Subscribe:
RSS feed
-
Subscribe
Subscribed
Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
Significant resources are used to manage the soft parts of a project to keep the project on time and on budget. Owners execute protracted RFQ / RFP processes with short-list interviews and selection committees trying to pick the right team out of a bunch of suits. Owners ask designers and builders how they manage quality on their […]
November 19, 2010
Barry LePatner’s book Broken Buildings Busted Budgets has provided some questions for my own practice and thoughts on the design and construction industries, which I have used to explore through posts. For those that have struggled to understand the gist of LePatner’s book, let me provide the Cliff’s Notes. LePatner touches on many subjects tangential to […]
November 8, 2010
I recently completed Barry LePatner’s book, Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets (BBBB), and if I were a copy editor with a hook to write it would be: ‘LePatner Book Endorses Design-Build’. Considering BBBB is a book focused on why buildings cost so much and how to solve that, I would say the above headline as a […]
November 2, 2010
NOTE: Earlier this week, I became a featured blogger for Healthcare Design (HD) magazine, and now Healthcare Building Ideas (HBI). When I create content for those blogs, I will provide a short link here to those posts. Likewise, the HD/HBI blog posts will have a short end note or link to this blog, “Owner’s Toolbox”. The […]
October 6, 2010
How to control rising healthcare costs is a popular topic for debate these days, but all the water cooler talk in the world will not solve the riddle. Even recent legislation is the equivalent of a band-aid on a bullet wound. Effective long-term change rarely happens at the height of a crisis because there is too […]
September 13, 2010
A major obstacle for building owners in the process of getting a project built is finding a way to either get as knowledgable as the builder about the costs of the project, or find someone who can represent the owner and protect his interests to nullify the effects of asymmetrical information. Asymmetrical information is an […]
September 10, 2010
When company belts get cinched as tight as they can be without becoming a tourniquet, cost saving shoppers rely on improved productivity for relief. Outside of major business model overhaul, producing more with the same or less resources, is one of the only advantages against inflation. Whether a professional or assembly line operation, cutting costs to produce more for […]
August 21, 2010
In Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets, Barry LePatner’s book on the construction industry, builders are a large focus because according to the author, they operate suboptimally in many respects, but particularly in using information technology (IT) to their advantage. Early in the book LePatner cites a surprising stat on productivity: 32% of time spent on U.S. construction sites is […]
Owner's Toolbox
January 5, 2011
0