Finding yourself going over budget on every project?
Overspending on a construction project is a nightmare for everyone involved, and we’d all like to do our best to avoid it. There are some things such as delays due to weather that are out of our hands, but there are a few things we can do to stop ourselves from blowing the budget.
With that being said, we’ve decided to take a look at a few different ways that you can keep your project on budget and stop it from costing a fortune.
Estimate your costs
One of the first things you’ll need to do to make sure your project is going to stay on budget is to make sure your estimates are as accurate as they can be.
Having an accurate estimate of how much a project is going to cost will allow you to have a clear view of exactly how much you should be spending and give you a goal to work towards. This way, if you notice that the project is surpassing your estimates, then something has clearly gone wrong.
To get the highest quality and most precise estimates, estimation software is essential. Estimation software continues to improve and can provide more detailed reports, with packages tailor made to suit your project.
Identify any risks or reasons for delays early
A large reason for many construction projects going over budget is due to either risks to health and safety or delays. We’re sure you’ve experienced some form of delay during your time in construction industry, and its safe to say that nobody wants them.
We recently concluded a survey in to the main reasons for delays in a project – check out the results here.
Locating any potential risks early on will allow you to point out any areas of concern and get them dealt with sharply. Injuries to construction workers will not only halt the project and leave you down a man, but can lead to a large sum of money being paid out for compensation.
But it’s not just risks above the ground that you have to worry about, have you considered if there may be any buried utilities that you have not accounted for? It’s important before any construction work is started that a full utility search is undertaken on the site to make sure there is no chance of striking underground utilities.
Damage to buried utilities will not only delay the project due to needing a team to come out and fix the utility, but can also pose a serious health and safety threat to your workers. We recommend that a comprehensive utility search is completed by a qualified team of professionals (like ourselves).
Using a team of experts to gather the relevant information on the site’s buried utilities will save you both time and money, so it makes sense. Want to learn more about why utility plans are so important? Click here.
Hire the right workers
One thing that can often get overlooked is the quality and capability of the workers that you have hired to complete a project.
It’s important for you to assemble a team of motivated hard workers to start work on a project, because motivation to complete the project on time is essential. Your team needs to understand the importance of keeping the project on track and working to a high standard, because the reputation of your company is on the line.
Hiring people with a range of skills and the ability to fit into multiple roles is a fantastic way of making sure your project runs smoothly with little disruptions. Another factor to keeping a project on track is to keep a happy workforce.
Productivity is often affected when there is low morale among the crew, so encouraging a positive working environment is key to keeping things moving.
Keep communication going
A smart move when working on construction projects is to build relationships with contractors and suppliers and use the same teams for each project.
Building a working relationship between yourself and contractors and suppliers will establish trust between each company and you know you can rely on them to deliver the goods. Finding a company that provides a high quality service and keeping in contact will only benefit you in the long run, saving you from trying to find other reputable suppliers.
Another positive to keeping communications open is the possibility of negotiations, allowing you to strike up deals with these companies and potentially cutting some costs in the process. Having a positive relationship with different companies in the construction industry will only improve your reputation and may even help you land other projects.
Stay organised
One of the key factors to keeping a construction project under control is to stay organised, something that a lot of us tend to struggle with.
Spending time trying to locate the right tools or filling out paperwork that should have already been completed are both common occurrences that can result in wasted work hours, which will end up costing you.
It’s also important to make sure that the equipment you are working with is in a suitable working state. The use of faulty or worn out equipment could lead to damage to materials and even pose a risk to health and safety, so it’s a wise idea to make sure all of your equipment is working to a high standard before any work is started.
Summary
And that is our list. These are just a few of the many ways you can stop your construction project’s budget from spiralling out of control.
Have you got any useful tips for anyone struggle to keep the costs down? Be sure to let us know.
Brought in to help take the business to the next level! His role is to improve lead generation and customer satisfaction from over 7,000 registered clients. Jim loves interacting with potential and existing clients and has a wealth of marketing and sales experience through his previous roles at O2, the RAC and TalkTalk. Jim holds a BA (Hons) Business Studies degree majoring in Marketing. A season ticket holder at Liverpool FC and a keen golfer, Jim also loves the gym!