Retail construction management is regarded as being a very challenging profession due to the complexity of projects, the number of moving pieces, the number of players involved in the process, and differing opinions of the stakeholders. And all of that comes before you consider the financial implications associated with such events. In the ever-changing world of brick and mortar retail, your store environment needs to be constantly evolving otherwise you will find yourself going out of business like these once household names did. One simple way to save time, effort and money is to bundle the services that you are using. Instead of trying to coordinate 5 different vendors to get a new fixture installed in your store, you can instead work with one partner who acts as a single point of contact for the entire project.
Bundling services is a fairly simple idea which is used in many walks of life that I am sure you experience on a fairly regular basis. For example, the Big Mac meal. You could buy the sandwich, the fries and the drink separately, but by purchasing them together you save money. You might do the same thing with your cell phone provider who might also supply you with your cable TV and internet requirements. Then there are insurance companies such as Progressive who "Save you a bundle when you bundle" by combining your home and auto insurance.
A real life example of what happens when you don't bundle services
You have a small box retail store which is part of your fleet of 1200 locations. You are tasked with rolling out new fixtures across all sites. The scope of work includes:
1. Removal of the old fixture
2. Carpet/ LVT to replace the damaged area
3. Additional power drops
4. Additional data drops
5. Patching and painting of walls
6. Installation of the fixture
7. Disposal of trash
8. Return of old fixture to warehouse
This list would require you to coordinate an electrician, a structured cabling professional, a handyman, a painter, a carpet layer, a logistics company and a carpenter. Now imagine this being multiplied across 1200 locations. The chances of things not going to plan are pretty high and any wasted time means lost money, frustration, reduced sales, unhappy customers, disgruntled store staff and more stress than you know what to deal with.
The alternative solution is much simpler: you add a provider of turnkey project management solutions to oversee the project and this team is now responsible for vendor management. This gets you out of the weeds, allows you to work on more important tasks, reduces your spend, passes ownership and accountability onto your partners and allows you to save time, money and your sanity, as well as making you look like a hero to the store associates and your peers.
No one owns the problem so it becomes yours
Another factor to consider with not bundling services is that it becomes much easier for people to start pointing fingers and playing the blame game. Your project gets behind schedule because the electrical work isn't done on time but instead of owning the problem, your electrician blames the handyman who was responsible for removing the old fixture. Now there is a knock-on effect on the other vendors whose schedules are adjusted meaning that they are no longer able to be on your site when needed as they have other commitments to attend to. You now have to find a new carpenter who can meet your schedule requirements but because of the urgency of your request you have no control over cost which puts your project over budget. Complaints are filtering in from the field and instead of getting your job done, you are now spending your time explaining to your peers why your project is behind schedule and over budget. This catastrophe continues to gain momentum as you are essentially a dog trying to chase its own tail and are on damage limitation. You are constantly putting out fires and start to dislike a role that you once loved.
What happens if you don't bundle?
The more complex the project, the greater the need to bundle. The more vendors that are involved in the project, the greater the chance that something goes wrong. All it takes is one electrician to not show up and you will be on the hook for return trip charges, over-time, projects not being completed by the deadline, and an unhappy in-store experience. In this situation it is essentially every man for themselves where they will only do their part of the scope of work
Are you having to work with multiple vendors to complete even the simplest of tasks? Do you find yourself asking yourself the same question over and over and over again? Are you fed up with wasting your time and budget trying to coordinate vendors? Bundling services could eliminate all of these challenges, reduce in-store disruption, and give you and your team greater workplace satisfaction.
If you're feeling overwhelmed just from reading this post, there is an alternative solution for the next project that you will be responsible for. Give the team at Royal Services the opportunity to show you how projects should be run. You can check out some examples of our past projects and start getting an appreciation for the benefits associated with bundling services. If the idea of working with a provider of turnkey project management services seems a little foreign to you, please schedule a call so that we can find out more about your projects and can answer the questions and address the concerns that you have.