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Developing your Employer's Requirements before appointing a contractor

The aim of this article is to explain the importance of developing your requirements before even considering appointing a Contractor to undertake the works and also looks at some of the tools that are used to gain a thorough understanding of your requirements.

You may be a board director or a senior manager and you have been tasked with the job of arranging the refurbishment or fitting out of a commercial office on behalf of your employer. You have been provided with an overall project budget and time frame when the works are to be completed. This task may appear a very daunting challenge given the possible pitfalls ahead. 

The skill set required to undertake medium to large projects is very specific to this business sector. Just as you would refer to a solicitor for legal advice, you need to appoint a professional firm of project managers, such as Workplace Concepts Ltd, who would manage all aspects of the project on your behalf.

There are lots of important considerations and decisions to be made during the time line of your office refurbishment or fitting out project, some of which you may have knowledge of and others you most probably have never even considered due to their technical nature, such as building services. All major decisions can have a financial and non-financial impact on the performance of your business. So it is really important to afford sufficient time to understand what options are available so that you can begin to develop a clearer understanding of your requirements.

It is fair to state that one of the most common reasons for Contract disputes between Clients and Contractors is a direct result of either party not understanding what is required or what is going to be provided. Unfortunately, these types of disputes happen far too often within the industry and can prove very costly and time consuming for both parties. It is particularly disturbing when disputes of this nature do happen, because they should simply not occur in the first instance if your Employer's Requirements have been fully set out before a Contractor is appointed.

When the decision has been made as to whether your are going to refurbish your offices or fit out new office space, it is then the right time to contact Workplace Concepts Ltd, who will add value to your forthcoming project. This is achieved by working closely alongside you and your colleagues in developing your requirements or referred to within the industry as the "Employer's Requirements".

The purpose of the Employer's Requirements document is to set out precisely your requirements to facilitate Contractors to price the works accurately. Whilst at the same time removing any risk of unforeseen costs for elements of work that have not been accounted. The size of the project and the complexity of your business requirements will be the driving factor as to what your Employer's Requirements should contain.

The Employer's Requirements document is developed for individual projects, but would typically incorporate the following pre contract information. Once completed these documents would form the basis of the Contract between the Employer and the Contractor.

Employer's Requirements:

• Project overview
• Pre acquisition or survey reports forming part of the building due diligence
• Building appraisal report
• Proposed form of Building Contract and completed appendices
• Contract specific Terms & Conditions
• Proposed tender and construction programme
• Detailed scope of works, which would include:
  • Requirements for the works to comply with statutory requirements
  • Health & Safety compliance
  • Acoustic requirements
  • Mechanical & Electrical performance specification
  • Voice & data requirements
  • Audio visual specification
  • Wall and floor finishes schedules
  • Furniture specification and space standards
• Proposed drawing package
• Concept and detailed design proposals
• Form of tender

Too often the importance of Building Services are overlooked by Clients as these works are concealed from view within ceiling and floor voids and can represent as much as 55% of the contract value. This percentage could even be higher in business sectors that require specialist services installation such as Laboratories.

Project Champion

It is important from the start of your project that a senior member of staff within your company is appointed as project champion. Their role will be to appoint the professional team and have authorisation to issue both financial and non-financial instructions. They will also be responsible for identifying key personnel that would form an essential part of the work groups.

The project champion must have a thorough understanding of your business and the requirements of the project.

Work Groups

Work groups are normally identified by department, discipline or business sectors. Work groups are an effective medium to communicate the business objectives to your staff and for attaining buy in from employees during the process. Where it is applicable work groups should be provided with set objectives, which are measurable and time specific.

Work groups should be a good cross section of the department/discipline and should be kept to a minimum number of staff to ensure productivity.

The aim of the work groups is to find ways of improving your business performance by creating a working office environment that will meet the business objectives. The outcome of the working groups would then form an integral part of your Employer's Requirements.

This method of communication can be extremely effective if your business is wishing to implement new ways of working in an effort to improve efficiency across the business. 

Room Data Sheets

If your business has several different departments and facilities, which have a high dependency on Building Services, the use of room data sheets is a very effective means of collating your requirements by either room or department. The completed data sheets will record both current and future facilities and would from an integral part of your Employer's Requirements. 

New Ways of Working

When contemplating your forthcoming refurbishment or fitting out project, it is an ideal opportunity to give careful consideration to the various options for new ways of working that are available.  These options could reduce your requirement for office space, which could result in reducing annual operating costs.

Once all options have been duly considered and a conclusion reached, the findings should be embraced within your Employer's Requirements.

Communications

Effective communication to your staff and customers is an essential part of achieving a successful conclusion to your project. The participation and contribution from employees will play an important part in the development of your Employer's Requirements. However it must not be overlooked that the outcome of the consultation period with the work groups is communicated at the appropriate stages.

As a result of adopting this process you will have a much greater chance of ensuring your Employer's Requirements fully embrace the requirements of the business and your employee's.

Conclusion

A great deal of emphasis must be placed on the importance of developing your Employer's Requirements, as the success of your project will be reliant on its ability to communicate your requirements to the contractor. Well-prepared Employer's Requirements will result in tender returns being competitively priced, because contractors have not had to price for risk and items of works not properly specified.

If you would like any further information please contact Workplace Concepts by either calling us on 01252 653454 or fill in the online enquiry form and we will contact you within 24hrs.