Build Your Restaurant – Step 1 – Finding The VENDOR / Contractor

At the very least, choosing the best restaurant specialist for your project may seem like a daunting task. They are among the first steps and certainly the most important steps that you will need to take before opening your doors. It is a definition and can make or break your restaurant’s success.

For this reason, you should be sure that the vendors and subcontractors you choose will be able to complete the work, that they will maintain a strong level of interest in your project and that they will be able to finish the work in the appropriate time frame. While it is up to that company to do the work, it is up to you to do the due diligence to determine that it is able to deliver on its promises and likely to do so.

Restaurant construction specialist versus the general contractor

For this reason, you will need to choose a real restaurant construction specialist. Choose a builder with experience in the restaurant construction industry. Other types of commercial constructions and apartment buildings simply do not have the same requirements for building restaurants.

Ideally, you will – through your restaurant construction specialist – review and distribute tender documents among hundreds of different vendors as well as pre-qualified local subcontractors. This may seem over, but it is an important step to make sure you are recruiting the perfect pros to complete your project. This, after all, is a critical and complex investment. You will need the perfect team to complete the mission.

More due diligence

Once you narrow your list to a few potential candidates, it is useful to visit some of the projects that these vendors or subcontractors have already completed. This will allow you to see the quality of work, see how conditions wore over time, and determine if the range of work they did in other restaurants was similar to what you would need. It may give you the opportunity to speak briefly with these owners.

Next, come performance takeoffs and qualification of all offers of sellers and subcontractors. This will help you know that they are in full compliance with the work.

Time to suggest construction

Once this is done, the preparation and submission of A detailed competitive proposal for the selected candidates is completed. The proposal should be summarized by trade and clear on the details of the bid, including what is contained in it based on the bidding documents submitted to support it.

Any solutions for items that are not included in the bidding documents must be presented separately. Communication is the key to a successful project, so nothing should be left to the assumption that the realization of the vision has been fully understood. It is important to put it in writing.

The same can be said about providing value engineering alternatives to reduce project costs without jeopardizing performance. These components may be worth discussing, and possibly on-site, to develop the optimal design and strategy.

Contractor expectations

Finally, a list of expectations is created from the perspective of both the restaurant owner and the contractor so that it can be prepared as part of the final contract. This will ensure that these expectations are somewhat met on both sides of the agreement.

With this arrangement, you will be ready to move on to the pre-construction step of the process, which is the second step in the 5-step restaurant building process.