Jacob Austin 00:00:17 Hail Jacob Austin here from QS.Zone. And welcome to episode 59 of the Subcontractors Blueprint, the show where subcontractors will learn how to ensure profitability, improve cash flow and grow their business. Today I wanted to talk about how pre-construction planning is a critical part of ensuring the success of your projects. If you're new to the show, please subscribe for more user friendly advice on all things subcontracting. On today's topic, I feel is essential for everyone. Getting your project off on the right foot is key. Whether you've been in the industry for years or you're just starting to land larger contracts, mastering that pre-construction planning phase can be the difference between a smooth, profitable project and one that goes off the rails. So let's start with the big picture. Why is pre-construction planning so crucial for a subcontractor? Well, it's like this. Construction is complex. You're dealing with deadlines, materials, labor, your client's expectations, and of course, your budget. And you need to have a solid plan in place before your shovel hits the ground, before your sore hits that first piece of timber and before you lay a brick.
Jacob Austin 00:01:31 And if you don't have a solid plan in place, you're potentially setting yourself up for costly delays, miscommunication, labor and material shortages, and even disputes with the main contractor or your client. And a well laid pre-construction plan allows you to foresee potential challenges, mitigate your risks, and just ensure generally that you've got everything in place to execute that project smoothly. And remember, time is money every minute spent figuring things out whilst you're on site. Is a minute lost? Proper planning not only ensures you stick to the schedule, but also helps you stay within budget and maintain a high level of quality. So what does that preconstruction planning actually involve? Let's break it down. First things first reviewing your contract. Now, I'm a big advocate for reading your subcontract, checking that it's there in line with your inquiry documents, in line with the documents you've priced against, and your quote that your clarifications have been transferred across, ensuring that your time is right. And by that, I mean you've got enough time within your subcontract program to deliver the work that you need to construct.
Jacob Austin 00:02:44 And this is why this is front and center. Too often the order can land and you skim read it, watching more for the pages that you've got to sign an initial than you are actually reading the documents and checking that they match your expectations But trust me, Every project is different and every contract is different. This isn't just standard paperwork. Each contractor has their own slightly different approach, their own amendments to the general and standard terms and conditions, and that fine print matters. Before you sign anything, you need to thoroughly understand the scope of work, your payment terms, deadlines, and those all important responsibilities and risks that are being transferred to you by either the terms and conditions or the drawings and scope themselves. And here's a tip. Ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask away. Request clarifications and make sure you get it right. Before you put pen to paper. You need to at least check the Holy Trinity of subcontracts, your time, your scope, and your program. But building on that, I did a detailed episode highlighting the seven most crucial checks that you should make before you sign your subcontract, and I would thoroughly encourage you to give that a listen and to start carrying out those all important checks before you sign.
Jacob Austin 00:04:04 Because once you're in contract, you've agreed that everything within that subcontract document that you receive is correct and you're bound to it. So it's vital that you resolve any differences up front. If there's any ambiguity in scope, now's the time to raise it. Misunderstandings about what expected can lead to scope creep and disputes, and you can end up doing more work than you thought you'd agreed to without any additional pay. And let's be honest, nobody wants that. Watch out for clauses about liquidated damages. These are, of course, the amounts that could be deducted if you delay the project and going hand in hand. With that, you need to make sure the timelines are realistic and account for potential setbacks such as weather delays or material shortages, or the odd day where you just can't get as much done as you thought you would. These things are inevitable, and within your program, you need to make sure there's enough float to be able to take those in and stay on track. And of course, everybody's favorite payment terms when you'll be paid, how much under what conditions.
Jacob Austin 00:05:11 These are often the first thing that everybody springs to because they want to know when they're getting their money in. And yes, that's vital for cash flow. But if you get paid late, the cost of that payment being late is nowhere near the costs that you might be on the hook for if you delay the project or if you've misinterpreted the scope. So yes, when I'm getting my money is an important question. And for me, that's nowhere near as important as that holy trinity of what am I doing? How long have I got to do it, and how much am I being paid for doing it? Next, let's talk about site logistics. Once you've locked in the contract, your next step is planning. How are you going to execute the project on site? This involves everything from deciding where materials will be stored to planning access routes for your crew and your equipment. The last thing you want to do is show up on day one. realizes no room to unload your supplies and that you're allowed to haven't got the space to work or the means to get Kit in the building.
