Cumulative change orders on a large building will cause construction to run anywhere from 11-15% over budget and 10-20% over schedule. At Salas O’Brien, we’ve studied our change order rate and discovered that we consistently keep our change orders below 3% of construction costs. This means that on a typical $1 million construction project with 10% contingency, owners would save at least $70,000 in final construction cost alone, just by partnering with Salas O’Brien.

How do we do it? The white paper below explains the detail and research. But essentially, we stick to basic practices like assessing best use, implementing appropriate sequencing, and actively integrating the contractor into the design process. In other words, we treat owners, consultants, and contractors as partners who should be included during all phases of a project.

In addition to the savings on construction cost, our methods also have the following benefits:

• Fewer schedule delays
• Predictable employment management
• Positive public reports related to financing and scheduling for public projects
• Public confidence in bond projects and overall staff management of public funding
• Real dollar savings in initial project costs, and even more in operational maintenance and energy costs

For decades, we’ve both minimized change orders and used them selectively to help our clients better predict expenses and communicate with all team members and stakeholders. If you’d like to learn more about how we do this, check out the detailed white paper below.