What does your retail store require to achieve the next level of success?

Do you need extra space in your store because everything is feeling cramped? Are you getting tired of the layout of your current retail store and want something new? Is it hard for customers to find what they are looking for?

To address these concerns, you can renovate, reconfigure or redesign your retail store to attract more customers. But what is right for your store? Let’s see what your store needs.

Store Reconfiguration

If you want to give your retail store a new look and feel, then this is the easiest & most affordable way to do so. A store reconfiguration simply means changing the shape or formation of your store, but avoiding any building construction. A store reconfiguration with retail experts will improve the functionality, aesthetic appeal and customer flow of your store. Reconfiguring your retail store can make it more spacious and productivity-efficient with minimal disruption to business. This option is far less expensive than a full renovation project. The drawback to this approach is that the changes you can make in a store reconfiguration are limited when compared to a store renovation.  

Store Redesign

If the reason you want to redesign your store is driven primarily by aesthetic concerns, a redesign may be your best option. A store redesign is like a store refresh; it may involve changing your lighting scheme, repainting, or upgrading your furnishings. The more appealing a store, the more it can attract new customers. You may be surprised to learn that changing the design of your store and investing in attractive furniture and accessories will project a modern, trendy image to your clients. Even changing seemingly minor details, like the color of your walls or accessories, can yield big benefits. According to a study conducted by architecture firm Gensler, a well-designed store can boost productivity by a full 20%!

Interior Store Renovation

Unlike store reconfiguration and redesign that doesn’t modify a building's structure, store renovations do exactly that; they transform the interior of a store while leaving the exterior shell intact. A store renovation in Toronto allows you to completely transform your space to your exact specifications. This transformation doesn't happen overnight, though. For this in-depth construction project you need to hire an experienced commercial contractor in Toronto. If you own your building, or know you will remain in that location for the long term, investing in a store renovation may pay off in the long run.

Key Objectives of Retail Construction Project Management

Retail construction project management can be challenging and complex, requiring an experienced, steady hand to keep projects on track.  Effective retail construction must have a defined time frame and meticulous results oriented plan, for a successful project completion. The client’s goals must be clearly defined during the program planning process by the project manager. Cornerstone’s retail program planning team in the New York Tri-StateArea can help you manage and execute your retail construction project successfully by ensuring all your objectives are met. Six factors that go into effective retail construction project management include:

·        Cost management: One important objective of construction project management is to keep track of project budgets and continually monitor them to avoid going over budget. The project manager should identify & mitigate cost escalations during project execution to ensure the project is delivered within the budget.

·        Time management: Another objective is to make sure the project is completed on schedule through effective time management and execution. Project managers set milestones & prepare charts to track task time. The manager must take charge of scheduling activities, timeline tracking, and resource assignment to ensure that critical tasks that will be delivered on time.

·        Scope Management: The third objective of construction project management is to keep the project in scope by monitoring, identifying, and adjusting for anything that can impact the project's scope. Project scope identifies the features & functionalities that must be included and defines the boundaries of the project. Without a clear scope projects may easily get off track.

·        Risk management: The fourth objective of construction project management is to analyze and reduce potential risks. Project risk management is the process of recognizing potential problems that could cause trouble for your project, analyzing how likely they are to occur, and then taking action to prevent the risks.

·        Communications management: Construction project management ensures effective internal and external communications from project planning through project closeout; from arranging meetings and ensuring that all stakeholders are aware of the project’s progress to ensuring sub contactors understand their responsibilities and timelines. Project communications management ensures prompt and appropriate distribution of project information.

·        Quality management: Managing quality is one of the fundamental objectives of construction project management which can be achieved by maintaining the balance of key objectives. Quality management ensures all key objectives are met and provides added value by improving the efficiency of the overall process.

Hire our renowned retail construction project management team in the New York Tri-State Area to add value to your project and ensure all functional requirements of your retail project are met.

Cornerstone Proudly Provides Premium Retail Construction Services

Cornerstone’s design-to-execution retail construction services are a comprehensive package of everything you need for a successful project - from initial conceptual design to construction to completion. This approach helps reduce project risk for the owner and fast tracks the delivery schedule by combining the design and construction phases into a single integrated plan. Cornerstone’s experience and expertise in design-build services makes us the top retail construction commercial contractors in Markham. 5 ways our design to execution service helps deliver outstanding and effective retail stores include:

·       Cornerstone’s design-build approach saves customer’s time by eliminating the bidding process.  In a traditional bidding approach, the customer has to choose a designer, confirm the design, bid out each piece of the project, choose contractors, and then act as an intermediary. In our design to execution approach, the designer and the contractor work hand-in-hand, which helps the contractor clearly understand the design and avoid project delays.

