The Construction Triangle: Balancing Quality, Cost, and Speed in Your Next Project

How Do You Balance Quality, Cost, And Speed In A Construction Project?

The construction triangle has been an industry staple for generations—quality, cost, speed: pick two. But is this rule as rigid as we've been led to believe? Alex Kosley challenges traditional thinking by revealing how StreamHome Construction navigates these competing priorities without sacrificing what matters most.

What truly sets StreamHome apart is its innovative approach to expanding what's possible within the traditional constraints. By investing in AI-powered tools and proprietary management systems, they're shrinking trade-offs that once seemed inevitable. Their upcoming pre-engineered ADU models represent a breakthrough—dramatically reducing permitting times, build durations, and costs without compromising craftsmanship. Alex shares a revealing case study where temporarily halting a project actually served everyone's best interests, demonstrating how sometimes the counterintuitive choice delivers the best outcome.

Whether you're planning an ADU, commercial renovation, or home addition in Colorado Springs, this episode provides invaluable insights into maximizing value in your construction project. Ready to experience the difference a forward-thinking contractor makes? Visit online or call to schedule your free consultation and discover how quality, affordability, and timeliness can coexist in your next building project.

To learn more about StreamHome Construction visit:
https://www.YourStreamHome.com
StreamHome Construction
719-644-6777

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to the Stream Home Construction Podcast,
where we take your project fromconception to completion.
Hosted by Licensed GeneralContractor Alex Kozley, we cover
everything from accessorydwelling units to commercial
construction in the greaterColorado Springs area.
Whether you're dreaming of anew ADU, planning an office
upgrade or tackling a majorrenovation project, we've got

(00:26):
the expertise to guide youthrough it.
Let's get building.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Welcome back everyone .
Tony Hill's co-host, slashproducer, back in the studio
with Alex Cosley.
Alex, how's it going?

Speaker 3 (00:45):
I'm doing great.
How are you doing today, Tony?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
It's good to see you again.
So, alex, tell us, how do youbalance quality, cost and speed
in a construction project?

Speaker 3 (00:57):
Well, yeah, that's a great question, tony.
It's kind of the classicconstruction dilemma quality,
cost or speed, pick two.
I'll quickly explain thisprinciple in case any of our
listeners are unfamiliar.
The idea is any project ordecision must strike an
appropriate balance betweenthese three pillars quality,
cost and speed.
If you want a project to bedone at a very high quality, it

(01:18):
was going to cost a lot or takea long time.
You have to sacrifice cost orspeed.
If you want high quality, ifyou want something done for the
lowest possible price, you'llhave to sacrifice quality and or
speed.
And if you want something doneas quickly as possible, you'll
either have to pay more orsacrifice quality.

(01:38):
Essentially, the theory is youcan't have all three of these
things at the same time.
You can't get something that'slow price, done quickly and done
quality.
That's the theory anyway.
So we'll dive in and unpackthat a little bit and give you
our two cents on how we operatewithin that with our clients.
So, as a custom AD builder andgeneral contractor in Colorado

(01:59):
Springs, we hear this all thetime.
The truth is, the triangle isreal, but it's much more fluid
than just pick two.
I think there's some nuancesthat are worth discussing.
For stream home construction,we won't compromise on quality
period.
It doesn't mean every projectneeds to have marble countertops
or a gold toilet, but it doesmean we won't cut corners, no
matter the budget.
Quality applies to everything,though, so it's not just the

(02:21):
quality of construction, but inour mind, this is the quality of
craftsmanship, materials, butalso the client experience,
something that we're not willingto sacrifice on.
Of course, we know that everyproject, from small ADU to
commercial renovation, hasunique priorities.
We do tailor each project basedon what the client values most.
Are they most concerned withtime, most concerned with the

(02:42):
cost, most concerned with thequality?
And so we're really justworking with each client to
balance those and understandwhat their real priorities are
On each project that we do.
One way that we kind of addressthis is we provide clients with
what we call an allowance foreach material selection, which
guides their decision-makingprocess in regards to the price
of their finished materials,which guides their

(03:03):
decision-making process inregards to the price of their
finished materials.
Essentially, they can choosemore expensive finished
materials, which means higherquality but higher cost, or they
can choose less expensivematerials and pay less, so that
we do leave the quality factorin the hands of our client to
some degree.
But, as mentioned, we have thiskind of base level.
We won't go below that.
We'll cut any corners.
But they can kind of decidebetween here and here.

(03:24):
You know, do you want a reallyhigh end Taj Mahal project or
are we going to keep this reallyefficient and cost effective?
We look at guiding clientsthrough this process of decision
making.
We really believe intransparency and want to lay out
all the options for our clientsin a way that they can access
and understand.
So we might say something like,yes, we can speed up the build,

(03:45):
but here's what that wouldrequire.
That will require us to bringon an extra superintendent to
increase the speed of this workgetting done.
Or we might have to hire someother subcontractors who can get
it done faster, but they'regoing to cost more money.
Or we might have to pay one ofour subcontractors additional to
work nights and weekends orsomething like that.
So there's different ways thatthis can all play out.

