Budgeting

Aspire’s budgeting process provides predictability.  Customers need to make decisions based on realistic and accurate budgets.  It is well understood that unrealistically low budgets are problematic.  We also believe excessively conservative budgets do not provide customers with the best information necessary to make the right decisions for their organization.  The goal of every budget is to be comprehensive with a high degree of accuracy.

Early-Stage Budgeting: Our early stage budgeting can start as soon as a customer has an idea of project goals and requirements .  As opposed to “conceptual estimating”, our early-stage budget starts with a high level of detail and scope definition.  Reasonable scope assumptions will be projected and documented.  The early budget stage is critical to set the project on the right course.

Value Engineering: Aspire’s Value Engineering philosophy is unique.   Value Engineering is not simply cost cutting, but rather a process where we look at materials, designs, constructability, and construction schedules with the intention of either reducing cost while maintaining quality; improving quality while maintaining cost; or lowering life-cycle costs while maintaining initial costs.  Value Engineering is not a one-time event.  V.E. analysis occurs concurrently with and throughout the design phase – not after bids are received over budget.

Design Stage Budgeting: Budgets are updated at each of the design milestones.   We work hand-in-hand with the project design team to eliminate scope creep and make sure everyone is on the same page.

Bid Stage Budgeting: A bid stage budget is developed with bids from contractors.  Each contractor bid is scrutinized in detail to make sure the bid scope is comprehensive, but also safeguarding against “double-ups” in the budget.

Construction Stage Budget Updates: During the construction of the project, the budget is updated at pre-defined intervals.  Any deviations in the budget are closely scrutinized and documented.  We forecast the anticipated final costs of each budget line item.