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Lean Construction is a framework that helps us achieve better performance while making the company a better place to work. It was through our belief in continuous improvement that we saw the need to develop a new role at C.E. Floyd Company: Preconstruction Manager. For the vast majority of our projects, we’re involved in some type of preconstruction, so this area gives us a good opportunity to provide more value to our clients.

Chris Merrick has been promoted to fill this role in our Massachusetts office. Chris has been a Project Manager and Senior Project Manager with CEF for the past 23 years. He brings valuable operations experience and knowledge to the preconstruction process, having successfully managed a wide range of award-winning projects in the independent school, senior living, hospitality and country club markets. He also managed construction of the first – and only – Trappist Brewery in the United States.

Chris will improve our preconstruction process with his many years of project management experience. In the SD and DD phases, where there is minimal information and design is still in development, Chris will help us produce more complete early estimates. He’ll recognize project challenges earlier in the design and budgeting process and provide more effective constructability reviews. With his operations experience, Chris can also develop project safety challenges, logistics and critical challenges during the early phases of design.

What Benefits does the Preconstruction Manager provide?

The Preconstruction Manager is a key link between the operations and estimating departments to deliver a higher level of service to our clients by providing:

1. Single point of contact with a project manager’s mindset throughout the Preconstruction process of a project
2. High level of operations experience yielding more informed decisions for estimates and budgets, project challenges, constructability reviews, safety and planning challenges and early logistics and enabling work
3. Seamless hand off to the project management team at the time of the GMP or final pricing
4. Early town permitting and approvals
5. Early assistance with utilities
6. Insights into value engineering options should they be required.
7. Expedited contract terms negotiations

In many cases the preconstruction process is limited to providing budgeting and estimating services to the owner at the varying stages of design to ensure the project stays on budget. However, many of the items mentioned above have a direct effect on this budgeting. For example, a schematic level budget that doesn’t take into account critical logistical challenges is missing a large piece of the puzzle and risks being inaccurate. 

If you’ve been involved in more than one preconstruction process, we’re sure your experiences for each were quite different. The process, by its nature, can have many variations on how it’s administered and the resultant outcomes. A dedicated Preconstruction Manager brings consistency and reliability to the process. Since a high percentage of our work comes from repeat clients and GMP contracts, this is a win-win for our clients and us. 

What’s involved in the preconstruction process? 

Whether the Preconstruction is for budgeting only or an expanded role, the major components include the following:

1. Understand the Owner’s programming and goals
2. Estimating services
   1. Conceptual level budgeting
   2. Schematic design level budgeting and estimating service
   3. Design Development budgeting and estimating
   4. 100% Construction Documents estimating / Development of the GMP
3. Value Engineering, including estimating of each option, explanations of the options, provision of required documentation required for review; as well as developing a tracking log.
4. Sub bid list development with owner and architect input
5. Investigative work to assist in the design process, estimating, developing of means and methods, etc.
6. Investigations of proposed materials and or equipment
7. Permitting assistance with the town or city
8. Utility coordination and assistance
9. Constructability reviews throughout the design process
10. Logistics planning
11. Safety planning
12. Document management
13. Administration including organizing and documenting regular meetings between the owner, designers and CEF

A successful preconstruction process will yield more successful projects for all parties. In future blog posts, we’ll expand on each of the critical components listed above.

Contact us to learn how we can help you with your next construction project.

Read our post Lean Construction is a Cultural Fit.