Reasons to Use a General Contractor Archives

Starting a Construction Project: Permit Considerations

Jan 18, 2017 | Reasons to Use a General Contractor, Starting a Construction Project

When beginning a commercial construction project, it is uncommon to be able to break ground and get started immediately.

The vast majority of commercial projects require you, or your general contractor, to apply for a permit from local municipalities.

Depending on the project’s scope and location, the complexity and requirements of the permit will vary.

Things to keep in mind when applying for a permit:

Permits take time before receiving approval.
City permit offices can get backed up, particularly at the peak of construction season. When developing a construction plan, keep in mind that even a simple permit can take several weeks to get rubber stamped. A qualified and respected general contractor that has well-developed relationships with local municipalities can often speed up the approval process by knowing who to contact and how to monitor the permit’s status.
Inspections or meetings may be necessary.
As a part of their due diligence, some city committees will need to inspect your building, property, or construction plans before approving them and providing the permit. You may even be required to share your plans with a city planning committee at a live hearing. To ensure a seamless approval process, have your plans reviewed and inspected by a general contractor before presenting to a committee.
Your construction project might need revisions.
Your permit may not receive approval upon the first review – especially if the committee or city has concerns that the property or existing infrastructure may not be able to sustain the project size or type. Your permit may be delayed by other concerns including neighborhood disruptions. Sometimes you’ll also need to re-submit for simple reasons like not filling out the paperwork quite correctly. Be prepared to work with the city to alter plans, or possibly consider a new site.

There are consequences to not acquiring the correct permits that not only affect your timeline but also your finances.

If discovered without a permit, or with the wrong one, your company may be fined or asked to halt the project until obtaining the correct permit through the correct approval process. These types of delays increase costs for any business, preventing them from opening up their doors and accessing customers.

As a local general contractor, DBG has spent 10 years working alongside municipalities and planning committees to achieve timely permitting.

We have the resources and the reputation to apply for permits in a way that maximizes your project’s odds at rapid approval.

If you are considering a project that may require permitting, contact us for help today!

“Thank Goodness I’m not my own General Contractor!”

Nov 23, 2016 | Reasons to Use a General Contractor

Becoming an efficient and reputable general contractor takes years of hard, and often thankless, work. A General Contractor team invests years, even decades, learning the intricacies of each trade and mastering the art of project management and timely delivery. To be effective, a General Contractor needs to be proactive, engaged, and an aggressive problem-solver. They develop an extensive knowledge of building codes, OSHA safety standards, materials, fixtures, and spend thousands of hours of analyzing construction plans and specifications.

Over the past couple of month, our blogs have covered the variety of services and skills applied to different projects. The quality of these services, though ultimately determined by perseverance and commitment, is often based on a framework of challenges and lessons-learned. A successful General Contractor makes the client’s role painless, if not effortless, through meticulous coordination and adept management. While our previous posts captured the client’s viewpoint, we decided to delve into the contractor’s perspective to provide you with a full panoramic view. And, to be in tune with this week’s holiday spirit, we noted some reasons to be thankful that you don’t have to be your own general contractor.

Reasons to be thankful for a General Contractor

General Contractors craft quality subcontractor teams.

General contractors spend years developing a through and excellent rapport with local subcontractors.

Not only does a General Contractor have the network to develop these relationships, but they also provide a unique incentive: the promise of more work and future projects! This exclusive dynamic produces an incentive for subcontractors to offer better pricing and provide superior quality.

Imagine the time and effort required to put forth researching, calling, obtaining bids and checking references for over a dozen and a half different trades.

A proactive General Contractor already has the best tradesmen on speed dial and is ready to coordinate the best team for your project.

“Of all the things I’ve done, the most vital is coordinating the talents of those who work for us and pointing them toward a goal.” – Walt Disney

General Contractors design a comprehensive schedule.

Ask any subcontractor who’s participated in a disorganized project: There’s nothing worse than attempting to perform work while in a crowded space or on a crowded construction site.

