July 01, 2008
Holding Effective Project Meetings
Welcome to this months edition of Remodeling Success Tips. In this edition we will be looking at project meetings and their impact on your project.
Having meetings just to have meetings is a waste of everyone's valuable time so holding effective meetings is the key.
Table of Contents
Issue #005 - July 1, 2008Project Meetings
- How to Hold Effective Meetings
- Design Meetings
- Preconstruction Meetings
- Construction Meetings
- Post Construction (or Close Out) Meeting
How to Hold Effective Meetings
During the remodeling process, it is important to have regularly scheduled meetings. These meetings should be had for every major milestone.Organizing the meetings for optimal outcome is key. Minutes should be kept at all meetings so that decisions can be recorded.
Whether you have them individually or collectively is up to you but they need to be consistent and organized.
The following is a list of meetings that should be held as the construction process moves along.
Design Meetings
Design meetings should be held with any and all professionals involved with presenting ideas for final approval on the project and are usually run by you the client.Architects, interior, lighting, home automation and landscape designers should all take part.
If you are unable to attend, you should appoint a representative to discuss your desires. If at all possible you should try to be available via a conference call.
Sometimes, the decisions are quick and can be answered immediately thus not holding up the process while others will take some time and consideration.
It is imperative that dates be assigned to the design decision process relative to the project schedule. It must be understood by all parties what the ramifications are of missing those milestone dates.
Most delays are not only measured in time (related to the end date), but also in dollars. Time = Money always.
Preconstruction Meetings
Preconstruction meetings should be had with your contractor and design team. These meetings are key to pass all resolutions from your design meetings on to the contractor.It is also the meeting where conflicts relating to design choices are brought to the table if identifiable. This will save valuable construction time.
The frequency of these meetings will depend on the amount of information to transfer.
Construction Meetings
Construction meetings should be held on a consistent basis. Depending upon the size of your project, this could be weekly, bi-weekly or monthly. These meetings are generally run by the contractor.During these meetings, your contractor will present questions usually in the form of a formal RFI (Request for Information). This will allow for tracking of all questions asked and answered.
The questions are usually generated from subcontractors and site discoveries made during the time since the last meeting was held.
Project schedule and budget should also be reviewed continually during construction meetings. This will keep both from getting off track.
Project Turnover (or Close Out) Meeting
A final meeting should be held. This is called the project turnover or closeout meeting. At this meeting, the contractor should turn over all OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) manuals, warranties and applicable lien waivers.All new systems should be tested and reviewed. During this meeting, the homeowners should be made aware of the location of all shutoffs for the mechanical systems and emergency numbers to call for each system in case of mechanical failure.
A letter of completion should be presented to the home owner for signature as well as the Occupancy Permit if one is required.
Following a regimented schedule for meetings will make it easier for the flow of information between parties and will usually resolve problems much quicker.
In our next newsletter, we will take a look at Gettting Through the Design Phase.
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Until then, Happy Remodeling!