Ridgemont Construction

Ridgemont Commercial Construction is a general construction management company in Irving, Texas. Seth Williams, Director of Business Development, was kind enough to take part of his Saturday to talk to us about his company and projects.

Ridgemont is 36 year old company and does not self-perform, subcontracting all the work on their projects.  They maintained production strong numbers even during the national recession and were even able to grow their company.  Seth shared his belief that this is the result of the high standard by which the company does business - evidenced not only in production numbers, but also in the high percentage of repeat business.

Ridgemont started doing interior finish-out for hospitals and continues to have clients in the medical related fields.  Their work is primarily commercial including Public-Private Partnerships, County Jails, and park & recreation facilities in addition to more traditional retail.  While it is unusual, they did complete a $4 million residential project in Highland Park that was really run more like a commercial application.  They were also part of a LEED construction project of a private school, St. Alcuin School in Dallas.

Seth spoke openly about the high degree of competitiveness in the construction industry pointing our that there are virtually no barriers to entry.  The result is that there are a significant number of contractors all vying for the same, limited business.  It is here, again, that Ridgemont's high company standard has allowed them to succeed.  Seth pointed out that they were looking for "base hits, not home runs" and therefore gave the necessary attention to all sized projects, not just the more high profile ones.  He also talked about the importance of transparency, saying they will even invite an owner in to participate in the bidding process if they feel it would be helpful.

The company has 3 owners and clearly is a relational based company.  The office was very inviting with the design reflecting the construction nature of the company's work.  The layout of the office space clearly encourages collaboration with open space and accessible offices of the leadership. From the work-out area to the game room to the open space where the team works together to meet bid deadlines it is evident that this is unique work environment.

One one the regular clients that Ridgemont works with is the group Roundtree Automotive and we were able to visit a site in Dallas that is scheduled for completion in Sept.  The Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge dealership is located directly opposite the entrance to Love Field Airport.  The land, formerly home to a warehouse, is a great example of brownfield development.   We were met at the site by Reese Goewert, Project Superintendent.  He spoke candidly about the challenges of the project including coordinating the building inspector's visits to sign off on work.  Despite the heat and the fact that is was a Saturday afternoon, Reese was hard at work, just a real life example of the dedication and integrity of Ridgemont Construction.

The Unseen & Unexpected

Surety bonds and construction insurance are an important considerations when starting a project and selecting a construction manager or general contractor.  Surety bonds are the structure by which a party will assume liability for the debt, default, or failure in duty of another.  It is not a loan and not insurance. The main purpose of holding a surety bond is to protect yourself as the owner/developer from default of your contractor or manager.  There are also different types on bonds such as contract, performance, and payment bonds each focusing on a specific aspect of the construction process.   While the Miller Act requires many public projects to have surety bonds, many private companies are more concerned with the bond ability of a company because it is a good sign of financial health - one of the major reasons for business failure. There is also the option of co-sureties which allow a division of contract obligations.  The important thing to remember when it comes to bonding is that it is negotiated within the contract and the cost should be considered and weighed against the benefit as is each aspect of the process.

The goal of insurance is to minimize risk and exposure.  There are many different types of insurance that are applicable to a construction project such as liability insurance.  Some of the more unlikely insurances might include vehicle insurance for construction equipment, insurance of materials en route, and replacement of materials stored on site.

From A to B

The scheduling process in a construction project is not only complex, it is unique to the building, the site, the location, and the people involved.  There are several approaches to creating a project timeline, but in all cases it is essential to have checkpoints, monitoring, and flexibility.  If the challenges of constructing the project were not enough, you must also add the stress of the credo "time is money" as the need to finish quickly must balance with quality.

One of the most essential elements of creating an effective timeline is to identify critical path items - key work items that must happen before other items may occur.  These items become the focus when crashing or accelerating a project, so they must be clearly identified early in the process.

The bar chart allows the developer to see the project length and overlap the duration of each important element of the process.  One of the major shortcomings of this process is that it does not easily show how one activity might be dependent on the completion of another.  It does allow visualization of different elements occurring simultaneously and gives an overall sense of time, but is not usually used to calculate hard dates.

The matrix approach is most often used for repetitive elements and gives a timeline with basic start, stop, and duration times that are helpful in planning.  It provides a framework of the project and its major parts without focusing on overly specific details and as a result is a good launching point for more complex planning.

