BY ERIC GREENE
When general contractors sign on for projects, their job is to oversee and manage all of the tasks and subcontractors to keep the project on schedule and within budget.
In 2012, Erland Construction was hired by the F.D. Rich Co. to serve as the general contractor on the Summer House project being built on lower Summer Street in Stamford. The 334,000-square-foot, 22-story apartment complex will incorporate 2,700 square feet of retail/restaurant space, 227 residential units and a fifth-floor amenities space that includes a pool.
Nestled between Bow Tie Cinemas”™ Majestic 6 and Buffalo Wild Wings, the site itself posed several interesting ”” though manageable ”” challenges. Summer House is being built right alongside the property lines, sometimes crossing over them, as is the case with Buffalo Wild Wings. With urban site projects such as Summer House, some of the most common challenges include getting materials to the site as required, selecting a nearby location where trucks can be staged and materials stored until needed, ensuring the safety of pedestrians and protection of abutters”™ property, and minimizing the impact on area businesses and residents. All of these issues were addressed on Summer House during preconstruction, and construction began in August 2013.
Weather can present an additional challenge, particularly doing steel work during wet or winter months. The “Wet” trades, such as concrete and spray fireproofing, also have temperature criteria that must be maintained.
During the winter, the building exterior can be tented and heaters can be brought in to warm the work areas as needed. When it”™s 5 degrees on the ground, it”™s much colder up inside the structure, and this can lead to shorter work days for subcontractors. But ultimately, the No. 1 priority on any worksite is always safety. Whenever possible, a general contractor may also try to delay any “wet” work until the weather is warmer. The 2014-15 winter was long, but the Summer House crews worked hard to mitigate the impact, so we were still able to top off the building by mid-March (Fairfield County Business Journal, April 6, “Stamford building tops at 250 feet.”)
It often comes down to the strengths of the general contractor that can make or break these challenging situations. At Summer House, for example, we have a staff with extensive preconstruction and construction experience. Many of them have 25-plus years of experience, which results in the ability to foresee potential obstacles and to address them.
At the start of every project, we complete a “risk assessment matrix,” where staff can bring up any and all perceived job risks and the team can discuss ways to address them. This is an important asset in anticipating challenges and ultimately overcoming them ”” ideally while being able to stay on the project schedule and not stray from the project”™s budget.
We have formal quality and safety programs with individual committees and ongoing peer reviews. We also utilize advanced technology, such as building information modeling ”” called BIM ”” to coordinate the structure; “clash detection” to identify potential issues in the planning stage; and lean construction techniques that help maintain a structured, systematic building schedule.
Overall, in order to be a good general contractor, you need to be a great listener and planner, where you can key in on the owner”™s goals and work with all parties on the job throughout the process to achieve them.
There are several factors that can help ensure a project”™s success:
Ӣ Always look ahead for potential road blocks and work to overcome them early.
Ӣ Develop a schedule that all parties buy into early on. Track the schedule weekly and hold each other accountable.
Ӣ Maintain good communication through regular meetings with open communication at all times.
Ӣ Hire the best subcontractors for the specific project type. In the case of Summer House, we wanted subs who were experienced with large-scale multifamily housing.
Ӣ Staff the project appropriately so the level of service that is required and promised to the client can be delivered.
”¢ Make sure the expectations of all parties (owner, architect, subcontractors and consultants) are aligned so that everyone is on the same page. Create an “everyone wins” attitude with all stakeholders.
”¢ Treat subcontractors as valued partners ”” they are key to getting the job done and done well.
Eric Greene is vice president and regional manager of Erland Construction Inc. Contact Erland”™s Stamford office at 203-324-4970.
Comments 1