Value Engineering in Design/Build: Getting the Most for Your Money

by Glenn M. Travis, Principal, GMT Home Design

Before committing to a custom home build or a major renovation, every homeowner asks this vital question:

"What can I get for my budget?"

It's a great, practical question. Everybody has big ideas and dreams, and everybody has some budget limitations, and sometimes there's a gap between those two things.

You have to put some trust in your designer and builder, because they're the ones with experience in what different ideas can cost. But you also want to feel assured that those trusted professionals are working to keep your costs down (not working to keep their price tags up!).

In the construction business, figuring out how to meet design goals in the most cost-efficient way – giving the homeowner the most bang for their buck – is known as "value engineering," or VE. It's a positive-sounding term, but it's not always looked at that way, because when it's done wrong, it amounts to "going cheap." And when value engineering is an afterthought – a last-minute search for money-saving solutions when the building phase has started – it can actually wind up costing you more money, instead of less.

Read the full article on the Renew Blog