SUMAC will go through the entire set of plans, estimating cost and schedule in great detail. If SUMAC is selected as your contractor of choice, potential missed items and changes will be identified and priced, giving the owner the “real world” cost and schedule.

The contractor you select should be compatible with the team and have a thorough knowledge of the plans, specs and schedules. Pricing must be accurate. Your architect can give you a wealth of information on this phase.

What if the cost of the project needs to be lowered? Along with your architect’s assistance, SUMAC will sit down and identify potential avenues of cost reduction. We will offer a menu of items that would lower your cost and attach a price to each item. This will allow you to decide which items may be expendable in achieving your desired budget.

An experienced Project Manager will be assigned to your project. The PM is your point person and is responsible for the overall project.  He will have a thorough knowledge of the plans and specs and will be responsible for all job production. He is also responsible for all sub-contractor hiring and quality control. He will head up weekly project meetings with the architect and you, the owner. Finally, the PM will be in charge of all the paper flow that goes through your PM.

Safety first!  SUMAC follows all OSHA mandates. Every work person is required to wear a SUMAC hard hat, long pants and steel toed boots. A seasoned Project Manager will be assigned to your home. The PM will manage personnel, schedule sub contractors, monitor quality and meet with our team on a daily basis. He also will attend all owner, architect and SUMAC weekly meetings. The PM is responsible for paperwork flow, payments and receivables.

We Matterport! Incorporating 3D virtual tours in our process is one way technological innovation has contributed to our status as a premier home builder. The 3D progress scans, or digital job-walks as opposed to in-person, are used to expedite scheduling between client, architect, and subcontractors.

A professional Site Manager will be assigned to your project who will make sure that all punch list items will be taken care of to your satisfaction. If there are any call back issues, he will respond promptly.

This Method is a common practice used in the construction industry. The steps taken in a hard bid are as follows:

• An Architect is hired to draw a full set of plans and specs tailored to the vision of the homeowner.

• General Contractors are asked to bid the plans and submit what they feel is their best number to complete the project.

• The homeowner then chooses the General Contractor who is most qualified to build what the Architect has drawn.

This method does however, have it’s inherent flaws. Often a General Contractor is chosen based on the fact that they came in as the lowest bidder. At first glance the lowest price is the most appealing, but there is more to be considered.

The following are common challenges this method presents:

• General contractors bidding in this method have no incentive to point out where there may be holes in the plans, in fact, some General Contractors will lower their initial bid numbers to be awarded the project and count on “ making it up” in the upcoming change orders.

• It is difficult to compare bids “ apples to apples”. Our advice is to lean on your Architect to help in this area. Their experience in this area and having lived through the process many times will help tremendously.

• In some cases, to get the initial “low bid number”, cheaper subcontractors may be selected by a competing General Contractor, jeopardizing quality and schedule.

Our SUMAC family is eager to bid your job and can compete with any company out there. We pride ourselves on our honesty and transparency through the process.

The Time and Materials method is a very effective method when faced with a difficult project with many moving parts.

Construction can begin even before plans are 100% complete. The owner pays the contractor for labor and supervision time, material, and contractor fee on a weekly basis. SUMAC also assists the owner and architect on cost and schedule for “influx” portions of the plans. The beauty of this method is that the owner can make changes on the fly without affecting current construction.

One thing most people don’t know, is that clients that choose T&M, have been through the fixed price method before on large projects and choose this route while budget is still important to them. Most people new to the building experience believe that T&M is for folks with unlimited money – This is not the case. Granted, with extra flexibility to make changes on the fly, budgets can increase quickly… but this is also the case in any method of construction, if the scope grows, the price grows. In the T&M method, your General Contractor is able to give you flexibility and complete transparency so you can assure that money is being paid directly for the work done at fair rates. No hedging bets or inflated change orders.