"Time is money" - I bet you've heard that saying before. And when it comes to building your project, it's definitely a saying that strikes fear into the heart of many Property Developers.
Every week that passes while your project is being built adds to the holding costs. Fears about whether the builder is actually solvent enough to make it to the end of your project. The list goes on.
Once you hand a project over to a builder, it's their job to run the build, keeping it on time and budget. Even though you're now a bystander to a great extent, there are still ways you can help to keep the project moving while the clock's ticking.
First up, let me take a slight detour back to the process of choosing a builder. When you've done your feasibility, and know your numbers, it's very easy to think that the build price is the only factor that matters when making your choice.
But although that's important, your rapport with the builder is also vital. The fact is, hardly any builds run smoothly from start to finish. You need to be able to communicate openly and honestly without pointing fingers of blame or getting aggravated.
As part of that communication, a good builder will be happy to keep you updated on progress. And the first step of that? Providing you with a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This can be in the form of a list, a spreadsheet or even a Gantt chart.
Essentially, the WBS tracks all the different tasks that go into completing a build and sets them out in a timeline. You can see that at week 4, a particular trade needs to be on site to do a particular task. It's a good reference point for determining whether the build is progressing well or getting behind.
You can learn a lot from that. For starters, you can see fairly easily which tasks have some flexibility in when they occur, whereas others form what's referred to as a "critical path".
Tasks that fall on a critical path can't happen until the one prior to them has been completed. So you can't put the roof in until the frame is complete, for example.
Other tasks, although they might need the frame to be complete, don't rely on each other being completed and so can be conducted in parallel. So an electrician could be doing their rough in around the same time as a plumber. As long as they're not both trying to work in the same room at the same time!
It's also important to understand that some tasks that only require a couple of days' work on site, actually take longer, so time has to be allowed for that. Plaster falls into this category. It might take two days to install and join, but then it has to be left to dry for two days. Then the plasterer comes back to sand and touch up the plaster. Then it has to dry again. Final sand and it's done.
In that case, the plasterer may only be on site for 3 or 4 days in total, but with the drying times in between, it will be closer to 2 weeks for that job to be done.
Hopefully by now you have a better understanding of how the works are going to progress, and which tasks are critical versus those that have some time flexibility. Or you're hopelessly confused! Hopefully not though.
The next step is then to review the WBS on a regular basis with your builder. Weekly is generally a good timeframe to agree to. I know some owners want to be on site every day cracking their whip, and although some builders will be okay with that, for a lot of them they'll waste a lot of time talking to you when they could be working. Drive by if you have to, but go easy on taking up the builders' time. And using up his patience!
During that review, you should refer back to the WBS to see how things have progressed that week. And here's where all that earlier time spent understanding the schedule pays off, because it's all about negotiation. You need to know when to put some pressure on, and when to back off.
The bottom line - if a task is on the critical path, then you need to be firm. It has to happen, or a domino effect happens with every task further down the path getting knocked off schedule as well. But if the task is one of the flexible ones, then give the builder a bit of room around it. As another saying goes: pick your battles.
Paying On Time
Did you guess this one? Paying your builder promptly is vital if you want to keep your project ticking over on time. Not much of a surprise, really!
Lenders, though, have a process they have to follow before they release funds. So make sure you're being proactive about ensuring they're ready to pay as soon as possible.
As an example, if they need someone to inspect the site each time a payment is requested, but there's a two week delay before the inspector can get there - book early!
Make sure your builder gives you a heads up in advance when the current stage will be finished and invoiced. This isn't according to the planned schedule, but when the work has reached that stage on the ground. Then you can start making preparations for the payment.
But be realistic too. If the current stage has to be signed off by a building inspector to be considered complete, you may need to make sure the inspector has ticked off that stage before approaching the lender.
At all times keep communicating with the builder so there's no expectation of money appearing in the blink of an eye when you know the process takes much longer. Again, another good reason why you should choose a builder you have good rapport with.
Realistically, there's only so much you can do to keep your project running on time once you hand it over to the builder. But that doesn't mean you should just step back and let the builder walk all over you. Be fair, be reasonable, and keep communicating, and you give yourself a much better chance of the project coming in on time and on budget.