·       This design to execution method provides a single point of contact for your entire project. Everybody is on the same team and has the same goal, with Cornerstone steering the ship. This promotes teamwork and builds relationships that help to ensure a successful retail store renovation/construction project.

·       Working with an architect and a commercial contractor at the same time ensures that design or implementation challenges are discovered before construction begins.

·       Since the project planner, engineer and builder work together, there will not be any uncertainty in materials and construction specifications. The focus remains on protecting the client’s interest and delivering an effective, productive retail presence.

·       In a traditional bidding approach the customer at time is placed in an un-comfortable position, in the middle of disputes between the architect and the contractor. Using our design-build service, the architect and the contractor act as a team, mitigating owner liability for design and construction issues.

Our design to execution delivery method establishes clear lines of communication between the contractor & design team; reducing troubles, lowering costs, controlling the schedule, and ensuring a smooth delivery.

Can you meet your retail construction project schedule timelines?

Commercial construction and renovation projects tend to be more complicated and have higher budgets than residential projects. When contractors and project managers work late nights and weekends to deliver more than 40 hours a week, and the project still does not deliver on time, you know that something is not right. This is largely due to a mix of communication, supply chain, and scheduling issues. One key method to meeting your office renovation/construction deadlines, is to understand these issues to avoid them and correct them as early warning signs emerge.

Tips for a successful, on-time retail construction project include:

Hire an experienced commercial contractor: The easiest ways to ensure faster, more precise execution of your project is to hire the best commercial contractors in Toronto. An expert commercial contractor will help you plan and execute your project while taking proactive steps to avoid any delays.

Identify your deadline: Create and maintain a list of all deadlines. Working towards concrete deadlines improves the time management and organizational aspects of construction and remodeling projects.  Solid deadlines ensure healthy pressure, not panic or procrastination.

Open communication throughout the process:

Communicate with your contractor clearly and frequently throughout your office renovation in GTA.  The information should be accurate and unambiguous to ensure there are no misunderstandings or confusion.  If something isn’t clear, ask for clarification. Respond back to the contractor at the earliest to avoid delays in the project.

Plan ahead so you don’t make changes to plans mid-way:

While you may think that the timeline of the project depends entirely on the contractor, some of it lies with you. If the clients often change the mind, the renovation/construction work may need to stop till the new plan is created which delays the project.  Of course little changes may be worthwhile, so make sure to communicate them to your contractor as soon as they arise and ask for a revised timeline.

Evaluate the ongoing project at regular intervals: Evaluate work periodically with your contractor to know how far and how well the project is implemented against expected results. Regular evaluations help to improve project efficiency and fulfill the objectives; enabling you to clearly assess the status and effectiveness of the project.

Select the right products with fast lead-time: If the materials don’t arrive on time, it will lead to delay of the project. So remember to select the materials with fast, accurate lead times delivered by trusted suppliers.

Use these tips to eliminate, reduce, or mitigate any unforeseen delays in your office renovation/construction project.

Open Communication Yields Successful Retail Construction Projects

Open communication improves contractor and client relationships by avoiding, minimizing & managing disputes and ensuring the success of the construction/renovation project. While some may think that the success of a project depends entirely on hiring the best commercial contractor in GTA, the truth is that much of it depends on the client as well. Hiring the finest contractors in the business, but not communicating needs, budgets, and goals accurately, may lead to a delayed or over budget project despite the wise hiring decision.

Communication is important. Here are some tips to keep the lines of communication open between you and your contractors:  

·        Once you have hired a commercial contractor for your office renovationin GTA, immediately provide them with all the information they may need. In addition to requirements and budgets, make sure to include a list of contact information for everyone the contractor may need to work with during the project.

·        Arrange scheduled calls with your contractor at regular intervals. In addition to the contractor updating you on progress, make sure you clarify any questions or confusions you may have. Take the time to ensure both parties are clear on issues to avoid much more complicated situations later. This is a key part of strong client-contractor communication.  

·        Discuss service level agreements, optimal communication paths, and expected response time with your contractor. If you rarely pick up the phone, but always answer text messages, let your contractor know.  If you typically only answer emails at the end of the day, say so. Make sure not to delay your responses as you may be delaying your own project’s progress.

