Five Reasons Why Your Renovation Projects Keep Going Over Budget!

Time and time again in our line of business, we see people embarking on their dream of renovating their work spaces only to find they have gone way over budget. While they may start off with a very clear idea of what they want and with the best of intentions, things can go wrong very quickly.  There is a plethora of reasons for cost overruns in commercial renovation project. Let’s take a look at some of them:

Design Errors

Design errors have been identified as one of the common reasons for cost overruns in commercial renovation projects. Designs that are done without ample examination of the site may contain errors in the form of omission or misrepresentations. This will also cause omissions in the project cost estimation which leads to extra work and thus results in renovation budget blowout. Achieving error free designs requires proper planning, extensive investigation, reviews and good communication between the client, design team and commercial contractor. 

Low Quality Documentation

Vague or low-quality documentation can affect the accuracy of price estimates. When incomplete documentation is used everyone involved in the quoting process has to make assumptions. This leaves room for error and costing inaccuracies.

Making Changes On Site

Change orders are often costly because they often include construction delays, material rush orders, design changes or even the tearing out and rebuilding of a finished item.
When you are in the planning stage, making changes is relatively inexpensive. However, once the project has commenced, every change will cost both time and money. So, if late changes are a must, be prepared for renovation cost overruns.

Spending Too Much Money On the Wrong Areas

When planning an office renovation, invest primarily on those areas that will make the biggest difference to the quality of the finished project.  Determining what to rehab or replace is another question that must be decided mutually between the client and the commercial contractor. Look at what you are trying to achieve and plan the best way to get there. Keep the budget in the front of your mind when making decisions. Being budget conscious from the start is far better than running out of money halfway through a project.

Choosing The Wrong Contractor

Clients should not sign up with the first contractor they meet or was recommended, and they should never choose a contractor solely based on price. Clients should always get at least three quotes and spend time analyzing and comparing the prices, contractors, and deliverables before making their decision. Choosing a random contractor who has no experience in handling the renovation project will lead to poor quality work, schedule delays and cost overruns.

In conclusion, although cost overruns may seem very inherent in most renovation projects, they don’t have to be! By setting clear expectations and specifications and choosing an experienced commercial contractor in Toronto, projects can be delivered on time and at budget. 

How Do You Manage Scope Creep During A Renovation Project?

Renovation projects often face the challenge of scope creep. ‘Scope creep’ in project management terms, refers to changes and or continuous or uncontrolled growth in a project's scope, at any point after the project begins.When scope creep happens on a store renovation project it may result in increased time, cost, and resources, as well as potentially reduced quality. Scope creep can be a result of inaccurate documentation of requirements, weak project management, poor communication or ill-defined project objectives. 

Hiring an experienced commercial contractor may avoid the possibility of scope creep in your renovation project and increase the chances of delivering a project on time and on budget. Managing the triangle of scope, deadlines and resources is where great commercial contractors prove their worth.An experienced commercial contractor effectively accomplishes this and eliminates scope creep during your renovation.

Understandingthe Client’s Vision

A commercial contractor collaborates with the client and understands what the client hopes to achieve from the renovation project.After coming up with a shared creative vision and achievable business goals, it’s time to get down to the nitty-gritty details.

DocumentRequirements in Detail

Reaching clarity on, and developing a shared understanding of, goals and objectives of the renovation in the initial planning stage is critical to project success.To avoid scope creep, a mutually agreed upon list of project requirements is documented clearly and is signed by all involved parties.

Set Up Change Control Processes

The requirements document is only a starting point. What happens when someone wants to change something? Any new changes must go through a change request form and be analyzed properly to understand the impact the change will have on the overall project.All changes that have been accepted need to be added as an addendum to the original project scope documentation.

Use aPrioritization Technique

Your deliverables list may have 20, or even 200, items. However, it is not possible to deliver all of them at same time. With this in mind, prioritization becomes key. Once you have the full list of requirements, these should be prioritized. This pushes the customer to determine what they truly need when new priorities pop up. Additionally, by prioritizing customer facing enhancements, store downtime can be minimized or eliminated altogether.

Create A Well-Defined Scope Statement

A well-defined scope statement, details everything a contractor must deliver. A strong document includes time frames, budgets, legalities, sub-contractor (if any) details and more. This statement creates a clear picture of the project for all stakeholders.Once this is done, the scope document is shared between the client, team, and other stakeholders.If the scope statement does not contain sufficient details, the project team will not know the boundaries of the project and will be prone to adding things that shouldn’t be there. This can lead to a scope creep in a renovation project.

Communication

This is one of the key aspects of scope management. When the client asks for an additional change, a clear explanation of how it will affect the project’s cost and scheduling requirements must be given. A regular meeting between the commercial contractor, project team, and client is essential for a healthy renovation project that finishes on time and within budget.

Hiring an experienced commercial contractor in Toronto will help go a long way in managing your renovation successfully, without budget overruns or deadline delays.