Haren Pre-Construction Services

Every story has a place — let us build the place in your story. At Haren Companies, we have a thorough process to turn plans into reality based on our expertise and experience in the field. Pre-construction is an integral part of every construction project we undertake, as it helps ensure that the entire project will be as seamless and budget-friendly as possible.

Our team can adapt to the needs of each client and meet you where you are in the construction process. At the same time, we recommend that we get involved in the pre-construction process during the design process. The earlier that your Haren team is involved in your project, the more cost savings you can realize, and the faster the project timeline can advance. Also, gaining sub-contractor feedback during design, and offering ideas on alternate materials make the project go more smoothly, and eliminate the expense of change orders later in the project.

At Haren, pre-construction and estimating is an extensive process, including a thorough review of design documents, and conversations with project stakeholders to ensure that you receive the finest quality at the most competitively priced project. From the inception of your project, your Haren team will work to ensure the most value for your dollar.

Your Haren team has a detailed pre-construction procedure that takes you through many steps before moving forward with a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) and ultimately construction. We start with the process by creating a budget based on historical data and move to collaborative design review and integration of all project stakeholders. Then, we review “select” subcontractor pricing before we evaluate, analyze, and verify the final estimate. Next, we perform a value analysis, and we review pricing and value-related options. Then, we go over final permit drawings and “final” subcontractor pricing. Lastly, your Haren team will review the final pricing, sub-contractor scope, and value-related options before establishing a GMP.

Contact us to discuss your project. We can start the budget conversation today!

Your Haren team views pre-construction as a collaborative effort between the Owner, Architect, and construction manager to deliver a superior product at the most desirable cost. And, to maximize the future value of this project, your Haren team will continuously seek ways to reduce costs while maintaining the quality and integrity of the design.

The pre-construction process starts very early in the design phase and continues through procurement and subcontractor buy-out through meetings and budget exercises involving the Owner, the Architect, and key trade partners. Your Haren team will seek to understand where you want to spend your investment dollars.

Your Haren team will perform a constructability analysis at various phases of design allowing us to identify any cost-related risks, challenges, and/or potential high dollar items, and evaluate new construction vs. renovation. Our extensive history in the commercial construction market allows us to recognize materials, products, and manufacturers that are best suited for an application.

Additionally, our external relationships with trade partners combined with our internal experiences provide us a unique ability to make value-added suggestions related to your project. Haren tracks pending, approved, and rejected options throughout the pre-construction phase. Your team will provide you a list of options: items and information for your review and allow you to make informed decisions regarding the cost savings options.

By identifying these items early in the process, incorporating these cost savings recommendations into the Design Documents, we can “competitively bid” the recommendations.

Design & Constructability Reviews

As the documents are continuously developed by the design team, your Haren team reaches out to more and more subcontractors for additional input and involvement. This staged bidding process allows our team to perform various levels of design review and provide accurate budget updates throughout the pre-construction process while keeping costs, schedule, and quality consistent from selection to groundbreaking. Project Managers and Superintendents are all involved in the design reviews. In doing so, we utilize a wealth of knowledge and experiences, as well as leveraging BIM, to solve construction-related challenges and provide pricing feedback from the subcontractor market.

As the documents near a permit-ready stage, we create bid scopes or bid packages with a thorough description of the work to be performed by various subcontractors. Throughout this process, Haren Companies will provide all the necessary information pertaining to subcontractor selection, costs, and fees in a completely open book fashion to eliminate any surprises.

Your Haren team will include a design contingency in the cost estimate at the onset of the project that will be based on our experience and factor in the unknowns for the project. As the design develops through schematic and design development stages, the contingency will be reduced as we eliminate the unknowns in the design.

Your Haren team continually researches, reviews, and studies the construction market and economic trends through publications and organizations in which we belong. We utilize this analysis to help estimate upcoming cost variations in materials and/or labor so the budget we establish today is realistic when it is time for the project to bid.

All information pertaining to subcontractors will be presented in an open book fashion for 100% transparency for review by the entire team.

Alternate Materials

Our team recognizes every project has a vision, and we will work with you to deliver that vision. However, we also acknowledge every project has a budget, schedule, and design criteria that must be met. Haren provides invaluable knowledge and resources necessary to identify alternative materials that can save time, money, and increase quality.

Your Haren team views alternative material selection as a collaborative effort between the Owner, Architect, and Contractor to deliver a superior product of unsurpassed quality at the most desirable cost. And to maximize the future value of this project, we will constantly seek ways to reduce costs while maintaining the quality and integrity of the design.

The Material Selection process starts very early in the preconstruction phase and continues through construction. Through pre-construction meetings with you and the design team, we will seek to understand where you want to spend your investment dollars.

As previously mentioned, we perform a constructability analysis at various phases of design allowing us to identify any cost-related risks, challenges, and/or potential high-dollar and long-lead time items. Our extensive history in the commercial construction market allows us to recognize materials, products, and manufacturers that may have adverse cost and schedule implications.

Additionally, our external relationships with trade partners combined with our internal experiences provide us with a unique ability to make value suggestions related to your project. Haren tracks pending, approved, and rejected material options throughout the preconstruction phase. We provide a “shopping list” of items and information for your review and allow you to make informed decisions regarding the cost savings options.

By identifying these items early in the process and in turn, incorporating the VE recommendations into the Design Documents, we can “competitively bid” the recommendations, streamline the bidding and GMP development process and deliver the project as you envision.

Guaranteed Maximum Price

In order to establish a Guaranteed Maximum Price. (GMP) Your Haren team targets select trade partners as early in the process as possible to assist us in reviewing the construction documents, provide constructability, material cost, and availability. Their trusted insights along with our experience in the construction industry allow us to establish a GMP at nearly any phase of Preconstruction. While everyone would prefer to establish a GMP after the documents are finalized, we recognize the value of early establishment of the GMP, we can accomplish this by incorporating design and construction contingencies that reflect “unknown” scope that may increase the project cost.

Several factors may influence the timing of when the GMP is established to include the following:

• Material and labor availability and the lead times our suppliers are projecting.
• Desired construction start date. A GMP with an early release for various trades may allow us to circumvent adverse weather conditions surrounding both hot and cold seasons advancing the construction schedule.
• Owners’ appetite and ability to secure financing with a stated contingency and a lengthy list of construction-related clarifications and narratives.

As the construction documents are continuously developed, a stated contingency will be reduced as less becomes unknown or assumed. Your Haren team typically recommends a 10% contingency at the schematic phase and enter a GMP agreement with a 1-2% contingency.

History has proven our ability to accurately estimate projects at the schematic phase and maintain our stated costs throughout design development.