Surviving a commercial construction project

Whether you’re planning to expand your business’s current space or build a facility from the ground up, a commercial construction project is a good sign for your business. Commercial construction projects yield growth, which means your business is in a good position for the future. However, growth brings with it growing pains.

Though it can be great in the long run for your business, a commercial construction project can bring some considerable headaches in the short term. Concerns about your budget, your schedule and potential disruptions to your current operations all can make a construction project difficult to manage. Judging by the fact that commercial construction spending continues to increase throughout the United States, this is a situation most businesses find themselves in at one time or another.

The short term problems created by a commercial construction project can make your business lose sight of the overall long-term benefits the project will bring. However, the good news is that many of the most common problems created by such construction projects can be avoided easily with a little preparation.

Knowing what these problems are and what you can do to avoid them is critical for any business when facing a construction project of any kind. Even a minor cosmetic re-modeling of your lobby can become a big problem for your business if you’re not prepared.

For example, exceeding the budget is perhaps the most common and damaging problem businesses can run into when undertaking a construction project. This happens most often when businesses fail to set a realistic budget for their projects. Even if they do create a budget, many businesses get themselves into trouble by assuming they can cut corners or by thinking their projects will be completed without a hitch.

The other most frequent and harmful problem businesses encounter during commercial construction projects is running over schedule. When projects are behind schedule, it can throw a business’s entire operation into chaos. Thus, putting it at risk of failing to meet its promises to its customers. As with setting a budget, businesses can avoid schedule problems simply by being realistic about their timeframes and allowing themselves more than enough time to complete the project. Assuming everything will go smoothly means you won’t be prepared when issues arise.

These and other widespread commercial construction issues are contained in the checklist. The next time you’re faced with a construction project for your business, you can be sure that you’ll be thinking about it in terms of the bright future it means for your business, instead of the hassles it may create for you in the moment.

To view the checklist on surviving a commercial construction project created by John J. Pempek, Inc., click here

Andrew Pempek is Vice President of Pempek. For 60 years, Pempek. has been a leading Chicago commercial electrical contracting company — specialising in industrial electrical power, maintenance services, control services and more.

--Pempek