The purpose of this stage is to enable the Tendering of a project and selection of a building Contractor. Design information is developed to a level to enable tenders to be obtained. The type of construction contract to be used is defined. The design documents are sent to selected contractors to Tender for the work.
The aim of this stage is to select a contractor to build your project. For small projects including extensions and alterations, you could go with a known builder from recommendation, or via an open tender.
With either route contractors will propose a price and programme against which they will complete the building works on site. If using a tender process, the tender would be competitive with ideally at least three contractors tendering for the work. This helps to ensure that you are getting the best deal possible.
In order for contractors to price a job to any degree of accuracy, they will require a sufficient level of detail and information. Even for projects where the tender process is not used, perhaps where you have a builder in mind for your project, developed detailed information will be needed for pricing to avoid approximations and unknowns costs before going onto site.
For Tender stage, we would also provide a full specification or for less complex projects a Schedule of Works against which a contractor can provide costs against each item, in addition to drawings and scheduled information.
The selection of a good contractor is of great importance to the success of your project. A builders’ quality in skill, workmanship and project management of their work on site, together with their ability to translate drawn information into built form will contribute to the success of a project
When appointed to this stage, we will manage and organise the tender process, and can recommend and vet contractors suitable for your project. We will also invite and issue tenders, review returned tenders against cost, details and completeness, and advise on final contractor selection.
We always advise that a building contract is used between clients and contractors, and we can also provide guidance and recommendations as to which form of contract is most appropriate for your project.