learn more about the
Construction Process
As a homeowner you may or may not have experience with the Construction Process. Below is a step by step description of each part of the process to help you identify where you may need help with your Project.
There’s a chance your project is small and you could just jump straight to calling up a Handyman or Contractor and have them help you with your needs. A lot of people just call up Contractors to get their renovation projects started, and there’s not necessarily anything wrong with that. A lot of Contractors are very capable and can help with a lot of the aspects below above – including minor design, permitting expediting, and even financing. However the process remains the same, even if your Contractor is capable of accomplishing or helping you accomplish most of the tasks below. The Construction Process consists of a whole lot of steps that take the homeowner from ideas to finished product. Most of the time on larger projects there could be upwards of 10 to 20 companies you end up needing to hire to complete a given Project. Below is a breakdown of a typical renovation process, starting from when you start dreaming. Click on each title to find out more about each step.
01. Property Brainstorming
The first step is most likely where you are now and is the easiest to do by yourself. Over time you’ve identified issues or renovation needs and desires with your property that you need professional help accomplishing. How do you want to address it? Think about it! Try to draw it up as best you can! It probably goes without saying that the more you “know what you want” before you start talking to professionals, the more effective they will be at helping you in reaching the desired outcome.
PRO TIP: Can’t sketch worth a hoot? Join a Pinterest board, flip through some architectural magazines, or do some googling – i.e. “trendy designs for front porches” to try and pull together some photos of design considerations that you love. Perusing examples of what designs you like for similar projects to yours can help stimulate your brain to better hone in on what you want.
02. Analysis of Existing Property & As-Builts
So you’ve got some ideas on what your renovation will include. The next steps to starting your construction project will be to figure out & document exactly what is existing where your renovation will occur so that you can determine how difficult it will be to implement your ideas. Basically in the brainstorming stage you were thinking about where the finish line was. In this step, you’ll be evaluating where you are starting from.
This would include studying of all components of your home at the location of the renovation – determining existing dimensions, materials, conditions, etc. If a permit is required for the work you want to do, then this as-built Construction Document would be a drawing required for submission to the Department of Planning and Permitting. We would argue that having a to-scale floorplans of your house and a drawing of your lot are a benefit generally for any number of reasons – but certainly it will help you move the ball down the field as it relates to your renovation Project. If your project is small, or simply a repair, most likely your Contractor will evaluate the existing conditions at the location of the work and will not produce any drawings.
PRO TIP: One aspect of Construction to watch out for is “unknowns”. Renovations specifically can be more susceptible to runaway cost overages or “change orders” because the existing conditions of the home is worse than the Contractor planed for. To reduce change orders – 1) get as much information about your house to the Contractor as you can prior to bid / starting work, 2) try to be as clear as possible as to what is to be done prior to start of work. Change orders are rough because they’re often more expensive than they would have been if they were competitively bid out prior to start of work. You’re “locked in” most times with that specific Contractor at whatever price they want to charge you for dealing with unknowns.
03. Design & Construction Documents
Alright! We’re making progress. You now have a general idea of what you want, and a general idea of where you’re starting. Now it’s detail time. In this step we are figuring out the nitty gritty on the renovation is to be built. Are we using 2x4s for this wall or 2x6s? What type of insulation are we using in the walls? Is the door 30″ wide or 36″? How do we adjust floor elevation heights to align the flooring in the bathroom to the living room? These can actually be very complex questions – and determining what is correct takes a combination of knowledge of the Code and overall how design decisions will effect aesthetic concerns and functionality of space. The Design phase is often times skipped in residential construction or is routed through the Contractor to “figure out” when they’re building it. This method often leads to conflicts because 1) the Contractor installs something that you don’t end up liking, or 2) the Contractor charges you for change orders when you tell them how you want it built in the middle of the Project. The design process can be scary to Homeowners and often times is thought of as “not necessary” from a cost standpoint. Whether or not it’s necessary will depend on a few factors including the complexity of your project and the quality and abilities of the Contractors you hire to “design”.
Let’s talk a bit about what a Homeowner should expect during this phase. The design phase is typically an iterative process working through different scenarios and schemes on how to achieve what you want from the renovation. The amount of design required is obviously determined by the scope of your renovation. It should be a main goal in the design stage to get a very solid idea of what exactly you are building or what your final product is supposed to look like. You could have very different ideas in your head than your Contractor ultimately builds for you, so it should be your goal to make it as clear as possible what you want ON PAPER so that you get exactly what you want in the final product. The way to do this is by focusing on the design stage of your Project when you need to and giving this phase the time it deserves. This process typically is two parts: 1) Architectural Planning and Programming, which is where the real work is – and 2) Drafting & Construction Document Development, which is basically cleaning up the drawings so they are ready to be presented to the Contractor or the Department of Planning and Permitting (DPP) if a permit is required. For major renovations, Construction Drawings and 3D BIM Modeling specifically help a homeowner understand what the renovations to their Property will actually look like. Once a homeowner is happy with the drawings then they can hand it to the Contractor and feel confident their Contractor should know what to build & can price the work accurately.
