In honor of Career Technical Month, we are focusing on our own educational offerings at HBW Construction.
We know firsthand how valuable career technical education (CTE) programs are to commercial construction and our own workforce. Many young people start their careers in construction trades with a CTE program and on-the-job learning
At HBW, we believe that learning never stops; an inquisitive mind and a willingness to learn are essential in an evolving and increasingly technical industry.
To help our colleagues better understand the processes for budgeting and scheduling, HBW Construction has developed two continuing education courses: Budgeting 101 and Scheduling 101. These courses are taught to architects, real-estate leasing brokers, construction managers, and others during construction lunch and learn sessions featuring HBW’s own experts.
Having courses that earn professional continuing education credits reflects the quality of our material and our instructors. Our coursework is accredited by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Truthfully, we don’t know of any other contractor who teaches a class that earns continuing education credits.
Our team of experts work with budgeting and scheduling concepts and tools daily, which means that we are very up-to-date on costs, supply chain issues, design trends, and customer concerns, making our classes appealing and immediately useful.
Budgeting and Scheduling
Budgeting 101 teaches students the means, methods, and best practices used for quantity take-offs and unit pricing strategy. Gaining a better understanding of the construction budgeting process allows designers and others involved in planning to provide the details an estimator needs for a more complete and accurate budget.
We offer our construction budgeting course because we believe realistic budgets are a collaborative effort, whether you work with HBW or another company. The market has become very cost-conscious, and everyone involved wants to know – down to the penny – how much things are going to cost. Ballpark numbers leave too much room for error. HBW does 40-50 hard bids and 20-30 budgets a month, so we have a better idea than most of what design choices cost.
For our colleagues in leasing, having a realistic idea of what they can provide within the tenant improvement allowance (TI) impacts marketability, lease prices, and even tenant relationships. Our course can make the difference between a tenant moving into a space with expectations met and excitement or over-budget and disappointed.
As part of our construction budgeting course, we give students the tools they will need to understand and speak the language of an estimator to more accurately provide cost analyses to their clients for different build and finish requirements, including our own unit price comparison chart, project type comparison chart, and budget request form. We demonstrate how we build a budget based on real plans.
Scheduling 101 is taught by HBW’s scheduling pros – leveraging our experience to help future projects run smoothly. The course teaches the Critical Path Method of scheduling used in our operations. Like budgeting, construction scheduling helps set expectations with clients and our subcontractors far more effectively than looking at a calendar.
The construction scheduling course includes capturing all the steps in a build, how much time certain tasks will take, scheduling trades to do the work, and how long it will take to procure everything for the project. Because we’re familiar with what can go wrong during a build, we demonstrate how to be proactive and plan for things that might cause delays. We also explain the concept of floating, which allows some shifts in a schedule.
Our construction scheduling course uses a real example the students can relate to, starting with the due date and working backward. Students are taught to read a schedule, which is often more important than knowing how to build one themselves because it can help them understand a project’s status at a glance.
Enhance your knowledge with HBW Construction
For more than 50 years, our mission at HBW Construction has been to deliver highly personalized service and build trusted relationships. Offering budgeting and scheduling courses allows us to share our expertise with other industry professionals, helping them become better partners throughout the construction process. And that benefits the end-customer experience by accurately managing expectations for the cost and timing of construction.
To learn more or to schedule an HBW class, please email HBW’s Vice President, Patrick Foley pfoley@hbwconstruction.com.
Our Experts
Patrick Foley brings over 25 years of construction experience to his role as Vice President of HBW Construction.
John Madary, Vice President of Estimating for HBW, shares his expertise by teaching the Budgeting 101 class.
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