4 Ways to Uncover Your Clients’ Real Expectations

It’s all about the client!

We know that we win and retain our clients when we demonstrate that we understand their challenges, can help them achieve their goals, and will be responsive and proactive in dealing with their concerns. But clients don’t always voice their concerns, issues and fears. They may even be reluctant to share them with construction professionals, particularly in a competitive bidding situation.

So how do we uncover and leverage this important information?

An often-overlooked strategy is to carefully consider how they choose to execute their projects, namely the delivery methods, contracts and documents they employ. Capital projects are necessary for the success of our clients’ core businesses, but they are frequently expensive, disruptive and time-consuming for them.

Consequently, clients want a pleasant project delivery experience as well as a quality end product. Close consideration of their chosen delivery methods and documents may provide a deeper understanding of their most important concerns and expectations, and this insight can help in a number of ways.

1. Project Delivery Methods as Clues

Project delivery decisions can often tell us the importance clients place on traditional goals such as cost, schedule and quality. In addition, they often provide clues to their project-specific concerns, such as occupant safety or minimizing disruption to daily operations. For example, a client concerned with cost certainty might select construction management at risk (CM-R). CM-R is often chosen for complex projects where project scope is likely to change throughout the project, and the resulting adjustments to costs and schedules must be anticipated and actively managed. A multiphase hospital renovation may take place over years and involve many revisions of the initial program. CM-R is a delivery method that can react to design changes while actively managing schedule and budget.

Clients may opt for design-build (D-B) for a project requiring a speedy project delivery. D-B often allows construction to proceed prior to completing design, as opposed to the 100% design required for a hard bid project.

Clues about specific owner concerns are also frequently reflected in the project documents (especially the contracts), as well as in the general conditions. Interrogating the documents can lead to insight into the client’s concerns.

Regarding client goals and issues, it is helpful to ask questions such as:

• Why does the client use this particular delivery method?
• Have they had experiences — good or bad ­— with other delivery methods?
• How do they make their professional selections? Who is involved?
• How do they compensate those professionals?
• What do they specifically care about on this project? Are there critical issues?
• What contractor level of expertise or experience would satisfy their concerns?

Exploring these questions can be a good first step in understanding clients and their concerns. There are many other questions, of course, and it may be helpful to develop your own checklist of relevant questions based on your own experiences. Often, concerns are based on the owner’s experiences with previous projects, and your account managers or project professionals may have opportunities to uncover these in discussions with their client counterparts.

2. Stakeholder Roles & Expectations as a Clue

The information we uncover also helps us understand who’s who among the various stakeholders. Expectations for performance, cooperation and collaboration are implied by the delivery method, but also embodied in the documents. Project stakeholders include client staff, design professionals, contractors, financial professionals, consultants, regulators and many others. Each has an interest in delivering a quality project and achieving certain project goals, while also satisfying their own unique goals and agendas. In the course of their work, each may also act as an important influencer or informant for us.

The roles and responsibilities of the parties to standard design and construction contracts are well understood. But changes to the traditional clauses, references to unique project documents and other modifications may shed light on stakeholder expectations. For example, many large or complex projects may require the contractor to employ specialists — such as mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) coordinators or full-time safety inspectors — which may hint at the importance of those issues. With the advent of virtual design and construction (VDC), it is now common for documents to acknowledge the involvement of other technical professionals who will be involved from design through construction. Regarding stakeholder roles and expectations, it may be helpful to find out the following:

• What are the responsibilities of each party?
• How and why are the various parties selected?
• Are there established relationships between any of the parties?
• What is the scope of work for additional technical consultants?
• Who will manage the technical consultants?
• What contract types will be used, and what relationships are expected?
• What is the client’s experience with similar projects?
• How involved is the client in executing projects?
• Which parties are hired first?

Again, asking these questions can spark your understanding of client expectations for the relationships between all the project professionals. And developing a list of questions related to stakeholder roles and responsibilities may be helpful. Of course, it is always wise to dig deeper in conversation with our clients and the professionals who work with them for further understanding.
 

3. Client Appetite for Risk

Because construction projects are inherently risky, understanding a client’s inclination for risk can help in a number of ways. Some delivery methods inherently minimize many risks, such as utilizing CM-R to insure adherence to schedule and budget, particularly for complex projects. However, you may find even more valuable clues regarding risk from the contract and other documents. Here are some questions to ask:

• How and why have they modified the terms of the standard contracts?
• How and why have they modified the terms of the general conditions?
• Have they added onerous contract clauses designed to shift risk?
• Are there excessive liquidated damages or penalties for late completion?

4. Seller-Doers’ Unique Access to Information

Internal document reviews and consideration of the particular project delivery are only a first step. Understanding clients requires that project executives, project managers and other client-facing professionals — because of their established access to the client team and other stakeholders — leverage their access to help ferret out the most important goals and issues.

With a goal of deepening relationships with clients and positioning the company for project opportunities, uncovering client concerns is crucial for creating and maintaining a winning relationship.

A Word of Caution

This article has assumed we have a prudent, thoughtful client making wise decisions regarding the delivery of their project. Unfortunately, not all owners select project delivery or contract documents with great care. Many simply don’t think about project delivery, and they may select a simple, traditional method such as design-bid-build. Some owners will defer to architects, attorneys or others to help make these decisions. So, it is incumbent upon the diligent contractor to dig for these important issues, concerns and goals. The benefit is worth the effort.