The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Home – ADD VALUE , SAVE MONEY

I was asked by the CEO of one of my clients to help him sort out the re building of his home.

He had employed and architect to design a wonderful home and who had assured him that his plans would cost around $1m.

He proceeded to get the local authority/ council approval .

Then he talked to builders for costing. He was shocked when the 2 prices came back over $1.5m with no certainty that these were maximum figures or that they would get the home they wanted.

He was not happy and not sure what to do next.

I sat with him and his wife and reviewed all the documents.

It appeared some of the major potential costs were due to expensive foundations, rebuilding the lower floor of the existing home with expensive retaining walls and some general details not being defined.

I introduced him to an engineer who suggested some pragamatic solutions to his foundation and ground floor layout problems, this saved around $150,000.

The most significant strategy was to introduce a builder who was willing to work with the engineer and myself with all his costs be available on an open book basis.

He joined our team so we all worked together to find the best solution for the client.

Over 35 years in the building industry, both as a builder and as a client representative,  I have found the best solutions always come when everyone works as a team. Bring the builder into the team and remove the old confrontation style of building contracts. Sort out a maximum budget to work to and get the team to work together to establish a realistic budget.

In this way the builders costs become an open book.

We used this system and after much work, defined the scope of work clearly, worked on finding the most practical ways to build the project and set an absolute maximum budget of $ 1.2 m.

In summary we established a realistic maximum budget, removed the costing uncertainties and ensured the client would get exactly what they wanted. Because of the open book system the client also had the ability to change finishes as the project proceeded to either add or save money.

A win win for all the parties in the project.