This is my first post on this site an I am very excited to read your responses. I am a Commercial General Contract in the state of Florida and Own a Construction Management Company, My Firm has done well in the past working with property managers and Independent Owners to provide them with their construction needs. I have read other posts on this site and like many of you the economic struggles we all face has put a strain on my company as well as yours. In years past the Construction Industry has been a lucrative business but 2009 has been a huge learning curve. I have spent many many hours bidding on private projects that never break ground, Commercial Projects to only be outbid by Struggling home builders that Eventually loss the project due to bankruptcy!!! Out side the Normal requirments ( IE.. Finacial Stability and past job perfomance) Does the Architectural world have provisions that dictate what contractor they will recommend to there clients, I am looking for advise from Architects as to how I can present my company to you to better my chances of successfully bidding project. I am very open to suggestion and look forward to your comments.
this is a really interesting question. i have often wondered the same thing, but from the design-side: how do i find a contractor that is most suited to the job i am working on? sure, i know the larger outfits in my area, but often they do not seem like a good fit for a particular project. there should be a forum where architects and contractors can network and market themselves. what that forum is, i don't know. i'll be interested to see the responses.
I Agree, I think this is something that we can do through this site!!!! Given the Modirators are ok with it. Based on your response in reguards to "I know the larger outfits in my area" you may have worked with them in the past and yes they may have done a good job completed the project on time and your client was happy with the build, but in todays market at what costs. I look at this market in several fasions Project funding being the biggest. As I stated in my previous post that I have bid on private projects that never broke ground basically becuase the client could not get funding!!!! Lets take Goverment jobs Rather that be Military or Local Goverment, All the bidding information is public knowledge after the award date, so I have gone and researched jobs that have been awarded to other contractors and put pen to paper and found that the majority of the time I can perform the same job with the same products 15 to 20% cheaper than the larger outfits utilizing the same subcontractors. At the end of the day it take alot of money to operate a large firm. That 20% Savings could go back to the owner.... Alot of the times that 20% can make or break a deal. Maybe we can get a networking tool like this together so that we can all work together. What do you think!!!!!!
Most of our contractor referrals are word of mouth built up over a number of years. Our practice is/was unique becuse we are the architects for the contractors went to do their own development work / add on to their own house. We are a roll up the sleeves and work together type of firm.
That said, over the years we became our own contractor and routinely build for our clients. The best fit for them was us. As a bonus, we found that found that we could provide a better service for our clients than the local contractors and keep the 15 of the 20%!
The benefit of FLA is that there is a state license for GC, so you are forced to go the GC route.
If this site were to provide a forum, there would be so many categories: commercial new, commercial remodeling, residential new, residential spec, residential remodeling, public local, public federal, education. The list can be endless and each sector has different needs.
"If this site were to provide a forum, there would be so many categories: commercial new, commercial remodeling, residential new, residential spec, residential remodeling, public local, public federal, education. The list can be endless and each sector has different needs."
That would be good. This site needs to branch out more.
And I think archinect is a great resource but I really havent seen anything really substantive on the net involving arch/ construction or arch/ development...
Sep 3, 09 12:22 am ·
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Construction Firms vs Architectural Firms
This is my first post on this site an I am very excited to read your responses. I am a Commercial General Contract in the state of Florida and Own a Construction Management Company, My Firm has done well in the past working with property managers and Independent Owners to provide them with their construction needs. I have read other posts on this site and like many of you the economic struggles we all face has put a strain on my company as well as yours. In years past the Construction Industry has been a lucrative business but 2009 has been a huge learning curve. I have spent many many hours bidding on private projects that never break ground, Commercial Projects to only be outbid by Struggling home builders that Eventually loss the project due to bankruptcy!!! Out side the Normal requirments ( IE.. Finacial Stability and past job perfomance) Does the Architectural world have provisions that dictate what contractor they will recommend to there clients, I am looking for advise from Architects as to how I can present my company to you to better my chances of successfully bidding project. I am very open to suggestion and look forward to your comments.
this is a really interesting question. i have often wondered the same thing, but from the design-side: how do i find a contractor that is most suited to the job i am working on? sure, i know the larger outfits in my area, but often they do not seem like a good fit for a particular project. there should be a forum where architects and contractors can network and market themselves. what that forum is, i don't know. i'll be interested to see the responses.
I Agree, I think this is something that we can do through this site!!!! Given the Modirators are ok with it. Based on your response in reguards to "I know the larger outfits in my area" you may have worked with them in the past and yes they may have done a good job completed the project on time and your client was happy with the build, but in todays market at what costs. I look at this market in several fasions Project funding being the biggest. As I stated in my previous post that I have bid on private projects that never broke ground basically becuase the client could not get funding!!!! Lets take Goverment jobs Rather that be Military or Local Goverment, All the bidding information is public knowledge after the award date, so I have gone and researched jobs that have been awarded to other contractors and put pen to paper and found that the majority of the time I can perform the same job with the same products 15 to 20% cheaper than the larger outfits utilizing the same subcontractors. At the end of the day it take alot of money to operate a large firm. That 20% Savings could go back to the owner.... Alot of the times that 20% can make or break a deal. Maybe we can get a networking tool like this together so that we can all work together. What do you think!!!!!!
Most of our contractor referrals are word of mouth built up over a number of years. Our practice is/was unique becuse we are the architects for the contractors went to do their own development work / add on to their own house. We are a roll up the sleeves and work together type of firm.
That said, over the years we became our own contractor and routinely build for our clients. The best fit for them was us. As a bonus, we found that found that we could provide a better service for our clients than the local contractors and keep the 15 of the 20%!
The benefit of FLA is that there is a state license for GC, so you are forced to go the GC route.
If this site were to provide a forum, there would be so many categories: commercial new, commercial remodeling, residential new, residential spec, residential remodeling, public local, public federal, education. The list can be endless and each sector has different needs.
"If this site were to provide a forum, there would be so many categories: commercial new, commercial remodeling, residential new, residential spec, residential remodeling, public local, public federal, education. The list can be endless and each sector has different needs."
That would be good. This site needs to branch out more.
And I think archinect is a great resource but I really havent seen anything really substantive on the net involving arch/ construction or arch/ development...
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