Can Spending More be the Cheaper Option?

The late author Terry Pratchett had a memorable scene in one of his books. It explained one character’s theory that rich people spend less money than poor people. The quote goes like this:

“Take boots, for example. He earned $38 a month plus allowances. A really good pair of leather boots cost $50. But an affordable pair of boots, which were sort of OK for a season or two and then leaked like hell when the cardboard gave out, cost about $10.”

The story goes on to explain how ten years later the rich man’s $50 boots are in good condition while the poor man has spent $100 and still has wet feet.

The parallels with construction procurement are pretty obvious. Low cost always comes at a cost. The follow up question is how much more do you need to pay upfront to save money over a reasonable period? It certainly won’t be five times more (as in the case of Pratchett’s boots).

The real point here is that if you never ask the question, you’ll never know the answer. Or, at least you’ll never find out until after the building is delivered.

Whole Life Costs

The Construction Excellence vision highlighted how procurement needs to shift its focus to include whole life costs.

The costs of panelised offsite construction are competitive compared to good quality traditional builds. Can we deliver a project cheaper than a low budget build? Probably not.

But panelised offsite offers firmer guarantees in the areas of quality, ongoing maintenance and energy efficiency. All of which represent real costs to building operators and users.

Quality, built-in thermal performance and airtightness are all delivered through the precision manufacturing process. Data, specifications and case studies are there to support the promises.

The design-led process uses BIM and detailed 3D modelling to ensure that plant, services and equipment that will need maintenance are fully accessible. Low cost maintenance can be fully integrated into the design.

If the procurement process is ready to ask the question about cost savings over the lifetime of a proposed building, Innovaré is more than ready to provide the answers.

Contact enquiries@innovaresystems.co.uk for more information or take a look at our resource centre.