PRO TIP: As the size and complexity of the renovation increases, the number of fully detailed drawings of what is to be built should increase. For smaller jobs, all you may need is one or two details or elevations. For kitchen remodels you should have at least a floorplan of the space & wall elevations with details. For a large renovation it would be our recommendation that you should have a full set of drawings before bidding the work out. A “finish schedule” can be a very helpful document to identify what materials and colors / finishes will be used. Electrical & Plumbing sketches showing fixture types, locations, heights, etc. can be extremely helpful in receiving accurate pricing from Contractors.
04. Permitting
The goal of this step is to submit Construction Drawings based on requirements that the Department of Planning and Permitting sets forth so the reviewer can evaluate your construction plans and verify that the design is fit to be built. They will review your design drawings and will provide any comments needed for revisions prior to approval for construction. Though this seems straightforward, it can be a very slow process and small issues can delay your Project’s approval. Often times DPP doesn’t even formally acknowledge you’ve submitted your files for months. You will need approval from various entities depending on the scope of work you are trying to build. For example if there is plumbing involved in your Project then the Board of Water Supply will need to review your drawings.
PRO TIP: Provided that your design is done correctly, review and approval should be relatively straightforward. You should expect some reviewer comments that need to be addressed however. It is important at this stage to manage the process as best you can by staying on top of your submissions and getting any revisions required by DPP revised and turned around quickly so that you can get back in there queue. Don’t let the ball stay in your court!
05. Finding a Contractor
Finding a company to actually build your project can be a task in and of itself. There are a lot of reasons why finding a quality contractor is difficult. Sometimes your project is too small to get any Contractors to bite. You also may have a hard time even getting any call backs. Most likely if you have construction documents and are in the permitting process you will have no problem getting Contractor’s to be interested in your Project. If you don’t have drawings, having developed ideas & sketches / ideas of what you want to do will help you generate interest. You want to make sure that you are serious about the work you want to do before you start fielding Contractors because it is really just a waste of their time unless you’re serious about doing work.
You want to try and make this process as methodical as you can. Set up interviews with different Contractors and get them out to your home to evaluate the Project. Send them any drawings that you have, and tell them that you need a bid by a specific date. The goal here should be to gain as many quotes as you can for the work as possible at the same time so that you can evaluate the proposals against each other and determine the best way to move forward. You need to “level the bids” meaning that you need to make sure that each firm you get a quote from is properly bidding what you want built. Often times the cheapest contractor is bidding something totally different than the most expensive contractor. You want apples to apples so that you can evaluate them accurately. You would be surprised at how difficult it can be to get estimates documenting in detail what is included and not included in the price. The better understanding that you have with your Contractor of what is to be built, in writing, the better. Unclear proposals and Contracts with your Contractors can lead to disputes and change orders during construction. Make sure your Contractor provides you with a schedule or a timeline for Construction!
PRO TIP: The better your your understanding of what you want to build, and the more developed your design is, the easier it will be to get construction bids which are accurate. Develop a finish schedule showing specific fixtures, material finishes, and products that you want your Contractor to bid. If you do not have any drawings and the Contractor has to “guess” on a bunch of things in their estimates, your bids will most likely be higher and there will be greater disparity between bids since the scope is less well defined. It is important to know what you are buying when you sign a contract with a Contractor!
06. Construction & Construction Administration
We’re finally at the main event! Though this is the most exciting part of the process, it’s also intense. Getting through even small renovations to your home can be taxing and can wreck marriages. If you’re going into your construction with developed drawings and you’ve already made decisions about colors and finishes in the design phase, then you really just need to do as the homeowner is manage payments to the Contractor, making sure any Owner furnished materials and fixtures are on site as they’re needed, and respond to any issues as they arise. If you don’t have much of a design, you’ll be managing the decision making process as well as they arise. Make sure you always ask a Contractor “What was included in your price?” when they ask you to make decisions.
During construction you want to make sure you have as many eyes on the work as possible. The better you document (photos, records of who was on site, what was done, etc.) the construction process, the more you will know about what was actually installed. This is often a difficult step for homeowners as they often do not have much technical construction knowledge. How will you control quality on site? Often times the level of quality you get is based on the decision you made when you hired the Contractor. You can also hire outside firms to perform inspections of installed work as required during construction or construction managers to oversee the Contractor as they install. You don’t want to get in the Contractor’s way as they’re doing work – but you do need to periodically check the installation and make sure the proper materials and installation methods are being utilized on site.
PRO TIP: Managing the construction process and in particular the actual build is a difficult job that many smart people are paid a lot of money to do on a larger scale. Often times in residential projects the construction manager is the homeowner, and thus there is little to no oversight, particularly if the Contractor has little to no project management or quality control process. As a homeowner it’s your job to make sure that your Contractor knows what they’re building and then to keep them moving with any questions or issues that arise during work. Oh and don’t forget to pay them on time!