4 Steps to Prepare a School Community for a Construction Project

If you’ve never managed a construction project for school grounds before, it can feel daunting to jump in. Before you start evaluating commercial construction companies in Sonoma County to choose the right contractor for your school construction project, you’ll need to inform the various stakeholders and properly prepare the school community. To ensure your project goes off without a hitch, follow these four simple steps:

1. Communicate with Project Stakeholders

First and foremost, you’ll need to identify your project’s stakeholders. For school-based construction, stakeholders usually include the school’s students and their families, staff, alumni, donors, community members, trustees, and neighboring communities. Make sure to meet with the school’s leaders to get a complete list. Once you have your stakeholders, you’ll need to choose effective communication channels for making sure everyone remains informed and keep track of any essential questions to ask your builder.

Update Regularly

Use emails to keep stakeholders posted and ensure anyone who would like to keep themselves informed has easy access to the information they’re looking for. You can post project updates to the school’s website and in regular newsletters.

Hold Meetings

Hold meetings geared toward specific groups when necessary to make sure you can answer pertinent questions and assuage concerns. These meetings can help you to educate important and vocal stakeholders.

2. Discuss the Long-term Impacts

Many project stakeholders will be wary of negative impacts of the project. To quell these concerns, work with the commercial construction companies in Sonoma County managing your project to communicate the long-term benefits of the project. Make sure to effectively explain project benefits to stakeholders. Using design renderings can help them focus on the end result and the positive effects the new construction will have on the students, facility and community as a whole.

3. Communicate Challenges

Before starting the project, tell all the stakeholders what disruptions to expect. Explain to them the nature of the disruptions and what you’re doing to minimize them. If you are expecting increased traffic, noisy activities, parking problems, or would want some community members to relocate temporarily, let them know beforehand so they can plan for these.

Be Open and Honest

No one likes being the bearer of bad news, but honesty and open communication about the struggles or challenges that your stakeholders may face is essential. When prepping for your design build construction project, choosing to hide the more frustrating aspects of your construction will break down trust and cause many more problems down the line.

4. Plan with Your Contractor

After you select a design-build contractor, set up a time to discuss the project plans. Are there certain times of the day you would want the contractor to stop work due to noise and safety issues? For example, if the construction site is close to the student pickup/drop-off point, it makes sense to halt construction during student pickup and drop-off timings.

Work with school faculty and other stakeholders to understand their needs to come up with a plan that works best for everyone. Discuss the nature of invasive works with your contractor. If a long school break is coming up, consider finishing these tasks during then to avoid disruptions.

Professional Projects, Done Right – Holly Construction, Inc.

Need help on your construction project? Holly Construction is here to help! We are one of the best commercial construction companies in Sonoma County. Our construction experts have extensive experience managing complex construction projects. Our expertise, know-how and experience give us an edge over the competition. Contact Holly Construction today or call 707-541-0700.