Electricians trying to wire walls before the framers have left the room, ladders overlapping, tripping over the extension cords of five different trades all crammed in one spot. Nescient scheduling is not only unsafe, but it’s also counterproductive.

An experienced General Contractor understands the best order of operation and will save everyone the headaches, hazards and the cost inefficiency that are the inevitable result of a poorly-timed and mismanaged schedule. A poorly handled schedule means a poorly handled project. This is why DBG has a full-time in-house scheduler.

“Time is the scarcest resource; unless it is managed well, nothing else can be managed.” – Peter Drucker

General Contractors coordinate all of the communications.

Most people do not have the time or patience to deal with the endless stream of busy work involved in a construction project.

There is a reason that managing a project is a full-time job: it starts with securing permits and then quickly spirals into a typhoon of invoices, phone calls, emails, change orders, budgets, material orders, meetings, walk-throughs, inspections, punch lists, and writing checks (to name a few).

Good news, though! Your General Contractor takes care of it all.

An exemplary General Contractor also commits a part of their time to updating clients on a daily, weekly, or bi-weekly basis. Depending on the project size, a General Contractor is usually regulating hundreds of communication streams between suppliers, subcontractors, and architects to make sure your project is completed promptly, safely, and cost-effectively.

“Being a project manager is like being an artist, you have the different colored process streams combining into a work of art.” – Greg Cimmarrusti

General Contractors assume the majority of the risk.

Acting as your own general contractor means you assume all the risks associated with construction: financial risk, safety risk, and quality risk – all of which require constant scrutiny and evaluation during your project.

Even with the most meticulous General Contractor at the helm, no job goes perfectly smooth for the entire duration. Complications happen with every project; it’s simply the chaotic nature of orchestrating an immense volume of manpower and material all at once.

One of the many advantages of having a General Contractor is their experience with proactive contingency planning and aggressive problem-solving. When it comes to construction difficulties, they already have the experience, resources, and network to keep your project moving forward.

“Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.” – William A. Foster

With DBG Construction, you can rest assured that your project is in experienced and diligent hands. You’ll appreciate the peace of mind you gain from our consistent communication and quality performance. As with all of our clients, you’ll be grateful that you didn’t have to tackle your project on your own.

4 Reasons to Hire a Professional General Contractor

Oct 5, 2016 | Reasons to Use a General Contractor

Television makes construction and renovations look so easy. Hire a few people to help you slap down some fresh paint and lay a few tiles and you’re good to go. Maybe just rebuild a wall here or there. Find an electrician to rewire the room and voila! Job done!

In reality, it is rarely that easy. If you think that a particular job is beyond your do-it-yourself skills, you’ll need a general contractor to help break-down and implement your project. If the job is as simple as replacing a leaky sink in the bathroom, you can probably handle hiring a plumber yourself. But, when you launch a ground-up project for your new business location or need major renovations, save yourself a few headaches; don’t be your own general contractor.

Reasons to Hire a Professional General Contractor

Save Money

A good general contractor is familiar with the local trade companies and know what they charge.

When you hire a company with local market experience, you hire someone who has spent time cultivating quality relationships with subcontractors. A general contractor who has taken the time to source and team up with subcontractors usually offers the best price and the best quality work. These types of experienced teams usually produce realistic time lines for project completion and deliver according to schedule.

An experienced general contractor may also be able to offer Guaranteed Maximum Pricing, assuming the risk of cost overruns and sparing your wallet the extra fees.

Save Time

If your rapid company growth requires new or expanded facilities, then your time and energy are most likely committed to supervising and encouraging that growth.

It’s worth considering – do you have the time to receive and critique bids from multiple contractors, and ensure that every aspect of the project is covered?

This is the value of a General Contractor: She handles bids, monitors progress, and doesn’t need to learn a new trade while handling her primary trade full-time.

Job Done Right the 1st Time

You will get the job done right the first time. When you don’t spend time hiring, working with, or vetting local tradesmen, it is difficult to determine which subcontractors deliver a great pitch, but then provide subpar work.

