What Will My Office Cost?

We all want to know “what’s it going to cost?” You may have built an office before, or you know of others who have. Are your experience and/or the experience of others really a good barometer of what this project is going to cost? Well, yes and no.

“Yes,” in the sense that it can give you a good rule of thumb. But the answer is “No” if you don’t fully explore all of the variables that are going to make up the total cost. Let’s consider an example:

Say you want to build a log cabin in the mountains. On one hand you might want a real show place, or, on the other hand, you might just want a simple place to escape - just the basics.

In the show place, you’re going to want nothing but the best: ceramic tile, high-end carpet, granite countertops, a real stone fireplace, top-of-the-line kitchen appliances, crown molding throughout, and high-end paint finishes. Lots of high-end materials and money is not an issue.

In the just-the-basics place, you just want a fireplace and running water because it’s just going to be a place to escape and you want to make sure you can cook, sleep and go to the bathroom. There is nothing but the basics and everything has to fit into a tight budget.

Two wildly different costs - and yet the same place: a cabin in the mountains. So, what’s it going to cost? Here’s the answer. There are three variables in the scope of your project and of the three, you get to decide on two of them. Your Design/Build Team gets to decide on the third. The three variables are

• Materials
• Size
• Investment

To explain: If you want a 5,000 square-foot office and have $400,000 to spend, your Design/Build Team will tell you what materials can be used. If you want the finest materials and have $400,000 to spend, your Design/Build Team will tell you how large your office will be. If you want the finest materials and still need the 5,000 sq. ft., then your Design/Build Team will tell you how much your investment will be.

So now when your associates tell you their office cost $400,000 (or even worse, they say it cost them “x”dollars per square foot), you can now ask them some things that might help you determine what to expect yours to cost. The bottom line here is that you shouldn’t get caught up in the hearsay and hype. Your Design/Build Team can help you determine your budget so you’ll have a reasonable figure to plan on and take to your bank.

The DSKW Team

Employing a Design-Build Team to Build Your New Office

Traditionally, armed with a preliminary equipment plan, a small business professional will approach several general contractors for a fee and schedule proposal. The contractor applies his past experiences to the drawings to flesh out the actual scope of work from which to develop an estimate.

The professional and the general contractor are already at a disadvantage. The preliminary equipment layout or technical drawings that the professional is working from are, at best, a general guide to lay out walls and cabinets so the equipment ordered will fit. These drawings will not get a permit for your tradesmen, nor will they ensure that all of the trades are coordinated properly so the equipment will be easy to hook up once installed. For that, you, the professional, are relying on the general contractor’s ability to coordinate (wing it) in the field. Unfortunately, field coordination usually leads to confusion and confusion always leads to delays and cost overruns.

With a design-build team, however, confidence that your project is in the hands of professionals begins at the first stage. Design-build firms are construction management specialists and an integral part of the design team.  That means construction time and expense implications are assessed and addressed early in the process. The design-build team works together to decide the most cost-effective materials and methods of delivery before the design is finalized. This enables the team to provide accurate scheduling and costs. And, because the same group is responsible for drawings and functional performance (construction), the possibility of expensive surprises in the construction phase are virtually eliminated.

New office construction is one of the greatest areas of expense for most businesses; so it’s imperative to reduce the margin for error in this process. The greatest advantage of the design-build team approach is the potential for reducing this risk in your new office development. Single-source responsibility for quality, cost and schedule adherence clearly makes this the superior delivery mechanism for your new office. Because the design build team is accountable for design, construction and installation, you can enjoy the certainty of a well-executed plan from your committed design build team.

The integrated nature of the design-build team approach also eliminates project delay due to miscommunication between the parties on project in the areas of scope and responsibility. Bidding periods and redesign time are eliminated. Materials and equipment procurement and construction work can begin earlier (in some cases, before the construction documents are fully completed). Since total design construction time is reduced, you enjoy less stress and are in your new office doing business sooner.

The design-build team approach ensures high quality in your finished office because the team is contractually responsible to you from design through complete build-out and into operation. All too often, the professional plays the middleman distributing the work of design, construction and installation to various parties and becoming experienced on the fly. This is not necessary. Just as expanding your business to add a complete range of services allows you to create coordinated services with your clients , a design-build team does the same for you by coordinating office design, construction management and equipment installation to move you into your office faster and create a quicker revenue flow.

