Tips For An Efficiently Run Project And Controlling Design Service Fees
It is our goal to keep your project moving efficiently and to control costs. In that endeavor, we recommend that the following items be considered which will help to control expenses and help expedite the design and construction process:
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Quick Responses: It is helpful to get quick responses to our questions, whether as a callback or email. This will allow us to continue moving on your project and reduce the start/stop time which slows a project down and requires more effort in reworking issues in question. Also, if there are several questions asked in one email, please respond to all the questions listed. If they cannot all be answered at one time, we ask that you respond to what you can and note that you are working on the other answers. It saves time from going back and forth.
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Control Project Involvement by Multiple People: Please be aware that the more people involved in a project, the greater the time it takes for project coordination and management.
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Reduce Too Much Correspondence: When several people are involved in a project, there is a tendency to email everyone on all correspondence. It is best to be selective as to what is emailed to us. Any emails sent to our office should pertain to our involvement. We read all emails sent to us on a project, so if it's not relevant to what we are doing, it becomes an ineffective use of our time and increases costs.
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Assign an Owner's Liaison: Assign one person to be the liaison between your group and our office. This avoids conflicts in the direction you want us to proceed. When we are given conflicting information from our clients, we have to spend time resolving the conflicts in order to proceed. This could also require backing up and revising services already accomplished. The person you select should remain the liaison for the entire project. When the liaison changes, time must be spent educating the new person on the specifics of the project.
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Reduce Job Creep: Job creep is one of the main causes of additional costs to the project. This occurs in the following ways.
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We have been requested not to include items in our scope of work at the beginning of the project, but then it becomes necessary to add additional items that were not originally included. This often occurs because, at the beginning of the project, the Owner or their other consultants intend on taking care of these items, but later determine that they either do not have the time or the expertise.
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At the beginning of the project, we are not given the complete picture of the project and/or are not informed of other items that will need to be accomplished at some point in the process in order to complete our work.
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We have been requested to provide services or coordinate with individuals that are outside the scope of work initially agreed. We are happy to discuss adding these items to our scope of work, but it does increase the project budget and time.
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Be aware that unforeseen circumstances or conditions that were not originally contemplated by or known to us may occur.
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Limit Expanded Assistance: As part of our service, we provide assistance to our clients to help them understand the process they have undertaken whether it is for new construction, addition/remodel work, or tenant improvements. We explain the steps that should be taken to achieve their goals and inform them of our progress. There are times when our clients need an expanded amount of assistance. This can occur where they require highly detailed oral explanations, or written documentation of each procedure or invoice. We are happy to assist any client though the design/construction process at any level of involvement. Please be aware that the expanded assistance does add costs to the project.