An experienced general contractor is familiar with the quality of work done by the people in your area. She will know who to avoid, which tradesman to use for which tasks, and which subcontractors she can reach out to in case of emergencies.

Regardless of the project’s phase, a good general contractor is prepared with contingencies, back-up plans, and a reservoir of trusted subcontractors to get the job done.

Experience Makes for Smooth Inspections

Building inspections go more smoothly. Your professional general contractor knows at which points (yes, more than one for some projects) to call for inspections.

You want someone who has taken the time to develop transparent relationships with local officials. A general contractor who has an adversarial relationship with the building department is more likely to experience delays in permit approvals and scheduled inspections. A general contractor who has taken the time to abide by regulations and be in good standing with officials doesn’t get pushed to the back of the line. This helps on keeping costs down too.

Paying for extra inspections adds up in both time and money, as does fixing things that weren’t up to code to begin with.

If you are considering expanding your business and need help building or renovating, please contact us to find out how we can help you. With over ten years of experience in the commerical construction , we can get your job done on budget and on time.

A League of Their Own

Sep 28, 2016 | DBG Construction, Reasons to Use a General Contractor

Reasons to Not Be Your Own General Contractor

Maybe there’s no crying in baseball, but tears are shed in construction. Don’t get in over your head by assuming you know the ins and outs of commercial development, and don’t be your own General Contractor! Commercial projects require scheduling precision, hardball deadlines, and sizable risk. Here are some, but not nearly all, considerations that are crucial in commercial building projects:

1. Pre-construction Meetings:

An ace commercial construction firm knows how to ask the right questions to meld a client’s concept and a designer’s ideas into a finished project, so everyone involved is happy with the results. Pre-construction meetings set up the command center for the subs, so they don’t get in each other’s way. To manage architects, designers, engineers, subcontractors, and building supply vendors takes incredible coordination.

2. Identifying The Right Trade Contractors:

Trade contractors picked solely on low-ball bids show their incompetence on the job. You don’t need greasy footprints on newly installed carpeting after they showed up two hours late. Notice the game plan of a good commercial contractor managing a team of excavators, masons, framers, drywallers, electricians, plumbers, carpenters, carpet layers, painters, landscapers, and roofers they know and trust. They’ll bat 1.000 on a project.

3. Budgeting:

A commercial contractor will set up a construction budget jointly with the chosen designer to integrate the initial stages of a project. Later, if building supply vendors become problematic or if any unexpected cost surprises pop up initiating a change order, your commercial contractor can suggest alternate materials and adjust another phase of the project. Controls are in place throughout the project to assure a predictable outcome at completion.

4. Facility Maintenance:

Some commercial contractors provide comprehensive facility maintenance services. Who better to fix it than the builder who installed it in the first place? If a general contractor offers facility maintenance and repairs, then the client has no need to search for technicians when something goes awry. Scheduled maintenance for HVAC, electrical, plumbing, roof, and fire protection need checking annually, in some cases quarterly, to keep a lid on maintenance costs. As an example, your commercial contractor can come in before a commercial kitchen inspection and address any maintenance issues for an A+ rating. DBG Construction provides its own facility maintenance firm, handling multi-trade repairs and even small renovations to keep clients’ buildings safe and operational.

5. Check Credentials:

Remember, professionals you hire must have completed their education and acquired the proper credentials to earn your trust. Your cardiologist has a Doctor of Medicine degree, your accountant has earned her bachelor’s degree in Finance, and you want to make sure if you have to appear in court that your attorney has passed the bar exam! The alternatives, performing heart surgery on a family member, taking a chance on being your own financial advisor or representing yourself in court would be ludicrous.

In essence, you’ll want your builder to know the nuts and bolts of the profession with a portfolio of successful projects and proven experience – an assurance of excellence. When an investment in a commercial building is right for you, save the hammer for hanging pictures and call an accredited commercial contractor.

Sold on our pitch yet? Contact DBG Construction to discuss your next commercial project. We’ll hit it out of the park.