As a full-service construction management company in San Francisco, CA, the team here at KSD Group Inc. is proud to offer comprehensive construction management, from the predesign phase all the way to the finishing touches of construction. But many of our clients find themselves wondering: what exactly goes into the predesign phase, and why is it necessary?
Imagine that a construction project is like a dinner party. Before you can start planning the menu for your dinner party, you need to know how much space and time you will have, how many people will be attending and whether there are any allergies or dietary restrictions you should know about. Predesign covers similar planning purposes for a construction project, including the following factors:
- Site analysis: Before you can build something, you need to know what kind of foundation you are working with. For example, if there are municipal power lines running underneath the property, they might limit what kind of excavation work you can do. Typically, site analysis involves hiring a professional, certified land surveyor to determine what the land characteristics are, as well as what your exact boundaries are. Knowing these important factors will help start your design and construction project off on firm footing.
- Identifying constraints: A constraint is, essentially, any limit that will need to be put on the design of your development. For example, if you are building along the coast, the California Coastal Commission will likely impose restraints on how tall your building can be. The sooner you know what all your constraints are, the easier it will be to adjust any preliminary design plans.
- Finding opportunities: As any quality construction management company in San Francisco, CA knows, the best developments are the ones that use their constraints to find exciting new opportunities. Just as any given property will come with limits, it will likely also come with prime selling features, such as a fantastic view, easy excavation or an empty adjacent lot that can open the door to new design and construction features. The key is finding the opportunities that work for you, and then running with them.
- Determining costs: Chances are, you will already have some sort of preliminary budget in place before the predesign phase begins. But it is at this point that you will get an idea of whether that budget is truly feasible, and which features or ideas are worth pursuing from a cost-benefit standpoint. Once you have a strong idea of how much your project will cost, you can start searching for new avenues of funding if need be.
- Planning a schedule: Finally, once the predesign phase is complete, you will have a fairly good idea of how long the rest of the design and development process ought to take. You can put this knowledge to good use by developing a firm schedule, and imploring your collaborators to stay true to it.
For more information about predesign planning services, please feel free to get in touch with KSD Group Inc. anytime. As a construction management company in San Francisco, CA, we are committed to helping you throughout every phase of your project.