We provide the following services for General Contractors:
COMPUTER GENERATED PLANS
We can provide Conceptual, Preliminary, and Final Construction Plans. See the Drafting tab for current details.
SCOPE OF WORK
We create a
Detailed Scope of Work
based on the plans & selections made by the homeowner, to be shared with your Trade Partners who will
provide cost estimates for your project.
You should not do this for free! Either charge the homeowner for that service,
or send them to me, and they can pay me to provide a scope of work. Homeowners pay Architects or Drafting companies for their plans, they should also pay for a detailed Scope of Work.
I have seen to many contractors lose projects because their was not a clear scope of work.
Often, homeowners & contractors assume that if everyone has a copy of
the plans & a verbal description of the the project & the
clients wishes, that everyone one will be bidding the same thing, and
the price will be the only difference. Nothing could be further from the
truth.
Without a clear scope of work, some contractors (and Trade Partners) may
bid cheap fixture "allowances" & millwork that does not match the existing house. Some contractors may purposely leave out fixture
cost & some of the
work needed in order to be the low bidder, and then after the house is
torn apart, tell the homeowner what was not in their bid, or that your selections
will incur an additional cost. But they have the job.
Some Trade Partners do not see all the work involved and miss items, which makes their bid appear low.
Other contractors may be more diligent in seeing work that needs to be
done, and assume you want to match the details of the existing house.
Their bid might be higher but more accurate.
Having a detailed scope of work makes sure that everyone, Trade Partners (and Other Contractors), are bidding
Apples-to-Apples. If the Trade Partners bid failed to have enough money in it, then
it's the Trade Partners problem, because you have a clear scope of work
that they are agreeing to for the sum presented. The scope of work
should be a part of your contract with the Homeowner, and the Trade Partners, for their
protection and yours.
ESTIMATES
We can build a detailed estimate based on the Scope of Work and the bids you receive from your Trade Partners.
SURVEY SHEETS
We have built Kitchen & Bath Room survey sheets that give you a place to record details about the existing home and the proposed project.
PICTURE & TEMPLATES
We typically take a lot of pictures of the project to ensure that all the work required for the project is included in the Scope of Work. Pictures, survey sheets, templates, and our experience in the industry help us think of thinks that might otherwise be overlooked.
ESTIMATES BY ROOM
We build the estimate by room, so if the price to build the project exceeds the homeowners budget, areas of work can be easily removed. We can also create estimate revisions, so if the homeowner decides to increase their budget and go back to the original estimate, that information is not lost.
TRADE PARTNER INFORMATION
We can track the current Trade Partner contact & insurance information. If their
insurance is not current you can request current documents before the
Project Manager awards them the contract for the project.
TRADE PARTNER TRACKER
We have created a Trade Partner Tracker that tracks who will be invited to bid, when they were given plans, attended a site visit, and when their bid was received. Then at a glance you can determine who needs to be called because you still do not have their bids.
SITE VISITS
We can send out digital copies of the plans and the Trade Partner Bid Invitation by Trade Partner. We can meet with the Trade Partners for you.
TRADE PARTNER BID INVITATIONS
We can generate Trade Partner "Invitations to Bid". Each Trade Partner can be given a Set of Plans, and a detailed Scope of Work, specific to their trade, to insure that they don't miss work they should include in their bid. If you choose to have multiple Trade Partners for each trade, you know that each Trade Partner is bidding on the same Scope of Work, so you don't have to spend hours trying to figure out if each bid has included all the details in the project.
REPORTS
We can generate Detailed Scope of Work Reports, with or without pricing. By Room then by Category of Work, or By Category of Work then by Room.
We can generate Summary Reports. By Room then by Category of Work, or By Category of Work then by Room. We can provide Cost Summary Reports, or Sell Summary Reports.
We can generate a Bookkeepers Report, so you can create budget vs. actual reports in your accounting software.
OPTIONS
We can separate "Options" into a stand-alone report.
CHANGE ORDERS
We can create & track Change Orders. If their are Change Orders, the Bookkeepers Report will reflect the signed Change Orders, so that the Budget in the Accounting System can be updated.
TRADE PARTNER REPORT WITH PRICES
After we have received the Trade Partners bids we can enter their costs into the estimate and then generate a new Trade Partner Report with their numbers and send it back to them for their signature. If the Scope of Work has changed they can re-bid. Because they are bidding on the Scope of Work, if they forgot something in compiling their bid (that wasn't in my bid), that's their problem, because they are agreeing to the scope of work for the number quoted.
PROJECT MANAGER ACCEPTANCE
After the Trade Partner has signed the Scope of Work report, the Project Manager can decide which Trade Partner he wants to use for the project. Then he can assign a Purchase Order or just sign the report telling the Trade Partner he has been awarded the project and the approximate date you will want him, so the Trade Partner can pencil you into his schedule.
COST vs. PRICE TO BUILD
Unfortunately, too often Architects tell their clients what it will
"Cost" to have their project built, but not a realistic "Price" to have a
General Contractor build the project.
Architects get paid for drawing the plans. They don't care whether you
build the project or not, because they get paid either way. If the
actual "price" to build the project is twice what you expected, then
it's "back to the drawing board" and they get paid some more to re-draw
the plans.
THE PROCESS - LEAD TO PRODUCTION
If you do not have a real process for your business, we can help you develop that process.
