At Rockford Structures, we know that commercial construction often takes place on a much different timeline than the typical residential project. Even the smallest delay can result in major business disruptions, lost revenue, and trouble with investors. When time is of the essence and failure is not an option, construction management becomes a top-of-mind concern. We’ve also come to understand that our clients play a key role in keeping a project on track, on time, and on — or under — budget. 

Prioritize

Knowing your budget is important, but it’s not the whole picture. Your priorities on a given project matter as well, especially at the points where priorities and money intersect. Part of prioritizing is differentiating between what’s good to have, what’s important to have, and what’s absolutely necessary or urgent. It’s knowing what can be sacrificed or a back-burned in the event that something unexpected comes up. It’s also having a clear but unsentimental view of what your goals are, both in the short and long term. Much of what follows will be reinforced by clear priorities, but can just as easily be undermined if you’re not clear — both to yourselves and to us.

Communicate

It’s impossible to overestimate the importance of communication, both among yourselves and with us. One piece of advice drawn from long experience: whatever your internal communications process looks like, and no matter how many stakeholders have input in your project, select one person as a point of contact with one alternate in case your primary is incommunicado, and we’ll do the same. Too many points of contact inevitably leads to confusion, miscommunication, and errors.

Similarly, decide on a primary and secondary means of contact. Perhaps you want daily updates by email, reinforced by a weekly conference call. Maybe you prefer phone calls, with the occasional text where needed. We’ll work with your needs and communication style so that everyone knows what’s going on, and accountability is ironclad. 

Plan Ahead

Some of your planning processes will naturally arise from your earlier priorities discussions. However, once we’ve established lines of communication, this is the point where it’s best to have your contractor looped in on the process. We’ll be better able to understand your needs, and we’ll also be able to identify any gaps in your planning, budget, and other items. Any builder knows that a blueprint is a key to success, and project management is as much a part of our planning as the other tools of our trade. 

Standardize Materials

Our approach is a bit different than many of our competitors. In contrast to traditional steel buildings, which use individually-designed and fabricated components, we’ve found it to be more time and cost-effective to design and fabricate in-house, assembling on-site. That gives us a degree of flexibility, but more to the point (for our present purposes), it also ensures a streamlined building process. We can build faster at a lower cost.

Simplify Processes

Another advantage of standardization: it allows us to handle most facets of your job in-house. That keeps our processes streamlined, and ensures complete visibility and accountability at each stage, from site selection through to design and build, pre-construction planning, and even interior design. However, there will be times when your processes and ours overlap, so we may be asking for your assistance in getting a handle on your business or organization’s day-to-day activities so we can complete our work with a minimum of disruption to your work. 

For over five decades, Rockford Structures has served a diverse clientele in education, medicine, retail, hospitality, and a number of other sectors, earning respect and awards in the process. To learn more about our services — and how we put our expertise in service to your vision — request a consultation today.