CAI-NJ June 2022 Community Trends

FAQs for GENERAL CONTRACTORS By Shari Puterman, Regal Restoration USA

Q: What happens behind-the-scenes before work begins at a job site? A: The pre-mobilization process requires a lot of due diligence and coordination between all parties, including the association, architects, engineers, and township officials. Once a letter of intent is submitted, the contract-finalization process begins, and sealed plans are requested from the engineer for permitting. We participate in live or virtual community meetings and prepare permit jackets for submission to the town/ city. While waiting for permits to be approved, we work with the property manager to devise owner notices, and an anticipated work/phasing schedule and coordina tion of all necessary logistics, like identifying a staging area and plans for maintaining ingress/egress. During this time, we also work with the engineer to ensure all submittals are received/approved and RFIs (requests for information) are answered. Prior to beginning work, an on-site project manager is assigned, and their contact

information is shared with all agreed-upon parties so that questions and concerns can be easily addressed on a real-time basis throughout the job’s duration. Q: How are supply-chain issues affecting the construction industry? A: The COVID pandemic introduced a variety of unfore seen challenges to most businesses, and the effects continue to linger as market conditions remain volatile. From price increas es and material shortages to extreme delays/lead times, the results have had a domino effect on all facets of the construc tion industry. When the pandemic hit, we started incurring astronomical increases for most building materials, with the cost of plywood, for example, more than tripling. To this day, we are all incurring double-digit price increases as frequently as every two months. With that also comes labor shortages and shipping delays, which can impact the accuracy of projected work timelines. But these are realities that we’ve accepted and are navigating together. As a result, we’ve implemented and continue to update standard operating pro CONT I NU E S ON PAGE 40

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