Contracting to Commercial Construction: What You Need To Know
About the Author: Ashley Thomson
Commercial Construction Contractor
Ash’s notes for coaching businesses that contract to commercial construction
Commercial construction is a tough market, you need to get great at:
• Numbers
o Accurate billable hours versus quoted hours
o Accurate take offs and quoting
• Financials
o Job profitability reporting throughout the job so you know whether you are on track and over/under by how much
• Contracts
o Understanding: liquidated damages, variations processes
Niche =
• The work you do, try to do the same type of work each time
o i.e. a client that specialised in medical centre fit out – ‘body protect’ work
• The builder you work for, so you learn their systems
o A builder a client worked for on Aldi stores – Mainbrace, PM lost his bonus because contractor payment was delayed by several days due to him not submitting paperwork on time
• The PM you work for so you can align with a good operator
o One who is organised, has a schedule and respects that contractors want to get in, do the work and get out
Chargeable rate calculator is really important to know exactly what your guys are costing you
Estimator
• Be wary of outsourcing more than just take off and counts
• Estimator is motivated to complete the quote quickly, no bonus for accuracy
• Overseas or local outsourced estimators
Structure
• Maybe not your guys on the jobs as PMs across 2 or 3 jobs
• Maybe train up current guys and get the reporting structures in place so that you know where they’re up to at all times, handle client interaction from remote
