By Bob Hoebeke
President, Hoebeke Builders
You may have noticed, but there’s no “I” in “team.” Hiring a full complement of professionals before designing your home or remodel, seems counter-intuitive. But building your team first is actually the cheapest way to undertake your project!
Here are 5 reasons why:
- Knowledge – Each building discipline (architect, builder, interior designer, and landscaper) brings their own expertise to team meetings. When one discipline may not have total knowledge in a certain area, another team member will. For example, either the architect or builder might be able to set the finished floor grade of your home, but the landscape architect or landscaper will pay attention to existing trees, and drainage issues, so trees aren’t killed, and your home won’t flood. MISTAKE AVERTED!
- Synergy – Four heads are better than one. Each discipline sees the project through a different set of lens. Consequently, “the total effect is greater than the sum of the parts.”
- Efficiency – Hiring a Lone Ranger discipline before hiring the rest of the team means the Lone Ranger has to run ideas and designs past a roster of eventual contributors. But, if the rest of the disciplines are all in the same room, the pace is dramatically increased.
- Accountability – “Iron sharpens iron.” So does being challenged in a healthy way. Woe be to the team member who doesn’t get their work finished between meetings!
- Cost – Planned together = fewer mistakes; fewer mistakes mean less money spent! Challenging your team to “value engineer” usually produces the same look, and feel at a cheaper price point.
Doing Your Homework
Once your project team is programmed and empowered (stay tuned for more on that!), the majority of the planning happens around a conference room table – not out in the field where planning costs become exponential.
If your team has done their “homework,” no reason why 80 percent of the work can’t be done inside. But, the greatest benefit of planning and working together comes as a result of each discipline “building” your home in their mind!
Kinks are discovered and resolved; unusual materials will be identified and ordered, and project milestones will be established making labor scheduling much more efficient.
Suddenly, a two-dimensional plan conceived and detailed around a conference room table becomes a snap to build three-dimensionally on-site.
Remember:
T = timely
E = efficient
A = accountable
M = malleable
Your team is shaped to meet your needs while functioning with only a minimum number of project obstacles, and that’ll save you a ton of money!
NEXT WEEK: Defining your Project Team’s disciplines and understanding how they can work for you.
From, developing a “Lifestyle Inventory,” to building and monitoring your Project Team, Hoebeke Builders Consulting Services has all the tools necessary to dramatically increase your project’s efficiency, while decreasing your project’s cost! www.hoebekebuilders.com
