Running a business is hard — especially in an exploding market. Jobs in construction are on the rise, which means that people are building more. The construction professional has a lot of potential in today’s market. The opportunities to build and grow a small building practice are nearly unlimited.
So why do small building firms die so easily?
The business of construction is a delicate balancing act between job requirements and overhead requirements. On the one hand, a builder needs to make sure that a job gets completed, keeping in mind very small construction and documentation details. This often means that he needs to keep up with change orders, information requests, and design reviews — among other things — in order to make sure he produces a great building. On the other hand, he has his own overhead, employees, and other costs involved in running his own business to keep in mind. In construction, projected income and projected costs cancel each other out almost immediately. Where is the happy medium?
The two most effective places to start are: 1.) Drafting and 2.) Outsourcing
Despite the fact that the discipline of construction management focuses more on scheduling and regulation, drafting is crucially important to any contracting firm, for these reasons:
1.The ability for a builder to create his own visual depiction of the specific components involved in building gives him the ability to judge the integrity of an architect’s or engineer’s design. A design firm may know what they want their design to do, and what specific elements to include in order to accomplish that goal; but designers don’t necessarily know the size of a panel board or a transformer or a duct, so they don’t necessarily know what a finished mechanical closet or ceiling space will look like.
2.Virtually every public-sector job requires shop drawings submitted by the contractor, and for good reason. Designers and owners don’t have an automatic understanding of how to install different elements. Providing visual aids for them allows them to foresee and solve upcoming construction dilemmas.
3.Contractors themselves often don’t have a clear picture of what a finished project will look like. For smaller projects, a design firm may not have complete drawings, but the builder still needs to know how to build the project.
4.For larger projects, especially design-build projects, the contractor must take an active role in the visualization process so as to avoid getting dragged along into ever-rising building costs.
This said, why should a contractor invest in drafting outsourcing? If to outsource drafting is so important, why not just keep it in the office?
1.Outsourcing administrative and design services is not new. Contractors outsource everything from contract management to bookkeeping in order to keep their own overhead low, and to enjoy the guarantee that they have teams of knowledgeable professionals at their disposal, as opposed to whatever talent the contractors could pull into a team themselves.
2.Drafting is such an important element in the business of contracting, that a drawing can make or break that next change order or task item. By outsourcing this element, a builder can ensure that he gets accurate drawings when he needs them.
3.Firms that focus only on one element of the contracting process are sure to pull in the best talent in that field available. A great drafting firm has a team of exceptionally qualified draftsmen prepared to help the contractor meet his drafting needs accurately.
4.Outsourcing your drafting needs means employing a team to help you interpret a complex Request for Pricing. Technical specifications can often be convoluted, repetitive, and involve elements that don’t have anything to do with your job. A team of qualified, experienced draftsmen knows how to read project specifications and can literally draw the steps a builder needs to take in order to execute an amazing job as specified.
5.Sometimes, business slows down. By outsourcing drafting needs, a builder doesn’t need to spend any of his precious funds on dead-weight when work gets slow. He buys drafting services as he needs them, and that’s it. Outsourcing to a drafting firm means having the best talent available only when and for as long as the contractor needs it.
The key to the fragile business model of a construction firm is simply this: stay on top of the project. When great drawings contribute so much to that goal, it doesn’t make sense for a contractor to risk his overhead on having his own team to take care of his drafting needs. The team here at INDBIM can handle the drafting needs of any type of project in today’s escalating contracting environment. From Computer-Aided Drafting (CAD) to Building Information Modeling (BIM) to steel detailing with the latest in industry technologies, we are redefining what it means to have a full-service draftsman.
If you’re ready to experience the difference outsourcing knowledge makes, contact us to find out more about what we can do for you.