Life of a Project Quiz

After the Project Manager/Coordinator examines them, these invoices are sent to the accounting team to process and pay. On some projects, our accountants manage the payments. Once several invoices have been processed, accounting will create a batch and send a report to the Owner to request funding to pay these vendors or get approval if the Owner's account is already funded. Upon approval/funding, checks are then cut and sent to the vendors. On other projects, all invoices are sent in a batch to the Owners and their accountants pay the vendors directly.

.Expediting is all about details. There are many things that need to happen and may time lines to keep track of. The Project Coordinator will make sure that all of these details are completed on schedule. This includes: POs and invoices received, submittals sent and approved, fabric shipped to manufacturers/fabricators, product shipped and delivered. The project team must confirm and communicate dates to all parties.

Ideally a budget will be set early on as to what the Owner is expecting to pay for the cost of the project. It is always our goal at BW to help them come in UNDER budget by saving them through value engineering and relationships with vendors. Along with the budget, we will ask about timelines. It's also important to make sure we have a room matrix as well as a project schedule

All bids received from the vendors will be put into CCSS for comparison. It's important to make sure we are comparing apples to apples. Making sure that each vendor is quoting on the same quantities, the same material (fabric, wood species) and the same FOB. It should become clear what the "going price" is for each item. We can use this to negotiate a lower price or better terms with the specified vendor or we can suggest a different vendor to the Owner. In many cases, we'll request quotes/bids for a Model Room at the same time as the production quantity. It's important to get a low price on the Model Room even though the vendor is not guaranteed the full order.

Generally the installation will happen in phases. The Hotel may close down a floor or two and complete renovations there, while still being able to conduct business on other levels. Usually at this point the Owner or Owner Representative, the Project Manager, the General Contractor and his selected sub-contractors are all on site to complete proper installation. In some cases the Bray Whaler Project Manager may also be on site

At this point the BW Project Manager/Coordinator sends out requests for quotes/bids to vendors to get pricing for each item. The PDFs of specifications provided by the designer are included. In many cases the designer will specify which vendor they would like to purchase from, and of course we request a quote from them. In an effort to save the Owner money, we will also request bids from some other vendors with comparable products. We use the term "Quote" to request pricing from vendors that are specified by the designer and "Bid" for all others. It's important to make sure we ask for details such as lead time, FOB, and payment terms to be included on quotes.

Before sending the PO to the vendors all POs are sent to the designer for review. Once any requested changes are made, the POs are sent to the Owner for their approval. We want to make sure we are all on the same page as to exactly what we are buying, from whom and at what price and terms. Once the approval from the Owner is received, we send the POs to the vendors.

At this time we discuss our findings with the Owner and the design team. We will discuss not only pricing, but also things such as where the vendor is located. Careful attention needs to be paid to the FOB. A lower price from a vendor who is geographically very far away may actually end up costing more after shipping all the items. Or a vendor who requires more lead time to manufacture the item may not be the best choice if they can't meet the Owner's on-site date. It's our role to make a recommendation that is in the best interest of the Owner and the overall success of the project.

We ask each vendor to send us an invoice for the purchase. This will include the agreed upon quantity, price and terms. In many cases the payment will be split with a percentage needed up front as a deposit to start the manufacturing and the balance due later.

The Design team then provides BW with detailed specs for the project. These specs outline in detail all the items that must be purchased for the renovation or construction. Lighting, carpet, casegoods, electronics, fabric, fabric, accessories, etc. Everything is included. These line items are input into CCSS to create a Current Cost Estimate or Preliminary Budget which includes the basic information, such as Category, (For example, guestrooms, suites, public areas, etc), Item Number, Description, Quantity, and Vendor. If a price is quoted on the spec, that may be entered, or allowance amounts may be used instead.

The Marketing Department discusses the project with the Owner and/or Project Management Company to fully understand the goals and expectations of the Owner for this project. They clarify and make changes to the items outlined in the proposal.

Anything that isn't perfect upon installation must be followed through to completion for a successful resolution. In some cases the BW Project Manager/Coordinator will know what things are going to be less than perfect in advance. For example, a chandelier for the lobby may be a large custom piece made overseas. The lead time may well exceed the onsite date, but rather than delaying the whole project, the Owner will choose to begin construction and add the chandelier later when it arrives. Punch items may include wallpaper or carpeting that was not installed properly, furniture damaged in shipping or any number of things that have not met the vision of the designer and the goal of the Owner.

The Project Coordinator puts all additional detailed information from the spec, including a picture of the items and any necessary submittals into the Budget Line Items in the CCSS system.

We ask all vendors to send us an acknowledgement of receipt of our PO within 48 hours! This is very important because we don't want anything to fall through the cracks only to find we are missing something weeks down the road because the vendor never received our PO.