#1 Changes During the Project
If the project doesn't follow a clear process to determine the constraints, the requirements, and the desired outcomes, it will wander the same way that a river meanders.
Someone will discover new building code issues, or you will want spaces or features that you hadn't considered earlier. These changes become increasingly expensive to make the later in the design they occur, and the cost skyrockets when these changes happen during the construction phase.
Sorting out everything as design progresses makes the job go much more smoothly, and the builder doesn't waste precious time coordinating, managing, and tracking the changes to pricing and to the work to be done by subtrades.
My Pre-Design Diagnostic Scan™ and RAD Study™ together perform a comprehensive discovery process, and you can watch this short video that explains these phases:
#2 No Optimization
A design that does not take into account, take advantage of, and use as design elements the practicalities of construction, structural aspects of building components, and sun and wind exposure on the site will require more material or more expensive elements, more equipment, and take longer to build.
One of the best ways to optimize is to get the input from a builder from near the beginning of design. One of the best ways to get a builder on board before construction is to pay them as a consultant. Some builders will credit this fee to the construction cost later on since the time and effort invested makes the construction phase more efficient. The project design itself has been vetted by people who have to build it as being both constructible and easy enough for the available subtrades to understand and therefore price reasonably.
#3 Missed Coordination
Coordination in the design of a project means that every part of each consultant's design works with every other part of the design and that the design of one consultant (e.g. the architect) matches the design of another consultant (e.g. the structural engineer).
One way to fix the coordination is to hire the builder during design. Another tool for greatly improving coordination is to ensure your architect and engineers are developing a 3D model for the technical construction drawings. The 3D model itself is not a guarantee of coordination, but manual coordination necessary for consultants working only in 2D CADD environments is prone to discrepancies.
Would you like to discuss if the cost of construction for your planned new house or renovation can be reduced with these strategies? Click on the button below to book a free, no-obligation call with me, which I refer to as a Diagnostic Session.