The network schedule is also known as precedence notation and looks at critical path elements.  It assigns each major task both early and late start dates as well as duration time.  As a result it is helpful in determining where time can be given or made up in the event of a delay.  It is also helpful in the ordering materials because if provides and ongoing check of the time frame to allow for just in time procurement and reduces the need for additional storage.

These timelines, what ever format, are usually displayed on site as well as used in ongoing meetings with the owner, contractors and superintendent of the project to help keep everyone accountable and aware of the importance of timely progress. The timeline also helps everyone see the fuller scope of work and hopefully creates some buy in to the finished project.

The visual timeline of this old warehouse being transformed into a trampoline park demonstrates the many different construction aspects of getting from point A to point B. (Be sure to watch for the dry erase board timeline at about 1:30)

So You Want to Be an Architect...

Most people's vision of an architect has the person sitting around a drafting table drawing pictures of buildings.  While this is a pat of the profession, there is increasing more to it.  The first myth is that all architects do is design projects.  Much of an architect's work involves meeting with clients, working with construction teams, and generally managing their business.  The second myth is that you must be able to draw to be an architect.  Doug Patt, in the video below, explains that while you do not have to be an artist, you must be able to sketch or have some medium to convey visual ideas.  The third and final myth is that architects still draw with design plans by hand.  While concepts and ideas are usually sketched, the majority of the drawing and designs  are now completed using architectural software such as CADD (Computer Assisted Design & Drafting) software.

MasterFormat

The MasterFormat system was designed by the Commercial Specification Institute in an attempts to organize construction documents in a uniformed manner.  The format uses a system similar to that used in a library to separate the different drawings by general and increasingly specific features.  Construction documents can be hundreds of pages long, typically on huge blueprint paper, making thumbing through them difficult if not impossible.  MasterFormat allows construction professional and tradespeople an easy index to find what they are looking for, this saving both time and money.

The Future is Now

One Bryant Park is an amazing example of modern day construction.  The 54 story building is located in central Manhattan and is the second tallest building in the city, second only to the Empire State Building.  While its aesthetic value is enjoyed my virtually everyone, its greatest value add might not even be visible to a passerby.  One Bryant Park is one of the greenest buildings in the world!

 Richard Cook, the project architect, notes that small changes on a big scale make a huge difference and that was exactly the goal of this sustainable construction.  The green features start with the very design of the building.  The upper floors and open space create a ventilation system that actually pulls air through the building.  The building acts as a giant air filter, processing the air as it enters the building not only improving the indoor quality of the air, but also returning it to the city actually cleaner than when it came in.  The building boasts a green roof to help counterbalance the heat island effect, and extensive water reclamation system, and windows whose glass actually helps keep heat out thereby reducing the need to cool the building.  The buildings was also constructed of materials manufactured within 800 km of the site with 60% of the steel coming from recycled metal.  The developer also added slag from the manufacturing of steel to the concrete, not only making it more sustainable, but also stronger.

While many people feel that green or sustainable construction is too expensive, Cook reiterates that we cannot afford not to make these changes.  He estimated the additional cost at about 5% of the project cost with a return not only in energy savings, but in choosing to make a difference that impacts tomorrow today.

"Break" the Code

Building codes actually cover a variety of construction codes including the building, plumbing, electrical, and mechanical codes.  The goal of the building code is to help uphold a standard that sets a minimum requirement necessary in construction to allow for the health, safety, and general welfare of the public.  The building code is sometimes referred to as "the worst a building can be built" and the hope is that many developers will go well beyond those minimum requirements.

One of the greatest challenges when it comes to building codes is that they vary from state to state.  This is understandable, on the one hand, because conditions and uses may be specific to an area based on things such as weather and available materials.   The only construction that must adhere to a national building code is manufactured homes, because they are constructed and transported around the country.  The adoption of parts of model codes such as the International Building Codes saves not only time and money, but creates some consistency in building expectations.

The final challenge in building codes is in the area of enforcement.  This is done through different processes such as  drawing a permit (an application for inspection) and the inspections necessary for a Certificate of Occupancy.  These inspections may take place at different times during the construction process, but are essential to the ultimate use of the building by controlling the timing it can be occupied.