Preconstruction; Everything You Need to Know in 2024

Introduction

One of the most cooperative industries in the world is construction. I’ve witnessed customers take on megaprojects throughout the years that required successful collaboration between more than 1,000 different organizations. But many project teams today continue to be very disjointed, despite the obvious necessity for collaboration.

This results from workflow silos brought on by a lack of technological integration. Lack of communication between project teams and key stakeholders, such as gathering subcontractor bids, speaking with the owner, screening vendors, and double-checking design flaws with architects and engineers, frequently results in a lot of rework later in the building process.

All designers, contractors, and craftsmen must have access to accurate, up-to-date project data in order to eliminate these risks, enhance project outcomes, and decrease avoidable cost and schedule overruns. Teams can connect the intricate network of experts that transform a concept into a fully realized building by using tools like BIM (Building Information Modeling) and cloud-based solutions for preconstruction tasks like bid administration.

Building projects aren’t one big, unchanging thing. Instead, a building project is made up of a number of activities that must be finished sequentially throughout time. By segmenting construction projects into distinct phases, we may aid in conceptualizing the procedure of bringing project ideas to life. There are numerous methods to approach certain facets of construction projects.

Thinking about the phases of a building project in terms of their proximity to actual construction makes them easier to visualize. There is the work that needs to be done before construction even starts, the actual construction itself, and the time after construction is finished but before the project is turned over to the owner. Let’s analyze each of these stages in more detail.

Preconstruction is all the work carried out before to the start of construction, following the completion of the design. It ultimately comes down to translating the architect’s vision into workable blueprints that construction crews and contractors can use. The success or failure of a project depends on this fiendishly complicated phase that occurs between a completed design and field construction.

The “design intent” must be translated by architects into construction documents before they can give them to the general contractor (GC). These documents provide a visual representation of the building’s intended design, including all of its structural and aesthetic components. The general contractor’s responsibility is to translate such instructions into models and papers that the project team can utilize. It requires much more than simply figuring out pricing and placing orders for materials to translate the design idea into something that can be built.

Suggested article for reading: BIM in Construction

Preconstruction Phase

Preconstruction is the comprehensive planning phase of a construction project. Together, the design team, general contractor, and client create designs, timetables, budgets, and other things. Communication and collaboration are key components of the process. The optimal use of funds and resources is to be determined at the preconstruction phase.

It is always preferable to address any problems before the building starts, and careful preparation helps to guarantee a smooth procedure later on. Preconstruction is crucial because it guards against misunderstandings, delays, and unforeseen problems on the job site. Clients can benefit from effective preconstruction planning in the following ways:

• Unlikely to go over budget
• Increased efficiency
• Prevention of possible issues
• Early assessment of feasibility
• A clear, shared vision
• Improved client satisfaction

Construction Phase

The time between the start of physical construction and its completion is considered the next phase of a project. Due in part to its visibility, the building stage is the time that most people connect with construction projects.

Post-Construction Phase

The post-construction phase includes the time between the conclusion of physical construction and the project transfer to the owner. Numerous things happen and procedures take place during this time. Cleanup of the actual job site is required. The labor force is often demobilized and transferred to other projects, and all equipment must be returned.

The items on the punch list that require more attention are dealt with. The owner receives all project-related paperwork, and the team of the owner is instructed on how to use all the gadgets and systems in their brand-new structure.

Main Outcomes of Preconstruction Planning

The most important stage of the construction process is preconstruction planning. A sound plan can prevent a plethora of change requests and budget expansions. The likelihood of the project being completed on schedule increases with the level of preconstruction detail. The old saying goes, “Measure twice, cut once.” The best chance to put the project on a successful course is through preconstruction planning, which serves as the initial measurement.

