Construction businesses have been struggling lately, despite booming demand for new domestic and commercial infrastructure. With the price of raw materials having risen considerably post-Brexit and post-pandemic, it is harder than ever for contractors to balance the books on new projects and builds. The supplier is the first port of call for making a meaningful change in this regard – and a crucial first alliance to make for any new contractors on the scene. But how can you ensure you pick the right supplier to work with?
Compare Suppliers
If you, as a building contractor or new project manager, take one piece of advice away from this, it should be that you never settle on the first supplier you find. The essential process behind which you find the right one for your business or project is one of comparison.
Gather up the details of every supplier in your region, and start by ranking them on what you can discover online: client testimonials, social media, and details on their website. From here, you can gain a clearer picture of which you might wish to work with. Of course, there are some key considerations to tally first.
Check Material Quality
When comparing suppliers, one of the first things you should be interrogating is the quality of the materials they sell. Poor-quality materials, even if sold at a low price, will only spell danger for your projects; they are not guaranteed to behave as they should during construction, and you cannot guarantee the quality of the finished product once you have completed construction.
Quality materials are essential for customer satisfaction, as well as for safety in construction and after construction. Pricing is a consideration in and of itself (and one we will eventually touch upon), but should not lead your thinking in this regard – particularly where project budgets can fold in higher material costs to the benefit of the build.
Lead Time
Another major consideration is that of lead time – or, the time in which a supplier can fulfil a given order request. Shorter lead times mean less delays for your construction project, as work can continue without impediment. Longer lead times are not necessarily a problem where advance orders can be made prior to a project’s formal start date, but can become problematic when it comes to potential emergency orders mid-project.
Of course, some suppliers are happy to work with clients on lead time, and especially so if those clients are high-paying commercial or industrial contractors. The metric here, then, becomes reliability. Will this supplier meet its own lead time for materials, or will unexpected delays occur?
Pricing
Finally, and unavoidably, we come to pricing. Pricing between suppliers can differ greatly, depending on numerous variables – including the provenance of the materials and the supply chain that brought them here, as well as the quality of the materials on offer. Paying more for materials, as touched upon earlier, is no major problem; some budgets are tighter than others, though, and compromises may need to be made.