What the Business Pros Know

Strategies to Reduce the Cost of Your Next Project

May 11, 2024

Vaughn Prost

In the world of general contracting and construction, there are different ways to help reduce the cost of your project. Since 1949, Prost Builders, Inc. has been one of the largest and oldest general contractors and design-build experts serving our clients in Missouri. As a member of the Construction Leadership Network, I want to share fellow member Sean Lundy’s write up about “7 Strategies for Reducing the Cost of Your Next Project.” Sean is president and CEO of Lundy Construction, a very well-respected contractor in Ottawa, Canada.

Here are two of Sean Lundy’s seven strategies that Prost Builders has followed for seven decades in the business that benefit our clients, reduces costs, and exceeds expectations when we help you plan for your next project. Let’s start with the first two strategies that we implement at every opportunity when we work on a project:

Strategy #1

Prioritize Robust Upfront Planning

In this industry, planning a construction project is not only difficult, but takes a lot of focus and a ‘shortcut’ is not the best plan. If a client wants to save money on their project, they must find a builder who is willing to invest the necessary time and energy into planning the work BEFORE starting on-site.

The deep dive into sequencing, logistics planning, design analysis between disciplines, risk identification, risk mitigation plans, long-lead delivery items, detailed cost analysis, and human resourcing are all essential in the effort to have the greatest impact on how much your project will cost.

Example: Vaughn Prost saved Jefferson Middle School in Columbia $400,000 when he re-engineered the gym’s new roof with a concrete double tee bar roof in lieu of the truss roofing material that was delayed by five months. If he had been involved in the project at the design stage as a design-build, he would have informed the owner of the future delay, eliminated the need to change the roof design later, and saved the owner extra costs to have the architect change the plans.

Strategy #2

Don’t Underspend on Design

Design services are one level in construction that is highly competitive and has no shortage of capable architects to choose from, but they have become judged primarily by price these days. It’s a reality that no architect, designer, or engineer, is going to give your project the time it needs unless they are compensated appropriately.

It’s in your best interests to pay for and insist upon well-thought-out, properly coordinated plans so that the architect takes the time to sit with all the other consultants (structural, civil, landscape, mechanical, electrical, and IT professionals) and has done the hard work of making sure their design elements won’t clash with each other. No client wants to pay to correct these types of mistakes after their project has been started.

Prost Builders has been following these strategies for 75 years to benefit our clients and we will continue to do so-because our mission statement is “The Client is the most important asset of our business. The first priority is to provide our client with exceptional quality and value.” And that is why our client-oriented business model is what makes us exceptional in this industry.

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.