Jacob Austin 00:06:09 Now, one of the best experiences that I remember having as a contractor, SCS involved a glazed petitioning outfit. And to be honest, the glaze partitioning was a pretty small part of what was quite a large project, and I didn't give it buckets of attention when I procured it. I made sure that we got the right acoustic requirements, the right spec, that the measures were right, but the logistics weren't front and center of my mind, and we'd basically place the order on the basis of the price and that the scope was right. And had it not been for the subcontractor being really proactive, visiting the site and talking through how they were going to go about their work, we would have missed that all important process of considering the potential logistical challenges that might slow things down. And this is just pure practicalities. Maybe the site's in a high traffic area, maybe you're working alongside other trades, which means you need to coordinate who's working with you and where and when. But I'm not just talking about planning outside access and parking and even materials deliveries.
Jacob Austin 00:07:09 Of course, these can all save you hours of frustration later on, but I'm talking of can you get what you've got into the building in a sensible fashion to the right location? And what's it going to take for you to do that? Now, in the instance that I'm thinking about, because that subcontractor is proactive and visited us and spoke about these things in advance, we were able to leave out a large piece of curtain walling, which spanned across four floors. And by leaving that out and putting up some temporary weather protection, we were able to leave a large loading bay in its position to get the large panes of glass and elements of framing right in to where it needed to go. And the fun then didn't stop there, because once the materials landed on that bay, they had to be basically manhandled. And some of these were pretty big double glazed heavy units had to be manhandled into position through the network of corridors and get them to their final location. And what was great was we're able to coordinate with this contractor a schedule of delivery dates that helped us pre warn other contractors of the areas that they had to stay out of, whilst all of these bits of glass were moving through the building, and without that logistical input, we would have either spent a fortune on some super strong laborers who were able to carry the things up the stairs, or we might have had to take out that window so that we could land it as we did in the end.
Jacob Austin 00:08:33 But the foresight of that contractor saved us that logistical challenge. And this is the kind of thing that I want you to do as a subcontractor. Think about what you've got to get into the building where it's got to go and how you're going to do that. And doing it in advance saves a hell of a lot of frustration. We're picturing turning up on day one and being able to do what you need to, versus turning up on day one, finding there's a problem, and all of a sudden you've got two three man gangs and a supervisor who are now stood around scratching their backside doing nothing instead of earning you money. So clearly getting it right before you get to site is in everybody's interest. And don't forget about safety. You need to plan for things to avoid manual handling to make sure that you've got the right PPE, RPE, and emergency procedures in place. Safety should never be an afterthought, so it needs to be baked into your logistics, planning and of course, your risk assessment and method statements from day one.
Jacob Austin 00:09:30 So now let's move on to talking about resources. This is where you figure out exactly what materials, tools and labor you're going to need to get that job done. Now, of course you have to do that for estimating purposes. So you should already have a decent idea. But now we're talking of who's going to become available, how many men you need and when. And do they have the right skills to successfully execute what you need to do? Of course, if you're dealing with specialized work, you need to make sure you've got the right people lined up. When you're scheduled to complete it, and you should have a backup plan. What will you do if somebody calls in sick? Or if one of your lads decides that they can get 50 more per square metre down the road and just jacks it in unexpectedly? There are times when these things happen and you need to have that backup plan in place up front so that you're not left scrambling. If something unexpected happens, then of course we need to talk.
Jacob Austin 00:10:25 Plan to materials. You need to make sure you've accounted for everything you're going to need, and that your suppliers can deliver that material and that plant on time. It's also smart to build in a bit of a buffer for inevitable material delivery delays and price fluctuations, especially in today's market when supply chain disruptions are still a reality. And if your business suffers any similar issues to the likes of my business, it can even be down to the transport. And when that transport is available, that can make the difference between you getting your materials on time and getting them late so that buffer period is essential unless you've got a speed dial in to Eddie Stobart, of course. Now, one of the biggest causes for stress on a construction project is trying to meet unrealistic deadlines. That's why planning and setting out realistic timescales is such an important part of pre-construction planning. Your program needs to set out every factor of the job, from material deliveries to labor availability, even weather conditions, and perhaps the timelines of other subcontractors that you might need to interface with.
