Why we charge for preconstruction, and what you get that free preconstruction does not include

Plenty of contractors will do your preconstruction for nothing. It is worth understanding what that actually buys, because it is not the same product.

Free preconstruction is a bid to win the job

If the work is unpaid, it is a business development cost, and the incentive is to produce a number attractive enough to win. Nobody does that consciously. It happens anyway, because an estimate that loses the job has cost the firm money and an estimate that wins it has not.

Paid preconstruction is an estimate with a name on it

When you pay for it, we are accountable for the number rather than for winning. That means we will tell you when the programme does not fit the budget, and we will do it early, when the fix is a drawing revision rather than a change order.

What it costs and what it returns

Typically 0.5 to 1.5 percent of construction value depending on complexity. On the Kent County job, preconstruction is where we identified the fill risk and priced two remedies before the foundation package was released. That single piece of work was worth about $1.4M against the obvious answer.