Helios Design + Build Blog

Following Helios's innovations in the construction industry

Blog

C3 Modular House Set Day

I didn’t think I would ever see the day we would build an entire house in a day. That day came on November 9, 2010 when we successfully set the first privately owned modular home in Chicago. In collaboration with Square Root Architecture and Design and through months of planning the day finally arrived. It was a beautiful sunny morning, almost non-existent winds, a slight chill in the air, and a lot of anticipation.

Working out the logistics of how to make it all happen was the real challenge. From the beginning we were really reinventing the wheel. We had 5 modules ranging from 20,000 lbs to 40,000 lbs and from 10 feet by 40 feet to 16 feet by 60 feet all leaving the factory in Middlebury, IN en route to our site in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood. The supplier, Indiana Building Systems, and our crane operator, Imperial Crane, had worked out a logistics plan that avoided low bridges and tight turns to get to the site. Working all those routes took a number of weeks and countless hours measuring bridges as well as turn radius requirements. Shutting down and clearing the street proved to be the most time consuming activity out of all due to a number of car owners that decided to not pay attention to the tow-zone postings. We opted to “relocate” instead of tow to the city impound lot. There were a couple residents that came out to witness the spectacle only to realize their car was now half a block further west than where they parked it the night before.

The crane arrived and was set for operations in about 30 minutes. Throughout the day we faced a number of obstacles but none as imposing as setting these modules in between two existing buildings. The first module was set by mid morning, while the next truck rolled on site. The next two modules contained all the plumbing and electrical risers so they had to be split apart and properly rigged to be set next. The fourth module finished off the second floor and created the landing area for the top floor walk out penthouse. For all of the planning and detailing that went into the logistics of what we had just achieved, it came down to having a great team of tradesmen that all wanted to see this home successfully set in one day.

The C3 home proves modular construction can aesthetically achieve all the things custom building can in a fraction of the time. Slated for LEED Platinum, this home will outperform the vast majority of new homes built in Chicago in its energy consumption. There are certainly issues we still need to work out to make modular construction within the City of Chicago building code easier and more adaptable, however this home proves modular is viable and has a very strong future in Chicago.

Nov 22, 2010 | Categories:Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Introducing ORA Dental-Wicker Park

Helios Adds To List of Satisfied Health Care Clients; Completes First Gut Rehab Dental Studio

Professional & Technical Situation

ORA Dental Studio chose a former branch bank location in the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago to expand its successful brand.  Helios was faced with three major challenges:

  • Increase patient-based revenue by adding a patient treatment room to the original layout within the same footprint
  • Reduce overall project costs without altering design intent or adversely affecting the LEED® Silver rating
  • Absorb a three-week delay to the permitting process into the construction schedule without altering the client’s opening date

Helios’ Solution

Real-time decisions were made to find unique, sustainable materials that reduced overall project costs.  Modern, sliding “barn” doors made with recycled-content resin panels, epoxy resin countertops in the patient treatment rooms, recycled-content tiling in the bathrooms, and a 100% recycled rubber walk-off mat at the entry vestibule were incorporated into the design.  During construction, an additional treatment room was added by reconfiguring the design without adversely affecting the serene flow of the space.  Helios coordinated and supervised the client’s dental equipment installers’ work and other various FF&E suppliers while construction finished up in order to open the space on time and on schedule for the first day of scheduled patient appointments.

Bottom Line

By working closely with the client, architect, engineer, and subcontractors, Helios provided effective recommendations which met the client’s objectives and completed construction while reducing an already aggressive schedule. Helios suggested and implemented several recommendations that created additional revenue-producing space, and also decreased both construction and lifecycle costs.

Sep 28, 2010 | Categories:Construction Business, Sustainability, Value Engineering | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Façade Maintenance & Repair

Façade Maintenance and Repair in Chicago – What You Should Know

Chicago is an old city boasting some world renowned architecture. But with that age and beauty comes a lot of costly maintenance.   Our Chicago clients are often tasked with making tough capital expenditure decisions with respect to their facades.   Case in point, we recently performed a façade overhaul for one of our clients in the West Loop who was in the process of repositioning an older timber loft style manufacturing property into an office use.   Our façade work included new aluminum windows, lintel replacement and general masonry grinding and repointing.

Before

After

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you are a building owner or property manager, here are some things to consider prior to undertaking any façade related project in Chicago:

