Key Takeaways from our Beyond Price and Quality Webshop
In April, we hosted the first session of our three-part webshop series, “Beyond Price and Quality: How to Ensure a Successful Contracting Experience and select the right contractor.” Participants from Vancouver’s property management, property group, and engineering community gathered online for this best practice webshop. Hosted by Steven Bailey, head of business development at WCP Building Renewal, with input from our founder Dave Notte and Managing Director Heinrich Schoeman.
Topics of Discussion
During our webshop, property managers and building owners gained valuable insights for navigating the challenges of hiring the right contractor. We revealed practical and easy-to-follow best practices and tools focused on:
- The three essential stages of tendering a construction project.
- How to spot contractor red flags.
- Key expectations to establish with contractors.
- Three common mistakes in the tendering process.
- Valuable contractor vetting tools and templates.
Our interactive webshop included lively Q&A sessions centered on the specific challenges faced by property managers or building owners in awarding construction projects. Participants shared their worst contracting experiences, and we offered valuable insight to avoid these scenarios in the future. The knowledge we shared applies to all construction projects and contractor types.
Over a series of blog posts, we will dive into some of the highlights and key takeaways from our webshop. Let’s take a closer look at perhaps the most important step in selecting the right contractor for your job.
The First Step to Vetting Contractors: The Project Brief
Effective vetting of contractors starts with building a project brief. A project brief, which can be easily created with little knowledge of project management or construction, outlines the basic requirements for your project. A good project brief includes a basic scope of work, schedule, specific requirements, key contacts, and dates. Once written, this document will be distributed to all the contractors bidding on your project. Doing so, saves you time and ensures you get the right contractors’ bidding and apples-to-apples proposals.
Project Requirement Outline
The Key Section: Requirements to Bid
In the requirement to bid section, you list specific items you need your contractor to be aware of. For example, you may have specific times for work on your site, such as after-hours or night shifts, or you may require unique certifications or accreditations from your contractors. You might request a specific level of liability insurance or require that contractors have experience with similar projects to yours. By having these listed in your project brief, you save valuable time for all parties and help avoid receiving unqualified bids.
We’ve put together a simple project brief template, to receive a copy, reach out to us at [email protected].
A Second Important Step: Vetting Contractors Online
A quick Google search can reveal literally hundreds of contractors who specialize in your particular project type. Selecting the right contractors to bid can be overwhelming. At our webshop, we discussed what to look for and distilled the process into a few important steps.
You can easily research contractors online, and there are many resources to gather valuable information. A great starting point is WorkSafe BC; you would be surprised how many contractors are not in good standing with WorkSafe. The Better Business Bureau will have information on contractors, whether or not they are members, and most importantly, if there are any outstanding disputes. From there, you can research contractors through associations like the Independent Contractors and Business Association (ICBA). Through ICBA, you can gain valuable insight into industry leaders in the construction industry.
Of course, you will want to review contractor websites to peruse previous projects, learn about the company’s history and team, and gain a better understanding of the services offered. Perhaps most importantly, read online reviews. Any legitimate construction company will have online reviews. The key to auditing reviews is looking for real feedback in the comments. For example, a comment like “The project started a little rocky, but the team came together, and we were very happy in the end.” is a realistic comment. This shows that this hypothetical contractor was not perfect, makes mistakes but finished strong. A few three or four-star reviews with constructive comments, sprinkled amongst a plethora of five-star reviews, is likely a ok, in fact, it’s likely a good sign.
At this section of our webshop, we revealed our first “red flag”: If you come across a contractor with little or no reviews, endless five stars with no comments, or a series of reviews all compiled in a short period, this is a red flag. Reviews like these suggest “review farming.” and this is not a good sign.
These are just a few of the areas we reviewed in our workshop on ensure a successful contracting experience. The content dove deeper into the key steps to hiring the right contractor, including conducting an effective site meeting to review the proposed work and keys to awarding the contract. Stay tuned for upcoming blog post that will dive deeper into these areas.
A Tool to help with the process
One of the tools we revealed was a contractor vetting checklist. Roughly 40 items to review when considering a contractor. The simple tool will help you select and score the contractors you are considering for your bidding process.
Download the Contractor Vetting Checklist here
April’s webshop was the first installment in a trilogy of sessions exploring different aspects of contractor selection. If you missed the webshop, we offer the seminar as a Lunch and Learn hosted at your office or ours. If you are interested, please connect with us at [email protected] to learn more.