Jacob Austin 00:11:35 And if you're regularly working inside buildings, you'll know what I mean by that, because there can be no end of trades that you could be sharing a workspace with or have to work around. I've known of people approaching this thinking that if they just throw the right number of bodies at the site, that the job will just get done. And perhaps there's some sense in that, but it's a little bit too simplistic because you need the right men completing the right work at the right time So understanding what you're you going to get access to is a key component of that. And there's nothing like programming it out to enable you to see where your pinch points are, where your peaks in resources are, to be able to work out what you need to do about it. One trick I've learned is, funnily enough, to work backwards from the project completion date, looking at when you need to finish, and then reverse engineering what you need to do to get there. This can help you disconnect from just following the self-same recipe that you always use, and to help you visualize the entire process and see where bottlenecks could occur.
Jacob Austin 00:12:36 And another tip is to always factor in float. Things rarely go exactly as planned in construction, whether that is weather delays, late deliveries, other subcontractors holding things up that throws your schedule out the window. And whilst you might have cause for an extension of time or even for some disruption costs, adding that little bit of extra time to each task gives you that breathing room to absorb the hiccups that you might cause without throwing the entire project off its course. Another key consideration is communication. All too often this can go really well whilst you're pricing the work and then just disappear into oblivion once you've won the job. Staying in touch will help you understand if the project is going to be ready for you when you are intending to start, and helps you resource the job properly in the initial days, you also need to consider who you're speaking to, or rather, who you need to speak to within that contractor's team about the wider job and of course, your specific package. You need to know who to go to, who can make a decision, and who's going to instruct you.
Jacob Austin 00:13:42 If you need a change and you want to try and establish that at a pre-construction meeting, as in your pre award meeting, and start forming a relationship with those people as soon as you can. You could be working with these people for a matter of years in some instances, and setting out your store right early on. Whilst that pressure to deliver is at its least, is the best time to get to know people and to make sure everyone's on the same page, working towards the same goals. It's also important to know who the right people are to talk about the right things. Of course, everybody comes up against issues in construction, and sometimes an early conversation with somebody who's collaborative and wants to work with you to get the job done can save a lot of heartache down the line, particularly when it comes to delays. And if there is a delay on your end, or if you foresee an issue with your program, resources, materials, deliveries, you need to let your contractor know as soon as you can.
Jacob Austin 00:14:40 Working around a problem when it's relatively small can be easily done, provided it's communicated about in good time. Things can often be reshuffled scheduled slightly differently in the program, and by and large, the main contractor just wants to get the job done and done to their timescale. And that's where communicating issues promptly and collaboratively can save you a lot of hassle because when a problem becomes a big problem, it's often too late to do something about it, and that will only damage your relationship and possibly lead to penalties, damages, and all that fun stuff. Once you've established good communication routes, using them can prevent minor issues from snowballing into much bigger problems. Lastly, let's talk about risk management. Every project has its risks, and the best way to deal with them is to plan for them in advance. This could mean anything from building in a bit of extra program float, to planning how you might handle a material shortage, or your most productive worker going down with bird flu two days into the job. I feel like some people avoid talking about risks because they think it's a bit pie in the sky, but I'm not talking about trying to think of anything that could happen whatsoever on your project.
Jacob Austin 00:15:56 I'm talking about asking yourself, what are the biggest risks to me? Is it the weather? Is it working with unique material that you don't know very well. Maybe you are working with a new main contractor and you're not sure how their team operates. Taking a bit of time when the pressure's off to identify risks early on gives you the best chance to create a contingency plan that can pay dividends, saving you time and money and preventing you scrambling around when something goes wrong. By being proactive and identifying risks, you can create solutions before problems even arise. It's always better to have a plan in place and to not need it, than to need a plan and not have it. So to recap, pre-construction planning is all about laying the groundwork for your success. Whether it's reviewing contracts, preparing site logistics, allocating resources, setting realistic time scales, or managing risks, every step you take before the project starts can and will pay off in the long run. It's about being proactive, organized and ready for the unexpected things that that project throws at you.
Jacob Austin 00:17:02 I hope you found that helpful. My mission is to help the million SME subcontractors working out there in our industry. If you've taken some value away from today's episode, I'd love it if you'd share the show and pass on that value to someone else who'd benefit from hearing it. And of course, subscribe yourself if you haven't already. And thanks for tuning in. If you like what you've heard and you want to learn more, please do find us at www.QS.Zone where you can subscribe to our training and support system for like minded subcontractors. In there you'll find templates, how to videos, interviews, and more. It's less than the price of your cup of coffee per day and you can cancel any time. We're also on all your favourite socials at @QS.Zone. Thanks again! I've been Jacob Austin and you've been awesome.
