A Discussion of the Preconstruction Process with Taylor Marsalis

VCC Construction’s Taylor Marsalis, Director of Preconstruction, joined host Tyler Kern in the studio to dive into the preconstruction process on the Deconstruction podcast. Everything from the preconstruction process to the various challenges and navigating current construction market conditions was up for discussion.

“Preconstruction describes the events that take place up to the actual groundbreaking of the construction part of the project,” Marsalis explained. “There are a few different phases associated with preconstruction. It’s the design of your project, conceptual through construction documents and permitting. It’s going to be your budgeting phase for the project as well as your planning. So, scheduling, site logistics, phasing some of those other components that go with it.”

Preconstruction is a collaborative effort involving all parties of a project, and when done right, it’s a sure-fire way to guide a project to successful execution. The preconstruction process can help limit RFIs and other costly items that could emerge throughout the construction process.

Marsalis said budgeting is the currently a big challenge in the preconstruction process, with material costs fluctuating and uncertain. “As most people know right now, we’re in a pretty tough construction market when it comes to material availability, lead times, cost escalation, and inflation, so it’s trying to navigate the headwinds we have right now in terms of those areas.”

And it isn’t just material shortages and pricing fluctuations that impact the construction market; labor shortages continue to plague the industry. “A lot of our suppliers and their warehousing don’t have the labor to pump out the material, so that’s lengthened lead times, delayed projects, and caused a lot of project teams to shift their focus to different materials that are readily available,” Marsalis said.