Clients rarely ask about construction methods when they are choosing a contractor. They ask a simpler question: what actually happens, in what order, and when will I hear from you? This is the shape of a project as we run it.

1. Enquiry and first conversation

We start by understanding what the building is for, the budget it has to sit within, and the date it needs to be usable. Those three constrain each other, and being honest about the trade-offs early saves everyone a wasted tender.

2. Site visit and constraints

Nothing is priced without seeing the site. Access, ground conditions, services, neighbours and working hour restrictions all shape both cost and programme, and none of them are visible on a drawing.

3. Pricing

We price from the drawings and specification supplied, and we say clearly what is included, what is excluded, and what assumptions the price rests on. Where the design is incomplete, we say which parts are provisional rather than presenting a firm number that cannot survive contact with the detail.

4. Contract and mobilisation

Before work starts: the contract signed, insurances in place, the programme agreed, and the site set up — hoarding, welfare, storage, access and the safety arrangements that go with them.

5. Construction

During the works, a client should expect a regular rhythm rather than silence punctuated by surprises:

  • A progress report at an agreed interval, against the programme
  • Valuations on a predictable cycle
  • Early notice of anything that threatens the date or the budget
  • Variations priced and agreed before the work is done, not after

That fourth point is where most client relationships are won or lost. A variation agreed in advance is a decision; the same variation presented at final account is an argument.

6. Handover

Handover is a process, not a day. Snagging, testing and commissioning, operation and maintenance information, warranties, as-built drawings and the training a client needs to run the building. The defects period that follows is part of the job, not an afterthought.

What we ask of clients

Projects run best when the obligations run both ways. What helps most: decisions made within an agreed period, valuations paid on time, and a single point of contact empowered to decide. Each of those is worth more to a programme than any amount of pressure applied later.