Issue: The Pat Fay Method takes more time.
The Pat Fay Method takes more time because the homeowner must find and negotiate with the contractors that will build each of the phases of construction. (The phases of construction are listed in the Pat Fay Method book on page 76C or on page 254. This is an order of construction schedule.)
While Pat Fay was working with a couple on their 3,000 SF (square foot) house project in Seattle (April 2008) the difficulty of finding contractors versus maintaining a fixed construction schedule was made clear. Intellectually, the couple heard me state that the construction process would take longer and they accepted that reality for savings of about $600,000 for their project).
In reality though, this couple could not depart from what main line construction management books teach; to put together a construction schedule with fixed dates and to stick to it. This does not work in the Pat Fay Method.
What does work is to work the project in an order of construction sequence schedule. Soft dates are entered in the schedule but they must be moved to the right as the realities of finding and working with home construction contractors are encountered.
Good contractors willing to charge too much money for their phase of construction are a dime a dozen. Finding good contractors willing to work for a reasonable profit is harder and therefore takes more time.
The way the Pat Fay Method works is that the homeowner concentrates on one construction activity at a time. There will be some advance planning for the next one or two activities but the focus remains on the one activity that must be accomplished before the others can proceed. Once completed then all of the focus is then placed on the next construction activity.
While we were finding an underground utility contractor to make the connection to the city sewer and water mains (for the 3,000 SF new house project) we contacted a number of contractors. It took time to find them, call them, meet with them at the site, and then negotiate the cost of the work. I found a good contractor who worked regularly doing this work and negotiated the cost with him. This took about 3 weeks.
The contractor I negotiated with submitted a price of $14,500 to do the scope of work. The other contractors had pricing from $20,500 and up. Why was this contractor willing to work for $6,000 less than the next contractor? Because he had work out about two weeks and wanted to line up work to keep his cash flow coming in and his crew busy. The next contractor (for $20,500) had committed work out about 4 to 6 weeks and, therefore, was not that interested in our work.
Finding good contractors that will work for a reasonable profit must be found by the methods found in the PF Method book (see chapters 11, 12, and 15; The Contractor, Managing and Using Competition to Drive Down the Cost, and Home Construction Pricing and Cost Estimating, respectively).
The issue that arose on this new house project is that the homeowners wanted to see fixed dates on the construction activities. I tried to explain that by doing so will cause problems between us because if those dates are not met then someone will be blamed. When in reality no one is to be blamed because the Pat Fay Method takes longer. The homeowner had fixed in their mind that if they set a certain date for a construction activity to be finished and if it is not completed on schedule then you are not doing what you said you would.
If a homeowner wants to see a schedule with hard construction dates then they will need to hire a general contractor to build their project. Of course, the cost to build a 3,000 SF house with a GC will be $300 per SF not the Pat Fay Method cost of $100 per SF. That means an additional $600,000 in cost (3,000 SF x ($300/SF - $100/SF)).
A longer schedule is a disadvantage of the Pat Fay Method. The choice is the homeowner's to make. Are you willing to accept a longer schedule or a shorter schedule with a higher cost?
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