The Commercial Real Estate market in Long island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties has matured considerably in the last few years. It wasn’t that long ago that Long Island building owners and developers tried to fill their space with Manhattan-based companies looking for less expensive back office space. However, Long Island’s population has grown and the building market has matured with it. Long Island based companies are now the major users of space in Nassau and Suffolk counties and considerably more commercial land has been utilized for schools, hospitals and governmental facilities to service the population. Market forces have caused the value of remaining commercial land and existing buildings to skyrocket, forcing owners to look for more creative ways to complete their projects within strict realistic budgets, tightly controlled construction costs and demanding schedules.
In over twenty-five years as a construction manager I have learned several concepts that are essential to completing a construction project, not only within a carefully scrutinized budget but also on schedule. A construction project takes a well-orchestrated team effort with each team member presenting his or her own specialized set of expertise. My teams always include both an architect and an engineer. Each is required to have solid experience designing the type of facility that the owner plans to build. After all, building a school requires one set of expertise, building a hospital another, a telephone facility yet another and an office building yet another. Imagine an engineer with expertise in building religious schools (whose library requires rituals for storage, display and destruction of holy books) and with no medical experience having to build an MRI facility or a Surgical Intensive Care Unit. He has no frame of reference.
Setting realistic schedules and goals for a construction project and establishing a firm budget are tasks best accomplished when the owner engages the project architect and engineer. By teaming up with these professionals, an experienced and knowledgeable owner can produce the schematics and construction documents needed to open the bidding processes with contractors, line up financing, obtain town approvals and attract the best tenants for the building.
The owner needs to be extremely attentive, making sure that the architect, engineer and construction managers are aware of his program desires. The owner needs to go out on the street for “check prices” to make certain they are in line with industry norms. If done correctly, once the project documents are complete, there will be very little chance of cost overruns or schedule delays.
Sadly, too many owners don’t pay attention to detail. They hire an architect or engineer with whom they are friends instead of considering the types of projects they have experience working on. Often they think they can cut a corner or hire one less professional only to discover they were penny wise and dollar foolish. Owners are often short of time and unable to spend enough of their intellectual energy on their construction project. Thus, the team they form is often short a critical member. Owners are best served when they consider the consequences of not having all their bases covered because in the long-run a fully staffed team can contribute a great deal to the success of the project.
If there is one piece of advice I can give to owners contemplating a construction project, it is this: don’t compromise on the program! Pay attention to detail. Manage the trades. Monitor material costs. Diligently observe performance and make regular comparisons to existing schedules. Consistently performing these tasks will help assure successful completion of the project.
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