There are several strategies and techniques for keeping your office redesign on budget, including: developing a robust and realistic schedule, conducting space planning, confirming that adequate systems are in place (e.g. HVAC, lighting, telecom, etc.), and using advanced project management software to track and measure costs against baselines and estimates.
However, there is another extremely effective way to keep your office redesign on budget that is less widely known, because it is not an approach that most interior solutions companies can offer at an expert level: value engineering.
What is Value Engineering?
Value engineering is multi-faceted approach that identifies opportunities to replace materials and methods with adequate alternatives, in order to reduce life-cycle costs and generate measurable savings.
A fundamental feature of value engineering, and what makes it so advantageous for an office renovation project, is that it does not seek to alter or diminish the project’s conceptual vision, or make sacrifices or compromises with respect to project material and, quality, functionality, performance and reliability. On the contrary, value engineering can actually improve aspects such as quality, by identifying innovative options and new approaches.
The Value Engineering Process
While every office renovation project is unique, generally speaking the value engineering process involves a set of core stages that include:
- Identifying the main elements of materials and methods.
- Analyzing the functions of these elements.
- Researching potential alternative materials and methods to achieve these functions.
- Carefully evaluating each potential alternative to ensure that it is viable and beneficial.
- Accurately costing each potential alternative by taking into consideration all factors (e.g. shipping, storage, lifetime maintenance, etc.).
- Evaluating each potential alternative, and highlight those that have the highest chance of being successful substitutes.
The Bottom Line
While software does exist to support value engineering, as with all tools, the “GIGO” or “Garbage In Garbage Out” truism applies. So yes, while software can certainly be helpful and in fact is necessary, expertise is required to ensure that the data is complete, accurate and actionable.
As noted above, most interior solutions companies do not offer value engineering – at least not at a robust, professional-grade level – because they do not have the in-house expertise.
Learn More
At Key Interiors, we are recognized experts when it comes to using value engineering, which help our customers identify measurable and typically substantial cost saving opportunities. While the process on our end is complex, we make the experience simple and streamlined for our customers – so they can focus on making decisions, without getting bogged down or overwhelmed by technical details.
Contact us to learn more about how we will use value engineering, and several other advanced techniques, to help you get the most out of your office renovation dollars – but without compromising your vision.
