OURODevelopment

Risk

The $400K Construction Mistake

Most expensive construction mistakes are decisions made early with incomplete information, then discovered late.

Case notes

The pattern is consistent: a scope is priced from assumptions, the assumptions are never tested, and the gap appears once demolition is complete and the schedule is already committed.

Common versions include pricing a change of use without resolving code strategy, assuming existing service capacity is adequate, assuming plumbing stacks can be reused where the new layout wants them, and treating an allowance as a budget.

The mitigation is unglamorous: selective demolition before final pricing, written scope assumptions, and a list of items that cannot be priced honestly until drawings, permits or engineering exist.

Keep reading

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