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Facilities managers are starting to feel the heat to begin planning renovations, repairs, and maintenance projects. A lot of work goes into making a construction project successful, long before the first crew shows up. Stakeholders must carefully prepare for the spike in construction activity by identifying their top-priority projects and ensuring each has sufficient funding and support.
Consider these five tips when preparing for the busy summer months:
Tip One: Define The End Point
Defining desired outcomes, project benchmarks and clear objectives is needed to establish measurable standards of success. It also helps all stakeholders understand why a construction project is important for supporting the mission of your organization. Once the desired end has been communicated to stakeholders, you can build a timeframe for project completion.
Tip Two: Prioritize Projects
Data-driven decisions ensure buy-in from all stakeholders and keep the focus on the organization’s mission and vision. By planning intelligently, limited resources can be focused effectively. Having up-to-date data will help to compare and weigh the facilities’ needs against each other and decide what projects must be finished now, what projects must get started, and what can wait.
Tip Three: Plan For The Unknown
Time constraints and unpredictable weather pose a challenge to summer projects. Building a list of potential risks and creating contingency plans can help projects stay on track. To meet time constraints, equipment and materials with longer lead times need to be ordered far in advance. The best plans will include flexibility for the unknown or most dreaded circumstances.
Tip Four: Review Your Scope Of Work For Clarity
Project Scopes of Work should leave no room for interpretation. Ambiguity will potentially lead to delays or unnecessary change orders a. When writing a Scope of Work, it’s important to sweat the small stuff and consider every single task. A clear Scope of Work results in projects that move seamlessly along the condensed summer timeline.
Tip Five: Consider Alternative Construction Project Delivery
Traditional project delivery methods are necessary for large, complex projects. But for routine repairs, renovations or straightforward new construction projects, there can be a disproportionate procurement burden relative to job size and scope. Another hurdle is finding qualified contractors to respond to project bids, especially during peak construction months.
Many facilities owners are turning to Job Order Contracting (JOC) as an alternative that meets the challenges of the busy construction season. JOC is an Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) construction delivery method that allows many projects to be completed through a competitively-awarded contract. This single-solicitation process enables projects to start faster and creates partnerships between project owners and awarded contractors, resulting in higher quality work and cutting procurement time significantly, from months to weeks.
Preparing For Summer Success
The success of summer construction initiatives is dependent on proper planning and rigorous scheduling and forecasting. With a clear goal, prioritized but flexible plans and the right project delivery method, facilities leaders will be well prepared to execute successful summer construction, renovations and repairs.
