Page 22 - Spring 2020 Digital inLEAGUE Volume 43 Number 02

team will carry out the project, including providing
a time schedule for their services.

• Be consistent in how you communicate with any
and all design teams. Avoid giving answers to
questions from one architect without providing the
same information to all (in writing).
• Require that the architect visit your building before
providing a proposal. If you are conducting walk-
throughs individually, adhere to the consistency
rule above.
• Always interview. Meet the teams and the people
with whom you will be working. Remember,
you will potentially be working with them for an
extended period.
• Don’t hire on fee alone. Qualifications, approach,
and services must be considered when evaluating
proposals.

Dive into Construction
Approximately 80 percent of your project’s cost will
be spent in construction. This stark reality makes all
the planning discussed up to this point extremely
important. You will diligently plan, hire professionals,
fundraise, achieve a design, develop bid documents,
and be ready to build. If you engaged a construction
manager or general contractor during the design
phase, you might decide to negotiate directly with
them to provide construction services. Alternatively,
a competitive proposal or bid process could be
pursued (publicly advertised or not), to engage
a construction manager or general contractor to
construct the project. Funding source requirements,
particularly those imposed by government agencies,
might dictate this process, and your architect and
owner’s representative can assist in soliciting bids and
evaluating those bids with you. As with the hiring of
all professionals, you should be comfortable with the
people with whom you will be working, so interviews
are a must. In addition, the contractor’s proposed
project manager and site supervisor should always be
available to discuss the project with you.
Once construction starts, plan for regular meetings
to review progress and discuss issues that require
resolution along the way. Progress meetings should
include you, the contractor, the architect, and any
other engineers or subcontractors relevant to the
stage of construction. Carefully maintain a watch on
the schedule, the project cost, and the quality of the
work throughout the process.
Construction can be messy, noisy, and can impact
your ongoing operations, so be sure to discuss how the
work will be done in advance of each on-site activity
so you can appropriately plan and react. Last-minute
issues and inconveniences will be encountered,
and it is important for all involved to be flexible and
collaborative.
Begin any project with the end, however aspirational,
in mind. Understanding your venue will help identify
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