Clients come to us regularly with a disconnects between what they want versus their preconceived budget. It’s our job to wade through the wants, needs and absolute must haves. We must also be respectful to their financial realities.

We sometimes say jokingly that sure we can build your house at X price, but it will be the size of a shoebox. In all seriousness, we’re noticing a trend a fair amount, and that is the notion that we can make any scope meet any budget expectations. In other words we’re so good, and have the best connections and subcontractors we know you guys can make this happen for this price. We believe that we can always reduce some of the costs of things, however many designed elements cost what they cost. A new cost increase due to code changes a lot of projects are facing are storm water retention systems. While we take this sentiment as a compliment, we do not set the market prices of things. We do for sure operate efficiently, and help folks get what they need.

We’ve adopted a philosophy over the years and that is either your scope dictates your budget or your budget dictates your scope. Meaning, we will either have to save on the cost of the land, the amount we dedicate to design and development, or the more common option reduce the scope. We’ve never worked with anyone that has an “open wallet” wherein money is no object. Rest assure that we can help.

Unfortunately, there are many predatory contractors in the construction industry. There are also others that simply do not have the skill set to estimate and properly budget your scope of work. Yes, there are market fluctuations for the pricing of many materials. Believe it or not several materials like steal, lumber, concrete and hardwoods fluctuate all the time. This is why we believe in setting adequate contingency budgets. We can always work to reduce the overall cost, once a reasonable budget has been established through value engineering and realize savings.