Ever hear the old saying, “Take a thorn out of a dog’s paw and he’ll be your friend for life”? How about, “Take the perceived pain out of value engineering and business owners will be singing your praises well into the future”? While this one isn’t an old saying yet, we’re doing our best to minimize the discomfort that comes with value engineering and show owners we are working in their best interests every step of the way.
Before we share what’s been working at KCD, where does this perceived pain come from in the first place?
As we all know, value engineering is simply the process of analyzing various aspects of a job early on to uncover ways to reduce costs and create more value. That may entail revising design elements and swapping out materials—all without compromising quality or the architect’s vision. Yet, the perception is that the General Contractor comes along when designs are close to final and strips away key elements to cut costs, seriously altering the vision.
To preempt the stress of these situations, KCD recommends that business owners bring in a trusted GC much earlier in the design phase. With the GC’s input, the owner and architect can course- correct in real time, keeping the project on budget. “Most of the architects we work with prefer having the GC involved early. That makes it easier to build cost-efficiencies into the design,” says KCD President (WI), Holly Hawkins. She notes that owners also like this approach because there are fewer things that need to be re-designed and paid for later.
Timing is crucial but most important is the quality of the solutions offered. KCD prides itself on using collaboration and creative problem-solving to arrive at truly superior recommendations that everyone is happy with. “We explain to owners that this is when we offer innovative ideas that they may not have considered before, along with additional cost-efficiencies, based on our years of experience and wide resource pool for pricing,” Hawkins adds. This emphasis on the positive led KCD to coin the term, “value enhancement.”
A recent example of value enhancement at KCD involved a building we were constructing next to a park. The original design called for cedar siding, but by weighing several alternatives, the team found that aluminum siding would offer a similar aesthetic—at a six figure cost savings. Hawkins recalls, “Not only did the new material capture the look and feel that the owner envisioned, but it was inherently maintenance-free and not a target for woodpeckers, like the original cedar was.”
