How To Be A Great Customer For A Commercial Construction Contractor

The relationship between a commercial construction services provider and a customer can make a huge difference in how a project goes. If you're a customer who's preparing for a commercial construction job, there are four things you can contribute to the process to make it go better.

Know the Local Regulations

Few things can hold up a construction effort as much as regulatory hurdles. You want to address as many of these basic concerns as possible before you ever put a shovel in the ground. How is the property zoned, and will you need a variance? Are there limits on what and where you can build? Do you have the right permits for the appropriate dates?

Lining Up Financing

You don't want to run out of money or have to wait for it in the middle of a project. Speak with the bank that's financing your project and make sure they can providing financing that lines up with a proposed commercial construction contract. If you're going to authorize stages of the project based on benchmarks, for example, make sure the tranches of financing from the bank will come in before the next stage rolls forward.

Also, it's a good idea to have a bit of overhead. If a project goes over budget or there's an opportunity to make some upgrades, you want money to be there.

Maintain Lines of Communication

You're going to have to be available for discussions about the plans for and implementation of the project. This means the contractors should be able to get in touch with you within a few hours on any given workday. Likewise, there should be someone close to you who can quickly relay a message if there's an emergency. You want to be able to respond quickly whenever the contractors ask questions or have to tell you something important.

Similarly, there need to be lines of communication to other parties. If you've hired an architect, for example, the contractors should be able to contact them quickly to broach questions.

Develop a Checklist

Whenever a stage of a project approaches completion, you'll need to review the work. Whether you plan to do this yourself or ask a trusted assistant to handle it, you need to have a checklist for each stage. The contractors will have checklists for the various aspects of the job they've worked on, too. With several people referring to their checklists, you'll improve the odds that you'll be thrilled with the final results of the project.

Reach out to a professional to start your commercial construction project. 

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