Economy, Quality or Speed

I was talking with a subcontractor today who was talking about business. He said he learned something from another contractor many years ago about three things that really affect a project. He was told that economy, quality and speed are the ones that can create issues. It is not that they create issues in themselves, but if you concentrate too much on one, then the other two suffer. He said yes, you do want a job to have good quality, at a good price and in a reasonable time. However, if you work too much on economy, then the quality and speed suffer. Also, if you want too much quality, then the speed and economy go down. You get the picture. I do not see any of these as a problem for a project if you understand that everything has a consequence.

In distribution it is often said that you cannot have the best price, the best product and the best service. One will always suffer in the long run just like in the above examples for a construction project. So, when you look at a vendor and they have a great price, look at the other two problems you will run into. It may not be the best product and the service may be no good. To have a good balance, as in building a project, you need to pay a fair price for a fair product if that is what you are most interested in. If you want the very best product, then expect it to be more than the least expensive product.