When it comes to home improvement projects and renovations, let’s face it – clients don’t know what they don’t know which can cost them a lot of suffering.
To remedy this, some experts in the field have become Construction Consultants who are worth their weight in gold! They save the client time, aggravation and money. They work on the client’s behalf, allowing him/her to sleep at night knowing that there is someone looking out for them and their project.
According to Frank DeToma, Construction Consultant and owner of FJ Detoma Construction, a great Construction Consultant will do the following:
- Review design recommendations, functionality, cost, and resale potential.
- Review Bids. Develop questions to help client understand what they are getting, and make sure bids accurately represent the conception that the customer has for the job. He makes sure that the he/she is getting a fair price.
- He ensures that all work is done to high standards, noticing details that most clients would miss.
- Review contract details to ensure that contracts are in compliance with local ordinances. Review payment schedule to discern for equity, determine benchmark for payments. In this way the client knows what they have to pay and when it is due ahead of time.
- Review warantees from prime contractor and sub-contractors and makes sure that nothing is is done to void the warantees.
- Verifies sub-contractor insurances (Liability, and Workers Compensation).
- Review specifications and approach; ensure that the products used are compatible with one another. Review change-orders (added work requested by client) for validity, value, and procedure.
- Uncover gaps in communication, scheduling, ordering, and production to keep the job on schedule. Schedules progress meetings with all pertinent stakeholders – i.e. (architect, owner, engineer, subcontractors, product reps,) to avoid costly misunderstandings, conflicts and problems.
- Ensures that proper inspections take place which prevents costly do-overs.
- Ensures that renovations are adaptable for future add-on and upgrades such as a new roof in 5 years.
- Develops an accurate and reasonable punch-list to ensure that every detail is completed.
- Makes himself available for questions about any aspect of the job.
Imagine not having to worry about any of these details!
In upcoming posts, we will go into more detail about how a construction consultant works and how that can help you, your finances and the quality of your project.