Completing a commercial project on time and on budget

Gone are the days of hard bidding where a business owner works directly with an architect to design their project and then that business owner brings final plans to three construction companies for competitive bidding. Especially in today’s turbulent market, this method is guaranteed to bring challenges such as unrealistic cost and schedule expectations, change orders, delays and the possibility of not being able to construct the project because it is too expensive.

Why? Because the construction team isn’t involved in the design. Most of the cost of any project is from the work being provided by the subcontractors. A qualified construction manager has their finger on the pulse of the subcontractor market; they understand cost and availability of materials and can provide valuable input as the project is being designed. Plus, they have dependable relationships with the subcontractors resulting in better pricing and performance.

In a time of supply chain delays, cost increases and labor shortages, it is crucial to hire a construction management company in the early planning to work with the design team and business owner to ensure the project is being designed within budget and with readily available materials.

Owners are educated by the construction management team throughout the entire design on the actual costs and availability of various options of materials, methods and systems for their project and they decide how they want to spend their budget.

Cost savings

Construction managers have a preconstruction team that can detect items in the plans that may present budget challenges and addresses them immediately. Recommendations for materials that are lower in cost yet provide the same aesthetic appeal or possibly a longer lifespan can be made. Also, concerns like simple maintenance are addressed in the design. In a hard bid, the plans are completed, and changes are not made till the project is under construction resulting in an expensive and unexpected change order.

Time savings

Three chamber ribbon-cuttings celebrate Sanibel’s comeback

The Sanibel & Captiva Islands Chamber of Commerce celebrated ribbon-cuttings for three businesses that recovered and reopened after Hurricane Ian: Sea Palms Estate on Captiva Island. Tutti Pazzi on Periwinkle Way and The BaileyMatthews Shell Museum on Sanibel-Captiva Road on Sanibel.

bedroom, beachfront Sea Palms, Drip Castle took extra time to refinish the pool and surroundings. It can accommodate up to 30 guests.

BY JODI HUNTOON Guest Columnist

All building materials, methods and systems are carefully researched to ensure availability—a critical step in this time of shortages. Anything with long lead times that do not align with the schedule, a qualified construction team can recommend a comparable product or material that does.

Construction management provides business owners with detailed budgets and schedules at design milestones before construction begins offering owners an opportunity to make changes if the schedule and budget are not as they anticipated.

Oftentimes business owners do not know where to start with an undertaking like the construction of a new building, renovation or expansion.

Some construction managers can help with due diligence of a potential site before a property is purchased and entire design team selection because of their network of engineers and architects.

For the best success, select a construction manager based on similar experience, references and one that brings a sense of camaraderie—a significant amount of time will be spent together during the process. Not only is a project being built, but hopefully, with the right team, so is a trusted relationship.

Jodi Huntoon is the marking director for Stevens Construction, which has offi ces in Fort Myers, Orlando and Sarasota. Contact (239) 936-9006 or JodiH@stevensbuilds.com.

“It does my heart good to see recovery in every aspect of island business community,” said John Lai, chamber president and CEO. “We celebrated a return of accommodations, dining, and attraction factions. Just goes to show, you can’t keep a good destination down.”

Sea Palms Estate is part of the Drip Castle Estate Collection owned by Michelle and Greg Barry, along with their neighboring Sea Oats Luxury Estate.

“We decided to concentrate on one property at a time to get our guests in asap,” said Michelle Barry, adding Sea Oats will open in a couple of months. “Sea Palms is even better than when we first opened across from our Sea Oats Luxury Estate just two years ago.”

Besides renovations to the nine-

The Barrys bring their own luxury travel experiences to the equation to provide complimentary concierge service and high-end details that amount to a five-star vacation tailored to a group’s needs. They do their part in helping the islands’ recovery by booking guests’ private chefs, restaurant reservations, massages, sunset tours, fishing trips and golf cart rentals with on-island chamber members.

“The Chamber has been an incredible resource not just for us, but to all vendors and island visitors,” Barry said. “They have provided an important platform to look up what is opening and what to do on the islands. We have always used the chamber as a resource for our guests.”

Pasquale and Leanna Russo reopened Tutti Pazzi on Jan. 15 after repairing the year-old restaurant’s elevator and roof-mounted equipment and replacing its entire inven-