A commercial construction project is an expensive venture. Commercial construction is complicated and includes a variety of factors such as worker skill and availability, material prices and insurance costs. There are additional issues to consider in multi-family construction projects. Renovations and upgrades may need to be staggered over time for the convenience of residents. You may need to plan projects to correspond with unit vacancies. If these and other commercial construction issues aren’t carefully considered, you can easily end up with an unrealistic estimate.

Why is it important to have an accurate estimate? If you get a low estimate, there is a risk that you will incur significant costs later in the project. If these weren’t reflected in the estimate, you will need to invest additional money that you may not have. A good estimate will help you do the financial planning necessary to support your commercial construction project.

Ask detailed questions about the company’s commercial construction experience. Have they worked on multi-family units before? Guardian has. If not, the estimator won’t thoroughly understand all the issues that affect a commercial construction project. A good estimator will understand all the common factors that affect multi-family construction projects.

A reliable estimate on a commercial construction project will take several elements into consideration.

  1. What are the labor costs?
  2. Will the contractor have to hire additional workers to complete the work within the timeframe?
  3. How much will this labor cost?
  4. Will any equipment need to be rented?
  5. Has the estimator thoroughly included all material costs?
  6. Are the material costs current?

You should ask for detailed information about the contractor’s work on multi-family units. An experienced contractor is much more likely to prepare a reliable estimate. They understand the issues involved in your type of project and will include those in the estimate. An inexperienced contractor may try to get your business by providing an unrealistically low estimate only to surprise you with higher costs when the project gets underway. Always ask for references and check them. Find out as much as you can about the contractor’s record when it comes to completing commercial construction projects within the original estimated cost.