Strong Pricing and Budget Phase Leadership

CSU hired Pinkard to work with the architect during programming to assist with pricing and budget instead of at the end of schematic design, which is customary with the State of Colorado contract.

CSU made this move because they recognized that Morgan Library would be a complex renovation fraught with many unforeseen conditions and complicated sequencing. Also, CSU’s “wish list” amounted to almost 29 million dollars. Their budget was $11 million.

By bringing Pinkard in early, CSU mitigated some of the complications of the compressed design schedule, allowing Pinkard to provide significantly enhanced, targeted pricing and very accurate estimates.

Pinkard also got a jump on planning the schedule, sequencing and locking in pricing for materials and equipment.

One method for locking-in pricing was hiring mechanical and electrical subcontractors very early in design. These subs helped provide accurate ME pricing and pre-ordered major equipment, avoiding price increases that would damage CSU’s budget.

To mitigate cost overruns in construction, Pinkard and Studiotrope worked with CSU to create a budget anticipating massive unforeseen conditions. The team “under-budgeted” the project but wrote over 25 add-alternates into the estimate. This way, as Pinkard and Studiotrope found creative field solutions to save CSU money during construction, CSU could activate the alternates as needed.

This approach was so successful that CSU could claim their alternates and still have money for additional scope “extras.”