Every week that passes while your project is being built adds to the holding costs. Fears about whether the builder is actually solvent enough to make it to the end of your project. The list goes on.
Once you hand a project over to a builder, it's their job to run the build, keeping it on time and budget. Even though you're now a bystander to a great extent, there are still ways you can help to keep the project moving while the clock's ticking.
First up, let me take a slight detour back to the process of choosing a builder. When you've done your feasibility, and know your numbers, it's very easy to think that the build price is the only factor that matters when making your choice.
But although that's important, your rapport with the builder is also vital. The fact is, hardly any builds run smoothly from start to finish. You need to be able to communicate openly and honestly without pointing fingers of blame or getting aggravated.
As part of that communication, a good builder will be happy to keep you updated on progress. And the first step of that? Providing you with a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). This can be in the form of a list, a spreadsheet or even a Gantt chart.
Essentially, the WBS tracks all the different tasks that go into completing a build and sets them out in a timeline. You can see that at week 4, a particular trade needs to be on site to do a particular task. It's a good reference point for determining whether the build is progressing well or getting behind.
You can learn a lot from that. For starters, you can see fairly easily which tasks have some flexibility in when they occur, whereas others form what's referred to as a "critical path".
Tasks that fall on a critical path can't happen until the one prior to them has been completed. So you can't put the roof in until the frame is complete, for example.
Other tasks, although they might need the frame to be complete, don't rely on each other being completed and so can be conducted in parallel. So an electrician could be doing their rough in around the same time as a plumber. As long as they're not both trying to work in the same room at the same time!
It's also important to understand that some tasks that only require a couple of days' work on site, actually take longer, so time has to be allowed for that. Plaster falls into this category. It might take two days to install and join, but then it has to be left to dry for two days. Then the plasterer comes back to sand and touch up the plaster. Then it has to dry again. Final sand and it's done.
In that case, the plasterer may only be on site for 3 or 4 days in total, but with the drying times in between, it will be closer to 2 weeks for that job to be done.
Hopefully by now you have a better understanding of how the works are going to progress, and which tasks are critical versus those that have some time flexibility. Or you're hopelessly confused! Hopefully not though.
The next step is then to review the WBS on a regular basis with your builder. Weekly is generally a good timeframe to agree to. I know some owners want to be on site every day cracking their whip, and although some builders will be okay with that, for a lot of them they'll waste a lot of time talking to you when they could be working. Drive by if you have to, but go easy on taking up the builders' time. And using up his patience!
During that review, you should refer back to the WBS to see how things have progressed that week. And here's where all that earlier time spent understanding the schedule pays off, because it's all about negotiation. You need to know when to put some pressure on, and when to back off.
The bottom line - if a task is on the critical path, then you need to be firm. It has to happen, or a domino effect happens with every task further down the path getting knocked off schedule as well. But if the task is one of the flexible ones, then give the builder a bit of room around it. As another saying goes: pick your battles.Paying On Time
Did you guess this one? Paying your builder promptly is vital if you want to keep your project ticking over on time. Not much of a surprise, really!
Lenders, though, have a process they have to follow before they release funds. So make sure you're being proactive about ensuring they're ready to pay as soon as possible.
As an example, if they need someone to inspect the site each time a payment is requested, but there's a two week delay before the inspector can get there - book early!
Make sure your builder gives you a heads up in advance when the current stage will be finished and invoiced. This isn't according to the planned schedule, but when the work has reached that stage on the ground. Then you can start making preparations for the payment.
But be realistic too. If the current stage has to be signed off by a building inspector to be considered complete, you may need to make sure the inspector has ticked off that stage before approaching the lender.
At all times keep communicating with the builder so there's no expectation of money appearing in the blink of an eye when you know the process takes much longer. Again, another good reason why you should choose a builder you have good rapport with.
Realistically, there's only so much you can do to keep your project running on time once you hand it over to the builder. But that doesn't mean you should just step back and let the builder walk all over you. Be fair, be reasonable, and keep communicating, and you give yourself a much better chance of the project coming in on time and on budget.
