The owner's pre-construction checklist before you break ground

We keep a habit before any job starts. The principal who priced it sits with the owner and asks one question first: what day does this building need to open? Everything else in pre-construction hangs off that answer. If the date is not real yet, the checklist below turns it into one. If the date is fixed, the checklist tells you whether the plan can meet it.

Start with the date and walk backward

Opening day, move-in, first guest, first patient, whatever it is, gets written down first. From there we back out the certificate of occupancy, final inspections, FF&E install, finishes, rough-in, structure, foundation, permit issuance and design. When the chain does not fit between today and the date, you find out now, when the fix is a design decision, not in month five when the fix is overtime.

A scope two people read the same way

Write down the building type, the area, the number of rooms or units or suites, the finish level and what is excluded. Then hand it to someone who was not in the room and see if they describe the same project. If they cannot, the scope is not done. Every vague line in a scope becomes a line in a change order, and change orders are where owners lose control of the number.

Numbers built from priced scope

An early budget stuffed with allowances is a placeholder, and placeholders tend to move in one direction. We push to price the trades that matter most (structure, mechanical, the finishes you care about) from real quantities and real quotes even when a few selections are still open. Because our own crews frame, hang drywall, set tile and stone, run millwork, paint and roof, we can put a hard number on those lines early rather than waiting for a subcontractor bid day.

Drawings checked before a crew finds the problem

Someone with field experience should walk the drawings before anyone walks the site. Duct that has nowhere to go past a beam, two trades planned into one ceiling cavity the same week, a door swing that blocks an equipment pad. Each of these is a ten-minute fix on paper and a week in the field. Our superintendent and the principal review the set together and send the questions to the architect while there is still time to answer them.

Permits, long-lead orders and the change process

Every jurisdiction in Texas runs its own permit clock. Confirm the review path for your city, whether a third-party review is available, and what the fire marshal wants to see, before you count on a start date. At the same time, list every item with a lead time longer than the work around it: switchgear, rooftop units, elevators, storefront, custom casegoods and hotel FF&E. Release those orders early, with the owner's sign-off, so the finish is never waiting on a truck. And agree in writing how a change gets priced and approved, with a turnaround time on both sides, before the first one shows up. It will show up.

Before the first day, know the name of the person who is responsible for the schedule and the number, and whether that person will be standing on your site. On our jobs it is a principal of the company. You have the owner's cell, and the person who priced the work runs it.

None of this makes a project surprise-free. It makes the surprises small and early. Send the set our way with the date you are aiming for, and we will run this list against it with you.