Why Most Projects Overestimate Materials and Underestimate Thinking

Most projects don't fail at once.

They go wrong waaay before that happens; they fail while you're still thinking it's 'sort of' on track, and you'll be able to save it. And the way you think you'll save it is by adding more material.

That's just instinct, and many people think the same way. A structure feels shaky, so you add more support. And sometimes, that works, but the answer isn't piling more stuff on, but figuring out why this feels unstable in the first place?

Nobody is telling you to cut corners or avoid good materials.

It's the thinking part of the project that you need to work on first, and then get to materials second.

Why Adding More Stuff Feels Like the Right Move

It's easy to see and explain, so how can adding more stuff not be the ideal move?

If something doesn't feel right and you add stronger and thicker materials to it, it feels like you've made progress. And when you have a timeline to follow, you can't afford to lose time on anything that's harder to defend.

However, stronger doesn't automatically mean better.

Say a structure seems weak. It makes sense to add more support, but in doing so, you're not finding out why it feels weak. And what can (and probably will) happen is that that 'extra material' will actually hide lots of poor decisions that happened along the way, instead of fixing them, which is what you want, to fix things, not create more problems.

This is what happens way too often when people build something.

What happens is that there's a situation (deadline getting close, something broke, the design changed last minute, etc.) and then panic sets in, preventing the team from actually thinking things through and creating an effective plan/solution. Then issues start piling up, and the structure becomes heavier and more complicated, and it starts looking more and more like chaos.

So what might look like 'effort' at first glance actually is nothing more than a huge mess.

How the Same Materials Act Differently in Different Places

Materials don't behave the same way everywhere because the climate is different.

Here's a quick example of why that's important:

In Pennsylvania, the weather is constantly changing, with temperatures ranging from below to above freezing, and moisture can easily work its way in. So, if you're thinking about hiring a deck installation Chest Springs, PA contractor to build a deck for your house, it's best to first research the kind of materials that'll work here and think about how the structure itself will perform in this climate.

States like Arizona have cold nights, sure, but they get hardly any frost. But, they DO get plenty of heat! Oh, man, the extreme heat and sun exposure are constant, and they create a lot of stress for the materials.

Again, you'd need to do your homework and think before you buy materials and start building anything. One solution doesn't work everywhere, and you can't copy ideas from one place to another without rethinking the conditions.

That is, unless you want to fail.

Thinking Mistakes That Trip Projects Up

Here's how to successfully mess up any project.

Locking in Decisions Too Early

If you make decisions too quickly, they shape the entire project before real problems have a chance to show up. It feels productive to make all the decisions at once, but that means you won't test or rethink anything, and that's an issue.

Once you commit to doing something, it's sometimes hard to stop and realize (and decide!) that this is the wrong direction and you actually step back.

Looking at Individual Segments Instead of the Whole Picture

You shouldn't focus on individual pieces but instead on how they work together. Any system you make has to be designed as a whole, or you'll see small oversights turning into big problems later on.

For example, if you're building a driveway, you can't just think about how it'll look.

You have to think about how heavy the vehicle will be that'll be parked there. Will it be one or multiple? What about drainage? It's things like that that you have to include in your project. Everything that might be affected must be at least considered.

Mixing Up Strong with Stable

Stronger doesn't necessarily equal better.

It's the opposite, actually. What do you think happens when you add more and more material? That's right, it becomes heavier. And if the weight becomes too much for the structure, you'll see it start failing because the initial design didn't account for this type of weight. Building a strong structure IS important. But not if you sacrifice in other segments. Look at the bigger picture before committing to something.

Without that, extra material will only create problems.

Treating Context Like a Footnote

Most people treat climate and daily use as minor details when they're actually big. But at the start, they don't feel that important, so you push them aside. And if you look even at the simplest of builds, it becomes obvious just how risky that is.

When you ignore context, even good ideas break down at lightning speed.

Conclusion

When time is ticking, thinking doesn't feel productive, but more like a waste of time, so you decide you won't waste time on it. Then you go pretty much on autopilot, starting to patch things up, just so the project doesn't stall, but then one thing after another starts falling apart, and it's just... ugh.

Well, to be frank, you didn't think things through well enough. Turns out, that brief 'stall' was necessary after all. There wasn't enough planning involved, not enough testing, and well... you have to start over now.

But there's good news. At least NOW you know what to do and what NOT to do.

If you ever again find yourself in a similar situation, just think of the fact that sometimes moving more slowly provides you with faster results.