MAY 2022CONSTRUCTIONBUSINESSREVIEW.COM8By Chris Hauska, National Director of Quality Assurance, Gables ResidentialA DEVELOPER'S GUIDE TO HELPING THE CONTRACTOR GET DRY It's hard to overstate the importance of dry milestones to a construction project. Whether those milestones be intermediate or final, whether the project be a small tenant fit out or a multi-phase campus, I doubt that anyone reading this needs convincing as to the importance of getting and staying dry. As a Developer, construction schedule milestones hold an interesting place of priority. On one hand, achieving commitments set forth in the contract schedule are largely the Contractor's prerogative. On the other, the Developer has agreed to the schedule and has vested interest that the contractor hits their dates so they can start generating returns. The question for the Developer then becomes: where can they best influence the construction schedule without taking on undue risk? As with almost all Owner-related impacts to a construction project, timely and decisive decision making is paramount. Even in the more normal times of just a few years ago, storefront, curtainwall, windows, and many other critical components carried lead times measured in months not weeks. Although not as significant from a procurement perspective, it's just as important to understand and select the appropriate air / vapor barrier. We can always pay to get a building gold plated, submersible, and ready to set up on the moon but sometimes building wrap is just fine. Performing due diligence early on by engaging a variety of subject matter experts is essential to the decision-making process. The days of getting a set of documents from an Architect and blindly relying on them to be appropriate are Chris HauskaIN MYOPINION
< Page 7 | Page 9 >