For K-12 students, summer is the time to get away from books, extracurriculars and studying and take a well-earned break. However, for school facilities teams, it is the exact opposite: Summer is the busy season, when the bulk of renovations, repairs and maintenance projects are completed.
With summer break lasting a mere couple of months, every second counts. That’s why advanced planning is of the utmost importance to achieve success and finish projects before students make their return to the classroom.
Explore our six-step checklist to help you prepare your K-12 school now for summer construction season.
1. Prioritize Your Projects
Take the opportunity to weigh the needs of your facilities against each other and decide what projects must be finished this summer, what projects must get started this summer and what can wait. Having everyone on the same page will keep expectations reasonable and create support for facilities goals.
Miami-Dade Public Schools’ Former Administrative Director Francis Hoar sums it up nicely, “By planning intelligently we can focus our limited resources effectively, take advantage of aggregate planning and bulk purchases but most importantly prioritize our work plan to ensure it is directly supporting learning environment in our classrooms.”
2. Plan Holistically
Just because school is out doesn’t mean all activity comes to a halt. Summer school and student clubs and teams meet during this time. Additionally, teachers and administrators are often working on campus. All of this must be considered when thinking about summer construction projects. Now is the time to create contingencies, decide what to do with these constituencies and inform them of any changes.
3. Assemble a Top-Notch Team
Summer is the busy season for your local contractors, too, and the best construction professionals in your area are in high demand. If you wait too long to engage with them, their calendars will fill up. The traditional construction procurement process can take months to complete, so start now or turn to alternative procurement methods like Gordian’s Job Order Contracting (JOC), to get qualified professionals on-site faster.
4. Budget for the Unknown
It’s common to uncover unseen facilities problems in the midst of a project. You might find that parts of the structure are in bad condition or that there are inconsistencies from the paper blueprints to the physical building. Budgeting early ensures you have the funding on hand for the projects you’re planning and the ones you aren’t.
5. Order Items With a Long Lead Time
Some equipment and materials can take weeks to get on-site and if you wait until the spring to order these items, you’ll waste half your summer and fall short of your goals.
By acting now, you can ensure you have the support, funding, equipment and materials you need to complete your summer construction projects.
6. Consider Alternative Construction Project Delivery
Summer will be here before you know it. One way to stay on-track is by using an Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) project delivery method like Gordian’s Job Order Contracting (JOC). With JOC, multiple projects are completed over the life of one long-term contract.
Following these six steps can cut procurement time significantly, from months to weeks. Want access to an even more robust collection of summer construction resources? Explore our summer construction resource hub today.
