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5 Tips on Saving Money with As-Builts for Home

Posted On Monday, 14 October 2024 10:47
5 Tips on Saving Money with As-Builts for Home Image source: 123RF

The housing market has always been a significant factor in building wealth and acquiring assets. However, time inevitably takes its toll, and both residential and commercial properties require regular updates to maintain their condition and preserve their value.
Here are 5 tips on how to efficiently use your As-builts to take care of the property in a costly manner:

1.  Plan renovations ahead

When planning any renovation, it's crucial to prepare in advance to avoid unpleasant surprises. The first step is to review your as-built plans. If you don't have accurate records of the existing conditions, you can request the latest updates from your local building department. If no records are available, we highly recommend ordering As-Built Drawings to properly define the scope of work. The key point is Legal compliance. You may need to address more than initially anticipated before starting a new project. Once you ensure that your current conditions are in order, you can use the site plan and local codes to plan accordingly accounting for property lines, egress, building specifications, etc. It is often more cost-effective to follow a well-thought-out plan than to build and later have to demolish or redo unpermitted work.

2.  Verify framing and foundation.

Regardless of the type of property, safety should be the most important factor to consider when building or renovating. Once you have your foundation and roof framing plans, an engineer can calculate the load and determine whether future additions are feasible. Unfortunately, we frequently encounter situations where the load capacity is ignored, and additional weight is placed on a foundation already compromised, such as one sloping downhill. The cost of this mistake is enormous, and very hard to undo. Without proper calculations and drawing evaluation, such errors become unavoidable.

3.  Use your schedules for your benefits.

When ordering the as-built plans, you may request schedules from your provider. Some companies include them in their scope of work, while others may charge extra. What are schedules?  In architecture and construction, schedules are lists of specific items, such as doors, windows, and finished floors. You can also request more detailed schedules for plumbing fixtures and furniture pieces for a design project. For example, a window schedule provides information on the type, size, and location of each window, so when it's time for replacement, you already know exactly what to order. You can also use schedules to calculate the quantity of materials, such as roof shingles, and carpet replacement, use sizes of the furniture to stick to the design project, etc.

4.  Save costs on materials and services.

When it comes to the actual services such as windows installation, or floor finish replacement, you can request multiple quotes from different trades using your plans. A high-quality as-built set of drawings will show all the components, elevation changes, amounts of components, and the overall building layout. This not only allows you to compare options from various trades but also ensures you order the correct amount of materials, helping to avoid overordering and reducing excessive debris removal costs.

5.  Keep your plans up to date. 

Maintaining the latest record of as-is conditions of the property is very important for multiple reasons. It aids the planning of future remodeling, and building maintenance, and supports insurance claims. Unpermitted or undocumented changes can lead to an insurance company refusing to cover repairs. For rental property and retail businesses, accurate plans can help reduce vacancy periods between tenants. Did you know, that potential buyers may request the latest plans? While it may not be a deal breaker when closing the sale,  having updated plans can certainly streamline and expedite the process.

Although it may initially seem like an unnecessary expense, an as-built survey and proper documentation can save significant time and costs in the long run.

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