Site Work Value Engineering: Unlocking Efficiency & Savings

Value engineering broadly refers to the strategic assessment of the use of resources on a project. No matter the scope, all construction projects can benefit from a thorough and thoughtful review of opportunities for improvements in schedule, cost, efficiency, or material selections.

However, the typical value engineering process can sometimes overlook one huge component of the project: the site work.

In some cases, the site work package is among the largest and most expensive of the entire project. Getting it right while keeping things affordable is crucial to the long-term success of the project and the building as a whole. That’s why successful project teams are turning to their trusted excavating or site work partners during the planning and development stage. With their specialized input, these site work experts can identify innovative solutions that minimize expenses without sacrificing functionality and performance.

In this blog, we’ll discuss the secrets of how to reap the benefits of site work value engineering on your next project.

• The Benefits of Site Work Value Engineering
• Key Components of Site Work Value Engineering
• Site Work Value Engineering Ideas
• Ensuring Site Work Value Engineering Success

The Benefits of Site Work Value Engineering

While cost-savings are a huge driving factor, the benefits of analyzing your site work package through a value engineering lens extends beyond cheaper alternatives.

• Reducing Costs
  In today’s competitive environment, a reduction in project costs can give you a huge competitive advantage. It also encourages your team to optimize resources, procurement strategies, and construction methods.
• Enhancing Value
  The best value option is your ideal balance of cost and quality. It is not opting for whichever option is cheapest in the short term. If a change or substitution reduces costs but also reduces quality, it’s not necessarily a better value. Instead, your team should focus on changes that reduce costs while maintaining or even enhancing quality or function.
• Improving Efficiency
  In addition to saving on site work costs, value engineering can also improve the efficiency of the project. Opting for construction methods that cut back on labor hours will save you money and may also lead to turning over the project earlier. Accelerating the schedule means you or your client can get into the building sooner, which delivers huge benefits in and of itself.

Key Components of Site Work Value Engineering

When embarking on the value engineering process from a site work perspective, your team should typically look at the following areas.

• Site Analysis
  Getting a good understanding of the site’s topography, soil, and other environmental factors is a great place to start value engineering. This process will ensure your team makes well-informed recommendations and is able to identify several opportunities for improvement.
• Alternative Methods & Materials
  Once informed of the project’s site and scope, your team should explore various material options and techniques to optimize value. This can range from rethinking how something on the site is designed to implement cost-, time-, and labor-saving techniques that will help the site work crew get more done for less. They should prioritize features and functions based on cost, availability, durability, and impact.
• Value-Based Decision-Making
  All of their decisions and recommendations should be oriented around enhancing value. When making a suggestion, alternates should be presented with information on trade-offs to help you make informed decisions that maximize value while staying within budget.

Site Work Value Engineering Ideas

Looking for specific value engineering ideas to cut back costs on your project’s site work package? We have just the thing.

While every project is unique, there are some site work value engineering opportunities that can be implemented on a wide variety of sites. In our free download, we share five of these cost-saving ideas that you may be able to utilize on your next project.

Click the link below to get your copy today!

Ensuring Site Work Value Engineering Success

There’s more than one way to approach value engineering, and each team may come up with different answers and cost-saving suggestions. However, there are a few characteristics that hint that your site work team has what it takes to bring you realistic, value-enhancing suggestions for your project.

• Experienced Team
  One of the best indicators that a site work contractor will offer beneficial value engineering insight is their experience. Have they worked on projects similar in size and scope? Do they have experience working in that geographic area? The knowledge gained from the lessons they learned from past projects is a huge asset for your project.

• Collaboration
  Value engineering is a team effort, and collaboration is the key to success. When making suggestions and changes, the site work team should work closely with other contractors to ensure it won’t negatively impact other portions of the project.

If you’re looking for an experienced site work and excavating team to offer project-specific value engineering ideas for your project, send us a message! We’ll do our best to get back to you by the next business day.

Posted July 14, 2023