  • What’s your timeline? – Most products you might use on your façade (joint sealant, masonry sealer, mortar, etc) require at least 24 hours with a temperature not to drop below 35 – 45 degrees Fahrenheit.  As a general rule of thumb for Chicago, plan to be done with your project no later than November 15th to avoid issues with cold weather.
  • What’s included in your contractor’s schedule? – Have they specified calendar or business days?  Have they accounted for holidays?  Have they accounted for potential inclement weather days or will those be added to the schedule as they occur?
  • How much work needs to be done? – The City needs to know how much work will be done to your façade, including details like lineal footage of lintels to be replaced and square footage of bricks to be repointed.  They will use these estimates when calculating your permit fees.
  • Do you qualify for the Façade Rebate Program or Small Business Improvement Fund? – The City of Chicago provides money to property owners in certain locations who meet certain critera (Facade Rebate Program and SBIF).  While funds for the Façade Rebate Program in 2010 have already run out, it’s not too early to familiarize yourself with the program and mark your calendars for next year’s application period.
  • How will this work affect my tenant(s)? – While the majority of facade work will, obviously, be done on the exterior of the building, there are a number of items that might require interior access and work that will surely disrupt your tenant.  Plan accordingly and coordinate with your tenants early.
  • Does my contractor plan to hire an experienced (and insured) pedestrian canopy contractor? – Falling debris is not to be taken lightly (link and link).  You want to make sure you have appropriate protection for pedestrians and that your contractor follows OSHA safety guidelines (OSHA).

If you are wondering whether your building complies with all of Chicago’s façade requirements or need to be pointed in the right direction, this is a useful website to reference. 

Did You Know – Tuckpointing, as it is generally meant in the field today, is not an accurate definition of the word (tuckpointing description).  More specifically, when contractors refer to tuckpointing they generally mean to say grinding and repointing (repointing description).

Sep 17, 2010 | Categories:Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Tiny Dog Bakery

One of our most recent projects finds us in Evanston repurposing a Wolf Camera into the first Cupcake Bakery in the area.  The reuse of existing retail space is always a juggling act of design and limiting conditions. 

This particular space includes a number of tricky issues including a 20 foot deep entrance that will be transformed into covered outdoor seating.  Adding a new commercial kitchen to the space has presented a number of challenges that we have worked out through a collaborative effort amongst the equipment supplier, architect, and owner.  An extremely compressed build schedule has us delivering the space to be opened in time for the holidays.

Original Space

New Design

Sep 10, 2010 | Categories:Uncategorized | Tags: , , | Leave A Comment »

Construction Industry

State of the Construction Industry

Like many industries, the construction market has taken a beating in the past two years. Construction spending is down (read more here) and there are a lot of service providers chasing fewer projects. If you are interested in more construction economic data, click here.

We believe it is more important to delve in deeper into what is happening in the industry as many of these changes will affect projects starting in the next 1 to 5 years. Many firms have responded by cutting their ranks, both superficially and through deeper cutbacks.

Yet, as we talk to several of our colleagues in the business, we find it amazing that very few firms have actually taken steps to change the way they do business. Here are three items to consider:

  • Since 1960, general business productivity has increased by 100%, while construction productivity has remained flat (for more information click here).
  • Overall, the construction delivery methodology has changed little in the last century (for more information click here).
  • Construction is a human capital intensive business. A savvy management team, coupled with skilled and educated labor is essential to ensuring a successful project. We are on the verge of a construction labor shortage with fewer professionals and tradespersons entering than leaving (for more information, click here).

These issues make it apparent that the construction industry is ripe for innovation. We must innovate in order to survive, but by and large the industry is doing very little to achieve any sort of innovation. We at Helios are taking a more proactive approach. We have made several process improvements to the way we have done business in order to remain competitive. Here are a few areas we are working on:

  • Increased uses of preassembled components where possible. Boeing does not stick build airplanes, so why do we continue to stick build buildings? We are working with several of our subcontractors and vendors to prefabricate building components where practical to reduce costs, speed up construction durations and increase quality of the end product. We are working on a pilot project to develop 10 energy efficient affordable single family homes in Chicago (for more information, click here) that take advantage of several prefabricated components to reduce delivery times and save money.
  • Leveraging technology to change our procurement methods and delivery methodologies. Roughly 25% of construction costs are commodity type materials, however, most construction businesses continue to procure them through an antiquated stream of middlemen. On the other end of the spectrum, there are increasingly more building systems with a high degree of complication in their design, procurement and installation that require a substantial level of upfront planning and coordination to properly install. The traditional method of design-bid-build is not well suited for these systems. We also use technologies such as BIM (Building Information Modeling) to help integrate all building components which allows us to see how commodity products and complex systems integrate in a completed building.
  • Deploy new technologies to streamline our operations. We have made, and continue to make, substantial investments to improve the way we do things.

    We are using 2d and 3d modeling tools to assist with preconstruction activities such as cost estimating, life cycle costing, value engineering and systems coordination and integration. We are also in the process of going nearly paperless for our field operations, improving our ability to communicate with all project stakeholders, while helping improve field productivity.

We have utilized the methods above to help increase our field productivity and reduce our overall project costs by 5% – 7%, while improving the quality of the finished product and the speed in which we deliver it. We have a ways to go, but we are moving ahead with implementing other improvements in the coming year to further reduce costs and increase value for our clients.

Jun 16, 2010 | Categories:Uncategorized | Leave A Comment »

Shane Potter

Introducing Shane Potter

Shane Potter recently joined Helios Design + Build as a Senior Project Manager. Shane provides overall project leadership and management for a wide variety of project types, including medical, retail, office and mixed use. Shane has over ten years of commercial construction experience in Chicago, having been involved in the management of over $500M in completed construction projects and having provided preconstruction services for several high profile projects. Shane is a highly skilled leader, and provides complete project accountability. His satisfied client base includes several of Chicago’s premier health care organizations, private developers and owners of hospitality, higher education, corporate office and retail facilities.

