Dennis Isong: Here’s How You Can Cut Costs While Constructing your Building

Constructing a building is becoming more expensive for many reasons — the rapid increase in the cost of raw materials, the price fluctuations of gas and fuel, the costs of running heavy machinery and other related mechanical equipment. Building construction isn’t cheap and sometimes, it can be way above one’s budget.

Embarking on a construction project requires a significant capital investment that you must be prepared for, and in construction, it’s not really advisable to cut corners because you may end up spending more in future.

Here’s how you can reduce the expenses for building construction without skipping the various necessities needed for it:

Professional Layout Plan

Have a professional layout plan. This plan must be realistic and include all the costs for the construction. This will help provide you with the necessary information you need to reduce the costs and also achieve the project within the required budget. A professional layout plan helps create a detailed scope of work that can lead to less money being spent on the project. You will also be sure of what you are getting into and what to expect.

Services of Professionals

In erecting a building, it is highly recommended to seek the service of professionals. This is to avoid unnecessary issues that may lead to more expenses in the future if things go wrong.

Some of these professionals include:

• Architect: The architect helps draft out your plan on a sketch. The plan layout is called schematic designs, it involves a rough layout of the floor plan and other specific views of the building.
• Engineer: We have the structural engineer and services engineer. The structural engineer oversees the building structure and design. He ensures that the building is designed in a way to suit and withstand its own loads and superimposed loads to avoid collapsing. The services engineer is responsible for the mechanical and electrical fittings of the building. He monitors and makes sure everything is perfectly fit and functioning. He oversees the plumbing works and accessories, electrical works and other interior accessories.
• A quantity surveyor, and so on.

Budget

Before starting your building project, it’s important to map out the process, this is something that all successful construction teams always do first. Ensure you have a ‘limit’ for your budget and be careful not to exceed this limit. All procedures should continually be in-line with the construction budgetary plan. For instance, if the plan outlines a certain limit for manual labour, then hiring the service of personnel should be carefully done within this budget.

Budgeting helps with the managerial aspect of the building construction, and helps you properly execute the job within a particular timeframe. It also helps the productivity of the workers as everyone knows how much is allocated to them. This certainly helps your building project stay in the green.

Getting an Alternative for Building Materials

You need to look for alternatives for most of your building materials; don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Opt for more affordable options as long as the quality is intact. For example, when it comes to roofing the building, you can consider various types of roofing sheets that may be right for your project, check their price differences and opt for the one that fits your budget and, at the same time, maintains its quality. For instance, we have the aluminium roofing sheet which is most popular due to its ability to resist corrosion and it’s also durable – it can last for 25 to 50 years. We also have the industrial or normal roofing sheets, metra, stone coated, shingles, and many others roofing sheets you can consider.

Eliminate Change Orders

Change order is the process of changing or fixing things at the last minute. This can be due to a final review, or because the building owner wants something else or is considering a different option. Whatever the case, it’s always advisable to avoid them if possible.

Rather, a good method is to take change orders only for critical issues like emergencies or fatal errors. Other smaller options like requests and upgrades should all be implemented much earlier or from the beginning of the project to reduce the impact they have on your time, money, resources and even supplies.

Explore Different Suppliers

Most times, you see contractors getting their supplies and materials from the same source or company. Building construction companies tend to use a particular supplier or distributor for their project, this may not be beneficial in the long run. Even though many suppliers offer discounts once in a while, the company may be losing out because they don’t explore other suppliers or distributors. This means that they don’t know the market price for the products they use or they’re not purchasing it at the best price.

Don’t assume that a supplier you used earlier is selling at the best or lowest prices, undergo thorough research on the products and know what supplies are available, where and who has the best or lowest prices to offer.

Hire Employees Who Can Multitask

It will be to your advantage if you hire workers who can successfully multitask and are willing to achieve more than what’s in their area of work when given the incentive. This comes with a lot of benefits as you get maximum productivity from your workers, and get rid of worker downtime. It can also help to complete the building construction project on time – even before the set date, thereby saving time and reducing costs as well.

The cost required for building construction may steadily be on the increase, but you can cut cost and save up money when you focus on implementing these cost-efficient measures.

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