Having a working budget will be important for you and everyone else involved in putting up or renovating the building. While almost everyone wants their building as inexpensive as possible, we also need to be realistic with costs in relation to the goals you have for your building. WDS will ensure your dollars are stretched as far as is reasonable without cutting corners in quality.

Everything from the conceptual drawings to the full set of architectural prints falls under pre-construction. WDS can take care of your designs or we can work with your architects to ensure your building goals are met.

We are describing what goes on here in an over-simplified way, because design takes multiple steps, but it is enough to know this is where we go from dreams and goals in your head to building plans on paper. By the time the designs are done, all of the drawings and schematics are complete.

Properly done, design is not a “stage” of the process like what some companies did many years ago. Instead there is back and forth between the pieces. You may start with scope and an initial budget, then concept designs are created before talking about materials and refined budgets, returning to design for more details to be documented.

Site evaluation looks at the land or property to determine the feasibility of the project. Sometimes the land is already owned and sometimes you may need help evaluating the pros and cons of different pieces of land.

Site evaluation can include determining if zoning and local laws will allow for your facility, discussions of the feasibility of changing zoning for your desired building, soil testing, environmental evaluations, and anything where your piece of property can affect your intended build.

You will often look at a site master plan with the site evaluation as part of the site evaluation. A master plan looks at your property in regard to your current project, but also the feasibility of expansions you may potentially have in the future. It would be an unwise move to build somewhere that will not allow for an expansion that is likely necessary a decade down the road.

Also, in the master plan you will have items like intended parking, landscaping, expected traffic flows, and anything else that is related to the property.

Bidding using the pre-construction process is different than the older style “design, bid, build” method of construction. The old way made it feel like each piece was completely separate with less conversation from the client and with more difficulty in making small changes later in the process without major hiccups. The pre-construction process tends to involve you more throughout the process. Decisions are made at appropriate places in the journey instead of front loading the decision-making process.

If you have an architect working for you, we help you out by reviewing their documents. There is a lot of information in the design documents, and we ensure nothing is missed. We also have the benefit of experience in building facilities, so what might look like a cost savings to an architect by specifying cheaper materials may cost more overall when labor and equipment is factored in. We can share with an architect our perspective and work with him or her to provide you the best overall facility for your budget.

You likely know that you have to get a building permit from your local community, but there is a lot more than just having your plans approved and your zoning correct. You may need state approval because of impact upon wildlife. You may need approval for your sign out front that comes from a group that is dedicated to approving outdoor signage in your city.

Let’s face-it, getting all the right government approvals can be time consuming and a big headache. Identifying all of the approvals you will need, when application for approval needs to be made, and who needs to provide the approval is part of our pre-construction process. We will then be ready to request approval at exactly the right time from the right people to keep the project moving along without surprises.

Some materials have a long lead time and some sub-contractors are booked months in advance. It is not an easy task to coordinate all the materials and schedules of contractors, which is exactly why it looks like some building projects look like they get stalled for weeks at a time, because they are!

We setup timetables, figure out major milestones, and coordinate materials and labor arriving at exactly the right time. There are still parts of the project that may be good weather dependent, but we can plan in the potential for bad weather delays, so you have an accurate expected completion date.

Safety is not as easy as “following the law.” Of course, we follow all of the regulations, but safety needs to go further than what the law requires. Creating and implementing a safety plan that covers your projects unique aspects protects people from harm and the companies involved from lawsuits. If you leave safety to a generic following of the rules, people could get hurt and property could get damaged.

We are sure you agree that you would like to know no one was hurt during the construction of your facility. Planning ahead to anticipate potential dangers goes a long way to keeping people safe.