Rigorous Methods

Constructing a home is a complicated process with many moving parts that must be coordinated to work together.  A typical new home requires upwards of two dozen inspections, 50 different sub-contractors, dozens of bids and quotes, hundreds of invoices, numerous finish selections, and countless hours keeping it all moving forward in a cohesive manner.  In fact, our base project plan contains over 300 tasks.  How do you manage a project this complex?  Just like the old adage describes how one eats an elephant – one bite at a time!

At Forner – La Voy, we have combined Rick Forner’s home building expertise and James La Voy’s project management expertise to develop a rigorous methodology and approach to constructing a home.  This includes numerous touch-points of communication with you, the homeowner.

Starting with the design of your home, we work together to develop boundaries for scope based on your budget.  We then guide the design process within those scope and budget parameters, constantly taking checkpoints to assess the design against them.

When it comes time to formally place your design out for bid, Rick Forner performs a process we refer to as "constructing the house in his head".  Although time-consuming, we believe it is required in order to provide the detailed instructions bidders require to submit a thoughtful, thorough quote.  Each quote is scrutinized against our vast pricing database and then captured in an overall estimate that is presented to you at a detailed, line-item level.  This estimate flows into our job tracking system and serves as the basis for variance report analysis throughout your project.  As well, we provide you with a detailed specification describing exactly what is included in your project.

During construction, we utilize the latest technology in project tracking to plan, schedule and sequence your job.  Also our team is equipped with secure technology that makes all pertinent project information available to them in the field.

Along every step of your project, we employ quality checks from our extensive library of checklists that allow us to provide repeatable levels of quality, project after project.  We provide clear direction to our sub-contractors and sequence sub-contractors so that the job is clean and ready for them when they arrive.  And a member of our team visits your project daily to ensure smooth overall execution. 

From a selections perspective, we provide you with a schedule at the beginning of your project that details each selection needed and its due date.  This is supplemented by a list of vendor/supplier/tradesman contacts and instructions defining the specific information needed from you for each selection.

On a weekly basis, the Forner – La Voy project team meets to specifically discuss your project.  We review issues, project schedule, project budget, sub-contractor performance, and selections progress.  You are then sent a summary of the pertinent outcomes from that meeting.

Change orders are handled in varying manners depending on magnitude.  Smaller changes can be handled with an e-mail exchange while larger changes follow a more rigorous path that includes development and approval of a formal quote/estimate.

From an administrative perspective, all invoices received from sub-contractors are stamped, categorized against a line-item budget and then recorded in our job tracking system.  Each invoice is scrutinized against that sub-contractor’s bid as well as against the relevant budget before approval.  Any discrepancies or disputes are resolved.  On a monthly basis, all invoices are aggregated, reviewed again, and then submitted to you and your bank (if applicable) for approval.  As well, each month we examine your job for variances in budget vs. actual costs at the line-item level.  We then project where we believe each line-item will conclude from an actual cost perspective.  Finally, this information is provided to you in an easy-to-read format.

Our homeowners repeatedly comment on how impressed they are with our ability to make a complicated process like building a home function smoothly.  The reason is always the same – our rigorous approach.