A Good Builder’s Cost Includes The Decisions You Don’t Have To Manage

I think people underestimate the cost of design-build because they underestimate how much there is to figure out. They see the materials and the construction. They don’t always see the decisions and conversations it takes to get there.

At Den & Burrow, we lead the construction and design process. We’ve done it many times. That experience is part of what you’re paying for: people who can take responsibility for work you would otherwise have to learn how to manage yourself.

I think of a project as 10,000 decisions that need to be made and 10,000 things that need to be communicated. And those decisions are different every time. You’re not just choosing things. You’re figuring out what each choice means and communicating it to the people doing the work.

The cost of having a team carry that work

We have to pay for our overhead, our tools and our people. We have to pay for the experience we bring. There also has to be something in it for us to keep going. Profit is part of keeping a construction business working.

Those costs can be harder to see than the materials, but they support the people managing all those decisions.

To me, one of the biggest reasons to hire a good builder and a good designer is to protect your time. When you look at the cost, consider how much of the process you’d otherwise have to figure out on your own. That responsibility has value, too.