·        Don’t leave an assignment open-ended. If you are not able to set a deadline, then set check points along the way. If all other efforts to contact fail, communication will happen on this date.

·        Make an effort to respond promptly in the early days of a new working relationship, so your contractor does not become frustrated with the project or your lack of input. Your lack of concern may result in project delays. Managing your contractor relationship can be as important as the contractormanaging relationships with their subcontractors. 

·        Discuss any issues or concerns with the contractor as early as possible to ensure a speedy resolution. This keeps small issues small.

Remember, the success of the project is impacted by the communication you put into it. So keep the lines of communication open. You, your contractor, and the project will all benefit from it.

How Can A Project Management Consultancy Improve Your Construction Project?

Construction project management consultants serve building and remodeling clients by providing trained and qualified personnel to help achieve the successful implementation of projects. Choosing the best retail project management services in Boston for your retail construction will deliver a smoother project. From overseeing activities ranging from planning, coordination, scheduling & cost control, to design, construction and commissioning, a strong project manager creates a better journey through the process.

Aconstruction project management company enables effective retail construction projects by:

Providing Independent Professional Advice and Technical Expertise

During your retail construction, experienced consultants will minimize errors and ensure you are making informed, knowledge driven decisions.  This will not only minimize errors and issues, but lead to a deeper understanding of your project goals and vision.

Quality Control & Assurance

Construction project management companies continually review the quality of work and make sure what is implemented matches the client’s specifications. The consultants examine the quality of materials purchased, workmanship, finish and fit; rejecting below par work and motivating the team to adhere to schedules and budgets.

Risk Management

Project management consultancies help clients quickly and accurately spot project risks and control capital expenditures.

Cost Control

Project management consultancies constantly monitor costs while construction is ongoing. They identify cost deviations from the project budget, if any, and determine whether the design/implementation is to continue unchanged or whether targeted cost management measures should be taken.

Resolving Disputes

Project management consultancies help in resolving conflicts by maintaining a permanent audit and email trail of all decisions, discussions, reviews, approvals and actions. By ensuring transparency and accountability on construction projects, project management consultancies facilitate fast dispute resolution. They establish a clear strategy that will ensure the earliest possible settlement with the most advantageous terms for the client.

Easily Achieve Goals & Objectives:

It is very important to achieve the goals and objectives during the retail construction. Construction project management consultancies work in a systematic and proper manner (planning, executing, monitoring and controlling resources) that helps to achieve goals & objectives easily. Ultimately this is what results in a successful project.

Efficiency in construction is very important to achieve the highest standards possible. Hire one of the finest retail constructionmanagement services in Boston to improve and increase the efficiency of your construction project.

Cornerstone Provides Proactive Construction Management

Cornerstone offers a pro-active approach to construction project management. This ensures the smooth completion of a project and is a significant component of every project that Cornerstone undertakes. -

From pre-construction to project closeout, Cornerstone provides pro-active problem solving solutions because they believe the best time to solve an issue is before it even happens. To ensure stores, brands, offices, and builders enjoy smooth and efficient projects, Cornerstone offers construction project Management services in Los Angeles to reduce project risk and help projects achieve exceptional results.

Cornerstone’sconstruction project management consultants in Los Angeles have the proven skills and expertise to provide pro-active solutions throughout the construction process. They have a solid risk management plan for all the known unknowns. The team makes sure that the plan is known to all team members – from clients to sub-contractors to approval bodies.

Cornerstone’s construction management teams work closely with owners, architects, engineers, and other construction consultants to ensure that the project is completed to the highest standard and handed over properly. With a focus on the clients’ needs and budget, an experienced team uses best practice methods and initiatives to provide commercially viable and environmentally sustainable construction projects. They bring a wealth of skills and knowledge to every project.

As a leader in construction management, Cornerstone will help you minimize issues, prevent mistakes, control budgets and keep your project on schedule. The team sees themselves as an extension of the client and precisely advises on costs and procurement during the planning stage. As part of the process, Cornerstone carries out regular project reviews, asks for feedback, constantly monitors the project risks and investigates ways to optimize processes.

With proven project management skills and experience, the Cornerstone construction management team assists clients in overcoming complicated construction-related situations. They help clients accomplish their project objectives through industry awareness, practical business knowledge, technology experience, and good old-fashioned honest hard work.  This focus on clients and results consistently earns Cornerstone respect in the industry and allows them to complete each project effectively and within the client's specific parameters.`