Common Causes of Delays in Office Renovations
Renovation and construction projects are well-known for having delays occur throughout the process. This is true whether you’re dealing with home renovations or building a commercial office building from the ground up. And the more complex a project is, the more likely it is that delays could occur. So what are some of the most common causes of renovation delays?
Lead Times for Materials
As is the case for so many things in the world these days, the materials needed for your renovation project may be affected by supply chain disruptions and labor shortages. But even in more typical times, it often takes time for construction materials to come in, especially if you’re dealing with special orders. Not only can lead times for materials be a source of delays, those delays can turn into a domino effect of other delays if the materials you’re waiting on need to be installed before other work can proceed.
Furniture Lead Times
If your new office will include new furniture, don’t forget to consider the lead times from the furniture’s manufacturer. Office furniture isn’t always something that ships out overnight, especially if you’re ordering pieces with custom upholstery or finishes. It’s important to make sure your new furniture will be ready to go into your space before your planned move-in date. It’s also important to make sure you engage a furniture company early in the design process, as the architect will need to coordinate electrical and finishes with the furniture vendor to make everything work together, both functionality and design-wise.
Approvals
One big way that commercial renovations are different from home renovations is that home renovations generally only need approval from one or two people. But when companies are planning renovation projects, there are often complex review and approval processes involved, requiring multiple people to sign off on everything before work can begin. Approval processes can vary from company to company, but since this can sometimes be a lengthy process, we highly recommend accounting for the approval time when planning the overall timeline for the project.
Weather Conditions
Here in a state like Michigan, we all know that the weather can be wildly unpredictable at times. We can have winters that are very cold and snowy and summers where we get lots of heavy rainstorms and high heat. And, sometimes, we get some unseasonable weather conditions in the mix. For ground-up construction projects and renovations on building exteriors, severe weather conditions can force work to stop until it is safe to continue. However, interior renovations aren’t necessarily exempt from weather-related delays since severe weather can potentially impact the delivery of materials needed for the job.
Project Changes
It’s very important to make sure the full scope of your project is settled before work begins. Making changes to project scope later in the process can have a very significant impact on the total project timeline, the budget, and materials needed to complete the job.
These are only a few common sources of delays. While some construction delays are hard to avoid, such as global supply chain disruptions and severe weather, good planning can be a highly effective way to prevent potential delays from ever occurring. When you partner with Premier Construction & Design, you’ll have the benefit of working with a team that can help identify possible causes of delays and can work to avoid them. If you’re considering an office renovation, contact us to find out how we can help.
