Comparison of work agreement structures homeowners can choose from when working with a building contractor:
Negotiated vs. Competitive Bid Costing

A Design/Build Collaboration

Kodiak Construction has long-standing working relationships with several local architects. These collaborative and trusted relationships between Kodiak Construction and designers offer the best of the design/build model without the potential negatives of a conflict of interest by making the designer and builder financially responsible to the homeowner and not to each other. A design/build or negotiated bid can reduce costly design time or worse, end up with a design beyond the budget’s reach. Having Kodiak Construction work alongside the design team, provides costing at multiple intervals to confirm that the project does not veer off track. Although Kodiak Construction often collaborates with several preferred architects, Kodiak Construction also routinely works with design professionals chosen by the client.

Competitive Bidding

Kodiak Construction is often presented with completed drawings that are ready for pricing. Kodiak Construction is sometimes already selected as the contractor of choice and the homeowner’s objective is to determine if the project is within budget. Other times there are multiple contractors providing pricing at the same time for comparison purposes. If the homeowner’s goal is to select the least expensive contractor, that usually is not going to be us. However, if the selection process includes thoughtfulness, clarity in project description and to help determine what the final level of quality will be, these are the factors Kodiak Construction excels at.

How We Work

Most of the homeowner’s contact with Kodiak Construction from the initial meetings through the design and costing process is with Colin Zak, the general contractor. Once the project is scheduled and ready to start, the day-to-day communication shifts to the project lead and the coordination specialist.

Each project is assigned a project lead who, with support from the general contractor and the coordination specialist, is responsible for the management of the construction process. With offsite support, the project lead focuses on the physical implementation of the design and delegates the scheduling of inspections, subcontractors, material orders and deliveries, and interfacing with utilities and municipalities. Project updates are communicated internally within Kodiak Construction and then shared with the homeowner and other relevant outside parties.

“From the beginning, you stood out from the others by listening carefully to what I wanted, then patiently going over each item in detail, offering invaluable suggestions and cost-saving alternatives. During the remodeling phase, you made suggestions that I would never have thought of, all of which turned out to be exquisitely beautiful.”

– Lyn

Completing The Job

Approximately two weeks before project completion Kodiak Constructions starts collecting a list of outstanding tasks and also has the homeowner generate his own list to compare during the final week of the project. Kodiak Construction completes all that it can with the available materials. Sometimes an item is back-ordered or was damaged during delivery and needs to be replaced at a later date.

Kodiak Construction schedules a courtesy return visit approximately six weeks after substantial project completion to address anything that the homeowner noticed after the crew left or to install any newly arrived finishes. Our follow-up visit relieves the homeowner of having to catch all outstanding items at once, giving the homeowner time to settle in and see if anything needs adjusting. The homeowner shares this running list about 1-2 weeks before Kodiak Construction returns so we can be prepared and take care of all outstanding tasks at that time.