The following are some of the main results of the preconstruction stage:

• Scope: The project will be fully understood by all stakeholders involved, including who is in charge of what tasks, the overarching objectives, and the strategies for achieving them.
• Budget: After preconstruction is complete, nobody should have any concerns regarding the projected project budget. Now is the moment to talk about how much labor and supplies will cost, how to keep within budget, and what to do if project expenditures end up going over budget.
• Team: Which of your staff members will construct this house? How will they be managed? What about the subcontractors? During the pre-construction phase, all of these queries must be addressed.
• Timeline: During the planning stage, establish more than just a completion date. Establish clear due dates for each stage of the home construction process so that everyone is held accountable and informed.
• Contractors / Subcontractors: They can be chosen more quickly if you can identify which contractors and subcontractors are required first. These could include contractors who specialize in electrical, mechanical, HVAC, concrete, drywall, steel, and other trades. They might receive advance notification for greater portions of work so they can confirm their availability.
• Labor: You may make sure you have the crew necessary to complete the project by choosing the individuals required for each phase of it, such as machine operators and field workers. Having trustworthy staff will, in the end, ensure that the project is built correctly. The skill levels of the personnel vary greatly. Fewer delays or recalls on completed work will result from choosing those who are known for producing reliable work.
• Vendors: What additional vendors are required to successfully complete the project? These might include anyone offering food, bathroom services, or safety professionals. In order to avoid delays and ensure a seamless project, list every vendor who will be paid and scheduled.
• Suppliers & Materials: During preconstruction, the kind and quantity of materials should be determined. This could include materials like scaffolding, concrete, steel, drywall, and aggregate. The providers may be preselected occasionally, or they may be chosen as the project moves along through its various stages. It is best if the plan and cost for all the materials are established as soon as possible. If a given material is in short supply or is much more expensive than anticipated, it is advisable to learn about it during the preconstruction phase.
• Permits, Licenses, Inspections: It is crucial to have a thorough awareness of the legal and compliance standards that must be met for the project to be completed in its city, county, and state of jurisdiction. To make sure that every part of the project and its contractors are up to code, they can be time-consuming to schedule and require forethought.

11-Step Preconstruction Process

Preconstruction planning is one of the most challenging aspects of building overall. When you see the assignment as a whole, it is simple to become overwhelmed. However, preconstruction can be easily handled if you divide it up into smaller, more manageable chunks. The preconstruction process entails the following 11 crucial steps:

1. Construction Scope

The scope of the project you are planning for must be determined before you do anything else. Although the term “scope” has many various meanings, in preconstruction it especially relates to determining the following:

• What the project is specifically (a house, office, cabin, etc.)
• The size of the building and the lot
• The project’s constraints
• The goals that, if attained, will result in project success

Even though many of these ideas may seem obvious at first, it’s crucial to record them and thoroughly discuss them with all project stakeholders.

2. Construction Team

Some of the team members are more suitable for certain projects than others. While some of them get along well, others must continue working on their own tasks. As the manager of your construction company, it is your responsibility to put together the team that will be best able to finish the project on schedule, on budget, and to the high standard that your clients demand.

Because they will participate in many of the remaining preconstruction phases, it is crucial to choose the team members early in the process. If you choose the correct team, you won’t have to do it alone, which is something you shouldn’t be able to do either.

Although you won’t be hand-picking subcontractors at this stage of the process, it is crucial to identify a number of subcontractors who have the skills necessary to fulfill the various portions of the project you will need them for. You may build bid packages with confidence if you have a long list of subcontractors who have shown interest in the project at hand.

3. Construction Budget

Any construction project must adhere to a budget, but the preconstruction phase is where it matters most. Why? Because it sets the tone for the remainder of the project and is the first time the customer will receive a definite expectation of what they will need to spend.

Setting the budget is challenging. Numerous elements need to be taken into account, such as the price of labor, different materials, transportation, equipment purchases, rentals, and more. Give a budget range rather than an exact number. In this manner, you can fudge things a bit without immediately disappointing the client.

4. Construction Development Plan

Nothing gets accomplished without a plan, including home construction. The best time to begin organizing the various stages of the building’s construction is during pre-construction. You must outline the steps necessary to transform the building materials into the real structure, breaking it down into distinct stages with certain due dates.

In your construction development strategy, take into account the following phases:

• laying the groundwork and foundation
• Rough framing
• HVAC, plumbing, and electrical
• Insulation
• Interior fixtures and drywall
• The driveway and the sidewalks outside
• Countertops and flooring
• Exterior fixtures
• Roofing

Suggested article for reading: Construction HVAC

5. Construction Design

A major step toward making a dream project a reality is to put a concept on paper. The creation of a project design is the following step in the preconstruction phase. The owner and project manager will need to involve more stakeholders in order to do this. These will include an engineering team and a design team, which typically consists of one or more architects.