(04:07):
Ultimately, this is acollaborative process.
We engage with our clients, weprovide them a best cost benefit
analysis as we encounter eachof these decisions, as well as
our recommendation.
What would we do if we were inyour shoes?
Talk of advice that helped tomake the decisions best for them
and their personal situation,which we can't fully understand.
So here's one way that we'rekind of challenging this rule.

(04:28):
We can maximize the value thata client's getting while still
having to operate within theconstraints of this triangle.
So one way we're doing thatwe're investing in systems and
AI powered tools that help uskind of shrink these trade-offs.
We're actively working with anAI consultant to streamline our
processes, automate repetitivetasks and improve our timelines,

(04:48):
and that will not compromiseour service, our level of
quality.
So we can do that to reduceprices and costs but maintain
quality.
So we're still having tobalance those things, but what
we can do is provide a biggervalue inside of that triangle
for the client by findinginnovative ways to increase
timelines while also decreasingcosts.

(05:09):
We'll talk about that more in amoment.
Combine that with ourproprietary project management
systems and we're consistentlyfinding ways to deliver more for
less, especially on our line ofup-and-coming pre-engineered
ADU models, which willdrastically reduce permitting
and build times, as well aspricing, as they're designed to
be the most efficient stickbuild structures that we can

(05:30):
develop.
This allows our clients to getmore value while still having to
confront the reality of thetriangle of competing needs
Regarding client expectationsand education.
A lot of times we run intoclients that don't really
realize how long things take.
They don't understand how muchconstruction really costs,
especially nowadays, and so,with that being said, we really

(05:50):
learn that upfront communicationabout all these things is
paramount.
And you know, of course, aclient really needs to have a
good understanding of the totalcost of a project before diving
in.
But those costs are, you know,in terms of their own time, but
also money and then duration.
If we're on their productpreview working, that has some
cost to them as well.
We really want to get all thesethings on the client's plate

(06:13):
before we begin a project, sothey really have the ability to
count the cost before decidingto move forward.
But again, one way that we'reactively combating this and
providing more value is throughthese enhanced systems,
including AI automation, as wellas our EU models, which we're
really thinking are going to bea really popular option, that
still provide our high level ofquality but can get it done for

(06:35):
a lower price than custom stickbuild options we offer, and in a
shorter timeline, because themodels will be pre-approved with
the building department,permits will be very fast, and
then they're just designed in away to be less costly to
construct versus most of thecustom projects that we're
building.
So hopefully that all kind ofmakes sense.

(06:56):
And the question can you haveall three quality, cost and
speed?
Well, usually you need toprioritize, but with the right
systems and the right contractorand a forward-thinking approach
you can get closer than youthink.
That's what we're building atStream Home Construction Smart,
scalable, high-qualityconstruction for ADUs, home
additions and commercial carremodels in Colorado Springs and

(07:16):
beyond.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Okay, how do you handle situations where a
project starts to fall behindschedule without compromising
quality?

Speaker 3 (07:25):
Yes, it's not compromised quality.
So you get in a situation whereyour schedule is falling behind
, it's going to lead to highercosts and because we're not

(07:51):
going to sacrifice quality andsay, oh, just forget putting the
subfloor or whatever it is, andso.
But like I described earlier,when we have fixed price
contracts we eat those overagesand so that doesn't roll back to
our clients.
But we definitely do everythingwe can to address those
proactively.
We try to see them in advanceand figure out long lead items,
potential obstacles, identifythose up front, so we minimize

(08:14):
those type of things.
But when they do come up, it'sall about figuring out exactly
why that's happened and thenaddressing that issue at its
root and getting everything backon track as quickly as possible
.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Okay, can you give an example of a project where you
had to make a tough decisionbetween quality, costs or speed?

Speaker 3 (08:33):
Yeah, I think I have a pretty good example.
So we have a project, acommercial project, on the north
side of Colorado Springs.
We moved forward.
The bank had given us anauthorization to move forward
but hadn't approved someadditional expenses.
We just kept moving forwardwith the project under the
impression that the bank wasgoing to get this approval
completed quickly.

(08:53):
We wanted to continue to serveour clients, so we kept working
to keep the ball rolling.
Then the bank ended up taking alot longer to process the change
order application than whatanyone was anticipating.
We let the project go on and on, but eventually we had to stop
the project, and partly it was.
If we keep going on like this,the costs are going to continue

(09:13):
to balloon.
What we really have to do foreverybody's interest we have to
halt the project now so we canget all this stuff figured out
and we can come back to thetable with a new, clean schedule
and plan that we can executeefficiently.
We're working a little bitinefficiently waiting for the
bank to make this decision, asit was holding up some other
decisions, and this is just oneof those examples where

(09:35):
sometimes we need to come to aclient and have a conversation
that sounds like you know this.
Halting your project for rightnow, it's probably the best
choice for everyone in this typeof situation, at least with
that example.

Speaker 2 (09:46):
Okay, thanks for joining us today, alex.
Hey, we look forward to hearingmore from you in the next
episode.

Speaker 1 (09:57):
Have a great day.
That's a wrap for this episodeof the Stream Home Construction
Podcast.
Ready to bring your vision tolife, snag a free on-site
consultation by visiting ourwebsite at wwwyourstreamhomecom,
or call or text us at719-644-6777.

(10:19):
Until next time, let's keepbuilding your residential and
commercial dream in the greaterColorado Springs area.