THE BENEFIT OF “PRE-CON” SERVICES

What are “Pre-Con Services”? Pre-con is short for pre-construction. Whichever contract structure you enter into with your Builder, we typically suggest the getting a contractor involved in the project as early as possible. Even if you are not sure that you want to use that specific contractor to construct the final building, it is a good idea to select one of the prospective contractors to engage in pre construction services with. Often times we have clients who will interview several contractors at the beginning of the project, engage in pre construction services with one, and if the preconstruction goes well and the builders cost proposal to build the project is within the clients budget, they are selected.

If you have an established relationship with a contractor or are certain that you are going to have a specific contractor build the project, we absolutely recommend engaging them and getting them involved from the start. The contractor will have valuable feedback for the team on construction sequencing, site access, material lead times, and can help control costs through the development of the design.

A contractor who has a deep knowledge of a project and has studied the drawings from the beginning will typically very valuable during construction.

In our office when a contractor is engaged by the owner for pre-construction services, we typically have bi-weekly pre-construction meetings where we sit down with the contractor, superintendent, architect, owner and any necessary consultants and go deep into the weeds on the project. Typically we will provide the contractor with our progress drawings, he and his team will review and at each meeting bring a “pre construction analysis” document with them which lists questions, concerns, possible cost savings and other suggestions for the project. This information and the discussions generated from these meetings have been invaluable and proven to minimize potential issues on site during construction.