What the Business Pros Know

More Strategies for Reducing the Cost of Your Next Project

June 10, 2024

Vaughn Prost

In the last issue, we covered two strategies for reducing costs on projects and this is the continuation of more strategies to benefit owners.

Strategy #3

Look for a Builder with VDC (Virtual Design and Construction) Capabilities

VDC is considered the ‘next level planning through technology and visualization services’ but is still absent in the building community today. 3D Technology is found everywhere with designers and architects, but having a VDC-capable builder will enable them to use various pieces of software to ramp up the design analysis to the degree that problems and mistakes on the drawing are uncovered early.

This insight is according to expert Sean Lundy, member of the Construction Leadership Network, who has his own construction company and shares his advice to owners and builders. Since issues that are discovered late in the construction process can interrupt the flow of the work and result in additional costs due to change orders, it is helpful to have VDC capabilities. When problems are found early, they can often be fixed for no or little cost to the project.

A VDC-capable builder can help you save on costs when they have these upfront planning abilities. Vaughn Prost realized a future delivery issue with structural steel for a recent project and made the owners aware as soon as possible. Vaughn and design consultants redesigned with pre-stressed concrete beams and hollow core concrete slabs to save the owner three months on the schedule and $360,000 in project costs.

Strategy #4

Saying No To Silos

Saying No to Silos is about promoting a collaborative team effort with your whole project building team and subcontractors. Silos within your project are the silent killers of your construction budget since they reduce the level of critical communication. If the designers, construction managers, tradesmen, and suppliers focus on ONLY their own work, they miss how their work interrelates to the work of others and can create problems that eventually show up at the project later. Dealing with the problems early in the process is better than handling it as the work is happening.

The most expensive time for the owner is to add change orders due to this issue and it becomes the only option for the builder at that point. When wrong assumptions come up, chaos becomes another issue at the construction site and money ends up being spent to correct the problems.

The best defense against silos is to hire a builder who has a proven system that promotes “the right conversations at the right time.” Prost Builders’ project managers and superintendents actively communicate with their team and subcontractors to ensure those conversations take place.

It may sound like a simple solution, but our 75 years of experience in construction, general contracting, and design-build has taught us how to effectively avoid silos and collaborate with everyone involved in the project from start to finish. Our goal is always to provide the owner with a valuable facility that is delivered to complete satisfaction.

Vaughn Prost is the owner and president of Prost Builders lnc., a design/build and construction services firm located in Columbia. Vaughn has over forty years of domestic and international design and construction experience as a cost and scheduling engineer, structural engineer, owner’s construction representative, and general contractor.