Preconstruction services are the construction management and advisory work that happens before the first shovel breaks ground, the estimating, scheduling, constructability review, value engineering, and bid packaging that shapes the project’s cost and schedule before those parameters are locked by a construction contract. It is the phase of a project where professional construction management delivers the highest return relative to its cost, because decisions made during design are exponentially cheaper to change than decisions made during construction.
The case for preconstruction services is not complicated: a construction manager who identifies a design coordination conflict during design development resolves it with a design revision that costs hours of the architect’s and engineer’s time. The same conflict discovered during construction, when the mechanical ductwork is already installed and conflicts with the structural beam that cannot be relocated, resolves with a change order that costs tens of thousands of dollars and delays the schedule.
What Preconstruction Services Include
Preliminary cost estimating. As the design progresses from schematic design through design development to construction documents, the construction manager tracks the evolving cost implications of design decisions. When the architect proposes a curtain wall system that the project’s budget cannot support, the construction manager identifies the cost exposure before the design is completed, not after the GC’s bid comes in 20% over budget and the design has to be redesigned at significant cost.
Preliminary estimates are not the same as GC bids, they carry more uncertainty and should be communicated with appropriate ranges rather than false precision. But they are far more useful than no cost feedback during design, which is what owners receive when the construction manager is not engaged until the design is complete and the project goes to bid.
Constructability review. A constructability review is an assessment of the construction documents by a construction manager who evaluates them from the perspective of how the building will actually be built, not whether the design is architecturally or structurally valid, but whether the documents are complete enough and coordinated enough that a contractor can build from them without generating dozens of RFIs and change orders.
Common constructability issues that preconstruction review catches: mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems that are shown in coordination but that don’t actually fit in the ceiling plenum space available; exterior wall assembly details that require a sequence of installation that the specified materials cannot accommodate; structural connections that are not fully detailed in the documents and that will require extensive contractor RFIs to resolve in the field; and specification sections that conflict with each other or that specify products that are no longer available.
Each of these issues, left in the construction documents, becomes an RFI and potentially a change order during construction. Caught during constructability review, they become a design revision that costs the design team a few hours of effort.
Value engineering. Value engineering in preconstruction is the structured process of identifying opportunities to achieve the same design intent at lower cost, not by reducing quality but by substituting a more cost-effective means of achieving the same functional result. True value engineering requires a construction manager who understands both the design intent and the cost implications of alternative approaches.
Common value engineering opportunities in multifamily preconstruction: alternative framing approaches that achieve the same structural performance at lower material cost; specification substitutions in finish categories where the specified product carries a premium that the market cannot recover in rent; MEP system alternatives that meet the design’s performance requirements at lower equipment and installation cost; and site planning modifications that reduce site work cost without affecting the project’s program.
Value engineering is not specification reduction disguised as cost management. A value engineering proposal that achieves lower cost by reducing the product quality below what the market requires is not value engineering, it is false economy that will reduce achievable rents, increase vacancy, or generate warranty claims. An experienced preconstruction manager distinguishes between genuine value opportunities and specification reductions that will cost the owner more than they save.
Bid packaging and GC/subcontractor selection. In a construction management at-risk (CMAR) delivery, the preconstruction services include developing the bid packages that go to subcontractors, managing the bidding process, evaluating bids, and recommending awards. The bid packaging structure, how the work is divided into bid packages, which scopes are combined and which are separated, significantly affects both the competitiveness of the bids and the construction management complexity of the project.
Early bid packages for long-lead items, structural steel, elevators, curtain wall, are often awarded before the full design is complete, allowing fabrication and delivery to begin on a schedule that is consistent with the project’s construction start. A preconstruction manager who identifies which items need to be bid early and who manages that early bid process protects the construction schedule in ways that a construction-phase-only engagement cannot.
The Return on Preconstruction Investment
Developers and owners who are considering preconstruction services sometimes resist the cost, typically 0.5% to 1.0% of construction cost, because the value is not immediately tangible. The alternative is treating preconstruction as a free service by engaging a GC in a lump sum bid after design is complete, receiving a single number that either works or requires redesign, and proceeding without the benefit of cost feedback during design.
The math favors preconstruction services clearly: a preconstruction engagement that costs $75,000 on a $15 million construction project and that identifies $300,000 in value engineering opportunities, prevents $150,000 in change orders through constructability review, and produces a well-structured bid process that generates competitive subcontractor bids has returned four to six times its cost in documented savings, before accounting for the schedule protection that early identification of design issues provides.
The projects where preconstruction services deliver the most value are those with complex design, compressed schedules, or significant cost pressure, which describes most multifamily development in the markets where Innergy Integral works. Projects with simple, well-documented designs and unlimited schedule flexibility need preconstruction services less than projects with design ambiguity, coordination challenges, and delivery deadlines that don’t accommodate redesign.
Innergy Integral provides these services in Bellevue, WA and across our six-state footprint.
Related: Construction Management Services · Owner’s Representative Services · How to Evaluate a Construction Bid · Construction Management Guide
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