products when constructing a project. Using lesser-grade products may save dollars up front but almost never do so over time. Erecting safety barriers and such takes time and a few extra dollars, but preventing just one accident by taking the time to make a construction project safer saves much more than just dollars.
We are firm believers that trusting relationships results in better construction projects, and we want to create a partnership with every client we serve – not just hit their bottom line.
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