The Sykes Team

Expectations Between Architect and Client

Anytime something new and exciting is undertaken - and your office design is just that to a designer or architect- some stress is involved. Unfortunately, stress generally flows to the team member who knows the least about the process. That’s why patients are stressed when sitting in an operating chair, and the dentist isn't. For the same reasons, this is why most clients will feel stress while an architect designs their space and the architect doesn't feel the same stress.

A successful office design requires that the client and the architect bring the following character traits to the process:

• Sense of humor
• Good self-image
• Patience
• Clear communication from the very beginning
• Planning
• Superior awareness
• Flexibility
• Good listening skills
• Positive attitude
• Personal integrity
• Strong desire to reach goals
• Authority and promptness in decision-making
• Attendance at all important meetings

 With these join expectations in place, let's look at what the client needs to bring to the process:

• Sufficient and prompt funding for quality job
• Space and access to it
• Responsibility for your own actions that affect the job

And by the same token, a good design group will bring to the table:

• Site verification visit and provide written report of findings
• Office layout
• Complete architecture and engineering design and construction documents
• Submit construction documents to governing jurisdiction(s) for plan review
• Forward construction documents to you for distribution to general contractors for final construction budget proposals

A common mistake is assuming your unique office design or remodel can be purchased “off the shelf.” The earlier you fully engage with your architect and dedicate the mental, emotional, and financial resources necessary to complete the project design, the more satisfied and, yes, even enjoyable, the total design and construction process will become.

The Sykes Team

Time + Scope + Budget: The Architect's Balancing Act

We all know time is money.  When it comes to the world of design/build, the relationship is all that more apparent.

An architect sells his time and expertise. As such, his fees will vary based on three elements:

• The time allowed by the client’s deadlines to complete the design and drawings;
• The scope of included services and design requirements requested by the client;
• The overall construction budget established by the client. 

Each of these three elements - time, scope and budget - affect how the architect approaches the project and the time, resources, and expertise he will need to apply to the project in order to keep the three elements in balance.

For example, a client engages an architect and his engineers to design and provide drawings for the client’s project. The project is a 2,500 square foot dental office. The dentist doesn’t want anything fancy: just a “starter” offi ce with a few special finishes concentrated in the reception/waiting area and the operatories functional and pleasant. Ordinarily, a project of this size takes six weeks for the architect to adequately design and coordinate the engineering with the appropriate level of quality control prior to submission for permit. Let’s say the fee for this project is $15,000.

Time
Circumstances beyond everyone’s control have compressed the deadline. Every possible day must be saved in the schedule. The dentist absolutely has to have the design completed and the drawings submitted for permit in four weeks instead of six. The number of hours needed to complete the project doesn’t change, just the deadline. The only way to complete the project by the new deadline is to make up that two weeks of schedule with overtime hours. The fee must go up.

Scope
In the above example the client has engaged the architect to provide a “base” level of service: space planning, engineering, and construction documents. Let’s say in addition to the base level the dentist wants interior decorating, furniture selections, and closer monitoring of the general contractor. All of these additional services increase the scope of work and the time needed by the architect to adequately provide the services requested by the client. The fee must go up.

Budget
Typically the budget set by the dentist for the overall project covers two significant expenditures: the cost of general construction and the purchase of the equipment. The architecture and engineering fees are influenced by this third element - the budget - in this way. The amount of money you set to construct your office dictates the level of detail and finish material you can expect to find in your design. The higher the level of detail (curved furr-downs, special trim and mouldings, varied ceiling heights and lighting levels), the greater the amount of time the designer must dedicate to the drawings to ensure the design is coordinated with all of the disciplines and that the drawings are complete enough to instruct the contractor how to install the increased level of finish details. The fee must go up.

This balancing act is not possible without a lot of cooperation and understanding between the parties involved. If any of these three elements changes, the fee goes up.

The Sykes Team

The Five Steps: Grand Opening

The day has finally arrived: all of the previous steps are complete and the store is ready to open for business.  It is time to count down to opening the doors for those first sales.

Before the doors swing open, we need to do the following for our owner/tenant:

• Provide a facility management handbook which includes:
• Warranties
• Operating manuals
• Service contact information
• Conduct a satisfaction survey with the owner about how the process (the previous steps) went for them.
• Hand over the keys to the owner.
• Install fixtures and stock merchandise--and ready the staff for the opening.

Now the owner is ready to do business.

For more information on the Five-Step Total Construction Solution, please visit http://www.sykesconstruction.com/images/sykes-5step-brochure.pdf

The Sykes Team