What Exactly Is Construction Management?
At EMI, we like to think of ourselves as a construction-savvy, design-led interior design firm. We are grateful for all projects, but there is just something about the barebones of a construction or renovation project that makes us melt just a little more.
What we’ve found is that clients often reach out to us after their construction has already kicked off, because they aren’t aware of just how much our processes can benefit them in the construction portion of their project.
As an interior design firm, we wear many hats. For the build phase of the home, we refer to it as our Construction Management hat.
What does a “Construction Manager” do exactly?
As I was told by Julie from PSP Design Co, we are the translators between trades and client.
We keep the project flowing by keeping up constant communication between all entities so that we’re ahead of the need and not the reason for the project lagging behind.
We skilled in this area, so we already know what to look out for along the way and how to interpret that for the homeowner to feel as informed and prepared throughout the process.
How we would engage this service:
Onboarding
During this process, we schedule an introductory meeting and site visit at which we’ll review scope, ideals and timeline.
The overall goal by the time the onboarding process is done is that all trades understand what’s expected, when and how.
During this period, the homeowner will also have all meeting dates scheduled in advance.
Collaborative Meetings
We meet with the build team to combine our expertise finalizing design details and construction methods.
We contact and plan our all trades who can provide cost considerations, sequencing, lead times and all scheduling. This prevents costly changes (oh-so-fun change orders) and ensuring that the design as planned is practical to build.
Clear Communication
This is our personal favorite part of the whole service: we provide one singular point of contact for every.single.detail. Questions, approvals, clarifications, etc etc - you don’t have to chase 100 people to get an answer.
Use of project management software makes it so that the homeowner is never sorting through emails or papers trying to look over a plan or see the current details of their project. Again, we believe in having one central location for all aspects.
Regular Coordination
Whether it’s check-ins or site walks, we prepare to stay ahead of key milestones (rough-ins, framing, etc.) so that the client is clear on their timeline.
On-site visits and regular communications with the trades ensures that we are able to confirm design intent is being realized and resolve any issue that may arise.
