Local chamber of commerce members thanked everyone for coming and introduced Mike Goldner with Homecorp LLC.  Homecorp is a member of the partnership that owns the facility, but they also are the property management company.

Mike took time to recognize the on site staff as well as other notable guests in attendance – Kevin Ketzler with Alfa Properties as well as Herbert Sheuer, Steve Coleman, Tony Tate, and Jim Curtis with Homecorp LLC.  He thanked the community for their warm reception of the Crossings and expressed their desire to been an asset to the city.  After the brief program and ribbon cutting, all of the attendees were invited to enjoy some fantastic food and beverages and were also encouraged to tour the furnished model units and clubhouse.

Katie Williams, Property Manager, as well as Carmen Worley, Director of Marketing for Homecorp LLC, have done an amazing job getting this property off the ground.  In the last two months alone, they have leased more than 69 apartment units which is an average of over one lease per day.  This is an exceptional feat and is a tribute to their hard work as well as to the beauty and functionality of the complex!

The property is located at 9100 Baldridge Drive in Pensacola, Florida.  If you are in the area and are looking for an apartment, please visit Katie and her staff.  They would love to assist you!

The Crossings at Nine Mile Road is owned by a partnership consisting of Homecorp LLC and Alfa Properties.  Both of these companies are based in Montgomery, Alabama.

The result is that construction companies are chasing leads that they would have never considered when the economy was good.

On top of that, they are much more willing to travel to other cities or states to get an opportunity on a project.

This is certainly true in the Central Alabama area as well as the southeastern United States where we do business.

So how can the good guys differentiate themselves so that potential clients can tell who they can trust when 20 contractors are knocking at their door?  Here are two ways to put your company out in front of the pack.

Financial Stability

In tough economic times like we are in today, there are very few construction companies who can honestly say they are on good financial footing and are weathering the storm properly.

So if your company is one of the few who are still operating in the black, then make sure the client is aware of that!

Alfa Builders is one such company.  2008 and 2009 were two of our strongest years in regard to sales volume.  On top of that, we are part of the Alfa family of companies.  We are able to draw on the diversified financial resources of the Alfa companies to ensure that we meet our financial commitments on every construction project. 

This is very reassuring to clients. They are relieved to know that the payments they make each month to Alfa Builders will go to pay for construction costs incurred on their project and will not be used to satisfy outstanding debts on other projects.

Qualified Construction Personnel

Another unfortunate result of today’s economy is that many individuals are forced to change jobs frequently.  Companies are forced to lay off their key personnel until they have more workload to justify the overhead.

In the construction industry, the result is that many companies are staffing their projects with individuals who are “new hires”.  These workers may have a respectable amount of construction experience; but if they have only been on the payroll a few days or weeks with their current employer, there are still many unknowns about their ability to seamlessly fit in to their new position.

Alfa Builders is fortunate to have longstanding employees in each position in our company.  Statistically, each of our employees has been with Alfa an average of 18 years (with none having less than 11 years with the company) and our key personnel have a combined 200+ years of construction experience.

As you can see, the personnel at Alfa Builders has been in place for quite some time.  Having such longstanding “in-house” working relationships and a well developed chain of command provides each of our clients with the confidence that we will successfully complete each project we undertake.

In Conclusion

I encourage each of our clients to compare the qualifications of each of their construction suitors and make sure they are considering all of these vital details before settling on their contractor of choice.  Our potential customers will find that Alfa Builders has done well in today’s tough conditions and will be there to meet their needs long into the future.  If you can think of other key measurements that owners should consider, feel free to comment below.  Or if Alfa Builders can assist you in any way, feel free to contact us.

Currently, the architect is working through budgetary analysis of the proposal and additional value engineering options to ensure the project falls within the parameters of the county.  Once this exercise is complete, award of the project should be made.

Construction should begin within the next 30 days pending final receipt of a construction contract.

A complete list of subcontractors and suppliers had to be submitted to the architect within 24 hours of the bid.  If your company submitted pricing to Lee Waid on that project and you would like to know if you were competitive, please give him a call or send an email.

Sustainable Construction Image

In 2009 there were quite a few pieces of legislation that were proposed in the House and Senate related to Green Building.  Most of this legislation was proposed to provide incentives for owners, developers, and builders to “go green” with the construction of new facilities, neighborhoods, towns, and the like.

If you have an interest in reviewing the key details of the bills that were introduced or passed in 2009 as well as some that are being proposed for the 2010 legislative session, please click here.

Feel free to share any comments below related to your thoughts on building “green” or on any of the legislation you read about.  If you have questions about the possibilities of green construction in Montgomery, AL or in the central Alabama area, feel free to contact us!

All of these sound great, but what does it actually mean for our industry?

Well, LEED actually stands for “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design”.  

LEED standards were created to do several things:

To define “green building” by establishing a common standard of measurement
To promote integrated, whole-building design practices
To recognize environmental leadership in the building industry
To stimulate green competition
To raise consumer awareness of green building benefits
To transform the building market

LEED Certified Buildings are supposed to use resources more efficiently that buildings constructed simply using standard building codes.  A LEED building often creates a healthier working environment for the employees which has been linked to higher productivity among the workers in the building.

