Staying on Top of Your Construction Timeline
Are you looking for a way to build better homes without compromising your construction timeline? High performance certifications like ENERGY STAR and ecoSelect can help you do this all while keeping you on schedule.
As a builder, the construction timeline of your project is very important. Scope creep is a major factor in project management that often slows down the process. Because of this, you may be wary that if you begin high performance building, it will do the same to your project. Deadlines are important and no one wants to be the reason why a project is behind schedule.
Third-Party Raters and Construction Timelines
Whether you’re looking to build a green or high performance home, you should always have a third party rater on your side. Trying to tackle the process alone is one way that you can slow down your construction. Raters do much more than tell you where you need to improve. They are unbiased third parties that work with you to ensure that you build the best homes possible.
Your certified rater should be willing to work closely with you. This includes being vigilant, considerate, and providing timely corrective work orders. Third party raters take a proactive approach. Instead of waiting till the last minute, they address situations as they arise.
Selecting a third-party rater
When you’re building green and working with a credible rater you want to find one that possesses the following qualities:
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Has centralized scheduling;
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Provides prompt response times;
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Proven expertise;
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Large team with at least one full time inspector per 75 homes built; and a
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Clear on-boarding process for the operations team.
Planning Ahead to Stay on Schedule
It also important to make sure there is an adequate amount of time spent on the front end of planning.
Plan Reviews
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Before building green, you will want to go through all the certification’s criteria beforehand. This Plan Review Session identifies any and all opportunities available along with changes that need to be made. Plan reviews reduce the likelihood of change orders and misaligned specifications. Which in turn, keep your construction on schedule.
Education
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Educating site supers and relevant stakeholders about changes (if there are any) keeps projects on schedule. Your rater should be informing key players about the building materials or processes that need to happen in order to be compliant. This ensures that inspections pass smoothly and not delay construction timelines.
Dry Run
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Have your rater walk your team through one of your current homes in process as a “mock” green building inspection. This is to help your team get a better idea of what to expect. Nothing beats seeings the issues in real life, and practice makes perfect!
Site Walks and Inspections
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Most third-party certifications need two inspections (a pre-drywall inspection and a final inspection). Each inspection helps identify issues and provide recommendations for any improvements that need to be made at these stages of construction, if any at all.
Once this is all nailed down, then the actual inspection and certification process should be painless
Next Steps
When you work with a third-party rater, they keep you informed with exactly every single thing that you need to keep you successful on your way. In addition, they keep your construction on time.
Your rater should be knowledgeable of a variety of programs so they can recommend one that will fit your project’s timeline. Having a third-party rater like Southern Energy Management will put your home under rigorous performance testing to make sure it meets the required standards to be a higher performing home.