A new project’s design process is fundamentally a collaborative one. The assumption that the engineering and architectural teams work in separate silos is natural, but this is not the case. A design that the owner is happy with complies with safety and regulatory requirements, and meets any sustainability or design objectives that the architect and owner have agreed upon is typically the result of collaboration between the architectural and engineering teams and the owner.

The project manager makes sure that communication between the engineering and design teams is open at all times. To finish their respective parts of the project, each team needs certain information from the other. A review from the other team is frequently necessary after a change by one team. The design process can be agonizingly slow without proper communication. The design process is expedited and expensive delays are avoided with excellent communication.

6. Construction Materials

Where will the real construction materials come from? What will they be like? What will their price be? These types of questions need to be addressed during the preconstruction stage in order to avoid issues later on. This phase involves answering the questions and ordering the supplies.

Suggested article for reading: Green Building Materials

7. Construction Permits

It is typically time to request permits once a design has been placed into writing. Securing permits and entitlements may occasionally occur concurrently with the design process. The project manager typically aids in directing the project through the permitting procedure. For projects of any scale, obtaining the appropriate permits may be a difficult process. There will probably be a number of agencies in charge of issuing permissions, some of which may or may not have overlapping purviews. As a result, one must manage a frequently perplexing jumble of local, state, and federal regulations.

If any entitlements are required for your project, they must be obtained before work may begin. If you’re unfamiliar, entitlements deal with the planned use of a structure and how it interacts with or conflicts with local zoning regulations or city planning. It can be difficult to obtain the appropriate entitlements. A public awareness campaign, several meetings with local city authorities, town hall meetings where the public is invited to speak, and other measures can all be a part of the procedure.

It is important to keep in mind that the entitlements and permitting processes might both take a long time. Roadblocks in obtaining required permissions and permits might cause delays that affect the project’s completion schedule. While some projects go smoothly, others must spend months or even years navigating the regulatory and entitlements process. One area of risk with the entitlements procedure specifically is the possibility that you won’t be able to gain the appropriate entitlements at the conclusion of the process to proceed with your project. One method to perhaps lower this risk is to work with a project manager familiar with handling the entitlements process.

8. Construction Scheduling

The stages involved in building a structure have previously been specified by you. It’s time to schedule everything at this point. Working with your team to arrange the project’s stages and contacting subcontractors to ensure they can finish their work at times that work for the project are both necessary parts of this pre-construction step. When creating the project timeline, you should also take permits, inspections, and client feedback into account.

9. Construction Essential Tasks

You will experience a lot of relief knowing that the major issues have been addressed in the pre-construction process’s earlier steps, but you won’t be finished just yet. There are still dozens of lesser but equally important responsibilities. Now is the time to complete them. Here are a few instances:

• Soil testing
• Rounding up outstanding permits
• Submitting the construction plan to the city or county

10. Construction Inspections

You still need to address a few inspections during the preconstruction stage, even though the majority of inspections on any construction project will take place during or even after construction. Preconstruction inspections are required by each municipality, but typical ones include surveys of the property’s state, studies of its effects on the environment, and checks of building plans for safety and compliance with local laws.

11. Project Communication

Although it should have been a part of each of the processes before it and continued during construction, communication is the last step of the preconstruction process. The preconstruction phase requires constant communication. The different stakeholders involved including clients, subcontractors, designers, and city officials need to be aware of what is happening and how it affects them.

The project’s design is one aspect of preconstruction communication that is particularly crucial. You must be able to describe the finalized house’s appearance, including any modifications to the original plan or potential extensions. Having a visual aid is crucial since many people find it difficult to picture finished homes when looking at flat building designs.

There are a few ways to do it, but many of the more established ones require costly, time-consuming third-party rendering firms that are unable to quickly make modifications to the design.

