Stacking Deadlines

Twice a year, the same thing happens. 

Design teams get slammed with the same drawing deadlines. The building permit is due before Christmas. Construction drawings are due at the end of February.

It makes perfect sense. Winter construction costs more than summer, and these deadlines set teams up to start construction in early Spring.

While the savings are easy to see, here is what is not considered. 

When everyone targets the same date, teams get stretched thin, and coordination conversations are easier to miss. 

We’ve seen firsthand what happens when one of those conversations gets missed.

On one project, we were called to site at the last minute. The contractor has their hands up. We look up: a duct running straight into a beam.

Can’t go left. Can’t go right. Can’t go through the beam. Below it? The entrance and the high ceilings matter here.

The structure is already built. The duct has to come back out and find another route. The mechanical contractor takes the brunt of it, and nobody feels good about the result. 

The heating bill is easy to count. The cost of a conversation that never happened is harder to recognize.

Before setting the same deadline as everyone else, ask: Could a different date cost less overall?