However, there are currently some “downsides” to building a LEED building.  When an owner wishes to pursue a LEED Certification, there are often additional design and construction costs that will be incurred.  Also, due to a lack of availability of manufactured construction products that meet LEED standards, there can be significant construction delays.  These negative aspects of “green construction” should diminish as more construction of this type takes place, so in the future things should only get better in this regard.

Additional articles will follow soon to provide additional information on LEED standards and construction practices.  So come back often to check on that.  If you have any comments or questions about LEED Certification or green construction practices, please leave a comment below or contact me.

As you might imagine, any piping that contains water and is exposed to freezing temps for a prolonged period of time is at risk. 

However, one item that many facility owners and managers rarely consider is their fire sprinkler system.

With the normal balmy temperatures in the southeast, the standard design parameters for fire sprinkler systems don’t require extra freeze preventative measures on “wet pipe” systems.  In most winters, this is perfectly fine and the systems operate without a hitch.

But in the past week, we received several calls from clients wondering why their system is having trouble.  They are wondering if something was installed incorrectly or should have been more heavily insulated.  The answer is most likely “no AND yes”.

No, the system wasn’t installed incorrectly.  The fire sprinkler subcontractor designed and installed the system according to accepted practice and code requirements for our region.

But at the same time, yes, there might could have been some additional insulating measures designed into the work to provide some insurance against the unlikely possibility that temperatures in Alabama start to resemble temperatures normally reserved for the Northeast!!

The best answer I can give to help with preventing this from happening on YOUR next project is to work closely with your architect and engineer.

When you are discussing the options related to insulating your facility and protecting mechanical systems like plumbing and fire protection, be sure to discuss what type of fire protection they are recommending and also what steps are designed into the project for freeze protection.

It could be that adding some heat tape or routing the pipe in a different manner could save some headaches down the road.  If you have any thoughts on this topic, please leave a comment below.  If we can help you in reviewing the design for your next facility, please contact us!!  We would be glad to assist you!

There are many factors which can contribute to this necessity – some are customary and expected, some are not.  Here are a few that come to mind.

Construction Consultant

This is a common pre-construction role for many contractors these days.  It seems that so many companies in the design field (architects and engineers) develop their designs based on historical data that even Frank Lloyd Wright would consider old!

By the time the design is at 80% completion, the budget is blown and the architect is calling looking for some help. 

That is where the contractor puts on his value engineering consultant’s hat and begins to look for ways to trim the fat.  It is not uncommon for a project to be as much as 15% over budget, so the VE process becomes a foregone conclusion as an expected part of the job.

When the contractor has assisted the designers in matching the building with the budget, then we move on to construction and prepare for our next role.

Design Coordinator

Now that the individual parts and pieces of the design are fitting more closely with the owner’s pocket book, the project shifts to the construction phase.

At this point, the submittals and shop drawings start piling up on the contractor’s desk, and it becomes obvious that we have some problems.

The architectural design doesn’t match the structural design, and neither resembles the mechanical and electrical design too much.

Unfortunately, construction is already underway, so each day that passes is now burning up the contractor’s overhead.  So we grab our design coordinator’s hat and get to work making sure the building systems match each other.

Do we get paid a fee to figure out this construction jigsaw puzzle?  No. 

Do we do it anyway so that we can get the project moving forward again?  Yes.

We do what we have to do in order to save overhead dollars.  Thankfully, this “hat” is not worn on every project.  However, it is becoming a more common occurrence.

Design Engineer

We have the building and budget in line with each other.  Check!

We have the various building systems harmoniously intertwined.  Check!

So our project is clipping right along and the project is taking shape.  Then we hit a roadblock.

Something that looks beautiful on paper is impossible to construct without a supernatural miracle!  What do we do? 

Well, we call our project architect or engineer for a solution.  After careful study and days of waiting for a response, we finally get our answer. 

“Can you please provide us with some alternatives that will fix that problem and let us select the option that we like the best?”

So we knock the dust off our design engineer’s hat and draft some solutions based on common sense and accepted construction practices and make our presentation to the owner and architect.

Should the contractor who doesn’t have an engineering degree be designing solutions to problems?  No.

Is it a necessary part of the process to ensure the project finishes on time and within budget.  Most definitely.

We can’t afford to upset the apple cart at this stage of the game.

In Conclusion

Depending on what day you choose to be a fly on the wall, the contractor may be mistaken for one of a handful of players on a construction project.  I am not sure if this makes the contractor a genius or simply crazy.

But all of the hats we wear are done in an effort to get the project completed.  In a perfect world, we would prefer to wear the one that fits the best – General Contractor.

But since the construction world is far from perfect, we will keep our bag of hats on standby for the next time they are needed.

Please leave a comment if you know of other aspects of this topic that I haven’t covered or feel free to contact me.