Commercial Building By The Seasons: A Guide To Planning Your Builds

Snow has finally landed here in Alberta, but just because you’ve broken out the windshield scrapers for winter doesn’t mean you have to put down your plans for a new commercial building. In fact, there are many advantages to starting your commercial build in the winter!

Each season brings with it new and unique opportunities, challenges, and considerations as you grow your business footprint. Today’s blog will examine what breaking ground during each construction season generally means for your business.

Commercial Building in the Fall

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If you want to hire the best teams and minimize expenses, Fall is a great time to begin your commercial building project. Contractors and subcontractors often have far more flexibility in their schedules since there isn't as much demand as in warmer months, leading to fewer delays. Furthermore, you’ll be able to quickly obtain the necessary licenses and inspections—a benefit of municipalities slowing down for the cold months to come. Commercial activity also typically slows around this time, meaning relatively minor disruption in your business since a reduction in foot traffic is to be expected.

However, projects that start in the fall will likely continue into the winter—a consideration whose pros and cons we’ll go into now.

Commercial Building in the Winter

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We won’t be too optimistic here—winter is far from the ideal time to begin a commercial build. However, we'll touch on a few lesser-known benefits in a moment.

If your project requires external building, you will need to make room in your plans for demanding weather conditions. In addition to the costs of temporary shelter, heating, and even snow removal, you can expect higher operational costs than you would experience during warmer months. Additionally, there is a greater likelihood of weather-related scheduling delays during this season—extreme cold, road closures, and sub-contractor illnesses are all but inevitable.

What are the advantages of commercial building in winter? We understand that getting started in the winter can be physically difficult. However, there are some big advantages to getting everything in place during the colder months of the year. Drawings, materials orders, permitting, etc., are all things that have a tendency to delay your project at any other time of the year. When you take advantage of the slower season to get all of these things handled early, it makes for a much smoother operation once the warmer weather does finally arrive and building can commence in full.
Also,  winter is one of the best times to take on a leasehold or other interior building improvements. Builders and subcontractors are more available now than they were in the autumn. Instead of settling for whoever has space in their calendar, you will have far more flexibility in picking a team that will best fit your demands. Additionally, there will typically be fewer delays due to quicker permit approvals in slower months.

Commercial Building in the Spring

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Spring is a popular time for commercial building, with good reason. Projects that begin in spring are usually finished in the summer while consumer activity is still high. So for those who wish to avoid construction throughout the summer and winter holidays or vacations, Spring building is a perfect time to get started.

However, since this is universally the busiest time of year for commercial building, it will take a lot of work to obtain your preferred contractor. This need for labour planning (as well as preparations related to materials and permit applications) shouldn’t scare you off from a Spring building project, especially not when working with an experienced commercial building team.

Commercial Building in the Summer

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Warm, consistent prairie weather is a great time to work on the exterior of your new build, as well as beautification, landscaping, and interior design. While yes, Summer is an exciting time to walk around your new build (between vacations, we hope), many businesses find the Summer a great time to finish off property work rather than begin it.

After the busy Spring building season, the project permit approval procedure is often backed up at the municipal level. Additionally, during the summer, your contractor will likely have a more challenging time locating necessary supplies or suitable subcontractors. Likewise, as with your vacations, the persons responsible for signing off on essential paperwork may be out-of-office with their own vacation commitments—especially in rural or smaller communities.

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Even when your engine doesn’t want to start in the winter, Flynn Bros Projects does. Whether it’s just taking a look, pitching improvements, or handling the process from start to finish with our team of designers and builders, we’re eager to help you grow your business. Click here for a free quote from our experienced Albertan design-build team.