Most building designers and Architects will tell you the same, last year was a phenomenal year for both work and prosperity within the industry but is this such a good thing?
Work was being chewed through at a great rate of knots and I am sure the local planners had a job keeping up with matters but the long and short of it all was that they did and approvals were coming through thick and fast.
So… we are now part way through 2015 with no sign of the workload slowing down whatsoever.
This is in all intense and purposes the ideal for running a business however the flip side to this scenario is:
A successful planning approval is achieved, building regulations are in the bag, a schedule of works has been prepared in support of the proposed work to be carried out and a tender invitation is ready to be offered to the selected principal contractors with a view to getting the sledgehammer swinging into action within the next couple of months following receiving the tenders, reviewing and appointing the chosen builder.
WRONG!
The reality is, the busier the building design sector is, the busier the building sector gets.
There are few quality builders out there to choose from in the first place which is a limiting factor in itself, and no client in their right mind would secure a builder without seeing some figures against the proposed works so the time this has all been carried out, your chosen builder will have 2,3 or possibly 4 projects already secure which would take them almost a year ahead of themselves.
Two major sized projects alone could take the years schedule up with the possibility of squeezing in some smaller projects in between.
In previous news articles I have touched on the design scheme process along with program times but just to reiterate this, an average timescale from initial design to acquiring select tenders, assuming planning and building regulations are necessary, would take a minimum time period of 5-6 months
This, along with the possibility of having to wait 6-12 months for Golden Sledgehammer Ltd to start work is the harsh reality of a good year had by all.
And lets not forget, all clients want work to start in the Spring! If this slot has been missed it could take you into another year at which point you'll need to start thinking about renewing your planning approval…