Preconstruction Today

Preconstruction teams now have to adhere to new standards as a result of early engagement:

• “Pricing the white” refers to dealing with insufficient design documentation and offering multiple estimates over the course of a project rather than just one before a bid event.
• Delivering useful cost feedback so that cost influences design rather than the other way around.
• Emphasis on strong collaboration between the design and construction teams, as shown by the expansion of the Design Manager position among contractors.
• Allowing owners to make a lot of quick decisions all at once.

Teams must implement various new workflows and activities, from Target Value Design to the purchase of long-lead-time goods and materials, to meet these needs. Teams that have accepted this change and are generating enormous value through new procedures have exceeded the capabilities of their current toolkits. The ability to stay up with and meet owner expectations is currently restricted by the available tools.

Currently, data is fed into a series of spreadsheets used to manage preconstruction activities through the use of strong but compartmentalized technologies. Teams spend a lot of time pulling information into and out of these spreadsheets, and projects ultimately are only as good as them. Because of owner sophistication and control-seeking, ongoing schedule compression, the potential to relocate work to an offsite location, and other novel execution techniques, our clients’ projections of the future provide an even more comprehensive picture.

Important Preconstruction Risks to Avoid

A building project’s preconstruction stage is essential to its overall success. But there are other dangers at this stage. In the preconstruction stage, some of the most typical dangers include:

1. Delays

Weather, a lack of materials, or labor issues are just a few of the causes of delays. Or – for no apparent reason – in the years after the outbreak. Construction delays can increase costs and potentially result in the project being abandoned entirely. Due to these factors, it’s crucial to think about and prepare for how you’ll handle delays throughout the preconstruction stage.

A lot of general contractors are utilizing preconstruction tools and more collaborative delivery strategies that promote confidence and openness, let them get materials more quickly and speed up decision-making.

2. Change Orders

A request to alter the project’s scope of work or requirements is known as a “change order,” which may ultimately result in higher costs and delays. Regardless of who is submitting the change order, it is critical to answer it as soon as you can to prevent unnecessary expenses and delays.

Dealing with change orders requires open and honest communication to make sure that everyone, from the owner to the subcontractors doing the work, is on the same page. Being ready to handle and convey change orders is an important part of the preconstruction process because failing to do so can cause your relationship and project to fall apart.

3. Failed Inspections

Throughout the course of a project, many trades undertake inspections, which are essential for guaranteeing that quality and safety criteria are met. They occasionally aren’t… and depending on the severity, you can experience a delay of several weeks or even months.

In addition to adding time to the project, failed inspections will probably necessitate expensive rework. This is why it’s so important to get the permission process and document preparation stage just right. You must be meticulous, concentrate on putting together a qualified and experienced team, and abide by significant local laws and regulations if you want to avoid this issue.

4. Contract Disputes

Owner and contractor disagreements may cause delays and higher expenses. These disagreements may occur over a number of things, including the cadence or caliber of the labor. The construction project may be delayed or perhaps come to an end if they are not amicably handled. Several actions can be taken to lessen the possibility of contract disputes during the preconstruction stage.

One of them is for everyone participating in the project to have a clear grasp of their respective duties and responsibilities (conducting a successful preconstruction meeting is crucial for achieving this). Another is to confirm that all parties have agreed to the contracts’ terms and conditions and that they are both brief and clear. For construction managers, this process can be streamlined by using preconstruction management software.

Best practices for preconstruction success

Unexpected difficulties are a part of every construction project, but how they affect the outcome depends on the preconstruction activities you take. The following are some preconstruction success best practices:

• Accountability: The secret is setting clear objectives and targets during preconstruction and holding everyone accountable for meeting them. This will help you prevent redesigns, delays, and cost overruns, which we know you want to avoid.
• Communication: In order for the responsible party to effectively handle any issues that arise, open lines of communication must start with you and the project owner and extend all the way down to the subs and their employees from preconstruction to handover.
• Collaborative scheduling: Everyone involved in the project, from designers and engineers to vendors and their support employees, must participate in preconstruction activities. The timetable you develop should contain more than just construction activities; it should also include everything from getting inspections done to realistic completion dates for each phase.

The Future of Preconstruction

Tying estimation to actual costs and allowing each project to inform the next is the future of well-run projects.

 Wyatt Jenkins