Prior to joining Helios Design + Build, Shane served as a Project Manager for one of Chicago’s largest construction contractors, where his project leadership skills contributed to the company’s success over his tenure. Shane is a LEED® Accredited Professional and has obtained his American Society of Healthcare Engineers (ASHE) and OSHA 30-hour Certifications. Shane holds a degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Dayton.

We are very excited for Shane to be a part of the Helios Design + Build team and contribute his experience and expertise to benefit our clients.

Jun 16, 2010 | Categories:Construction Business, Sustainability, Value Engineering | Tags: , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Integrated Project Delivery

INTEGRATED PROJECT DELIVERY EXPLAINED

Fundamental construction delivery methodology has changed little in the last century. The last major change in delivery methodology was the advent of Construction Management, however most Construction Management has morphed into a variation of the lump sum delivery methodology.

In my opinion, the reason for this transformation is while Construction Management was designed to promote the CM as an owner’s advisor, there was never a real shift in aligning the incentive structure and compensation of the CM in relation with the goals of the client.  Under the CM delivery method, the CM is still compensated by a fee based on the total cost of work, therefore, a higher project cost equates to a higher fee.

While this is subject to market conditions, once a CM is hired, there is little incentive to reduce construction costs (if you read the book Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, this is similar to the theory on real estate agents (click here for more information).

Any construction delivery methodology that objectively is based on cost rather than value delivered is no different than pre-1970’s delivery methodologies.  Cost-based contracts create win-lose scenarios (owner wins by paying the contractor less, and vice-versa), whereas value-based contracts, built on quantifying the impact the service makes on the customer’s financial performance, create win-win scenarios (the owner gets more value so the contractor gets paid more).

Many of you have heard of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD).  IPD is a construction delivery methodology which relies on collaborative approach to delivering a construction project.  Using Kaizen principles (like those pioneered by Toyota as part of their Toyota Production System) and advanced building simulation tools such as Revit, the Integrated Project Delivery method helps focus projects around the final value created for the owner (the finished building). Rather than each participant focusing exclusively on their part of construction without considering the implications on the whole process, the IPD method brings all participants together early with collaborative incentives to maximize value for the owner. The logistics (contract responsibilities, sharing of liability, etc) of IPD still have not been fully tested, however there fundamental philosophy of integrated delivery or teamwork has many merits.

This collaborative approach allows informed decision making early in the project where the most value can be created. The close collaboration eliminates a great deal of waste in the design, and allows data sharing directly between the design and construction team eliminating a large barrier to increased productivity in construction.

For this delivery methodology to work, the method of procuring subcontractors and material vendors needs to be shifted from cost-based to value-based.  It is important to identify products and installers who offer the best long term value (i.e. lower energy costs, reduced maintenance costs, smaller footprints) that benefit the end user (reduced cost of ownership) rather than the Contractor (cheapest first cost).  An example on how this was practiced may be found HERE.

For more information, see the following articles:

http://www.constructech.com/news/articles/article.aspx?article_id=7619

May 14, 2010 | Categories:Construction Business, Processes, Value Engineering | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Sustainability’s Impact

Green is taking over! Eco-friendly or sustainable products and structures are becoming commonplace in the U.S. Green buildings are strategically designed to efficiently use natural resources to reduce negative impacts on the environment and human health. While these buildings have generally been thought to only help the planet, recent studies reveal that green buildings also give a large boost to the economy and productivity.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, between 2009 and 2013, the production of green buildings will contribute $513 billion to the domestic economy and create 7.9 million jobs.  This sizeable increase from the past decade demonstrates the considerable influence sustainability will have on the GDP. Furthermore, productivity and health is shown to increase in green buildings. A survey, “Do Green Buildings Make Dollars and Sense,” reveals that employees in green buildings have decreased their use of sick days by an average of 2.88 days. Furthermore, productivity in the workplace improved in green buildings by 16 percent. Additionally beneficial, daily operating costs reduce by 13.6 percent in green buildings. According to 77 percent of the industry, revenues will grow as a result of green building. Sustainable buildings are now proven to provide a higher return on investment by the market demanding high rent and maintaining lower vacancy rates.

Ultimately, green buildings produce a higher resale while offering immense financial savings. These buildings require less maintenance and are more durable to create more comfort for the tenants. Furthermore, green buildings are healthier for the tenant since they disperse less or zero sources of pollution indoors.

With evidence of sustainability’s profound impact on the environment and the investor’s bottom line, the green movement is developing at a rapid pace. National governments around the world have been funding and implementing new green standards for construction and development. It is exhilarating to see the genuine benefits derived from creating sustainable structures.

View study at: www.usgbc.org/greeneconomy

May 12, 2010 | Categories:Sustainability | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

The Square Foot Trap

Last year, I was consulting on a project for a long time client of mine who was considering developing a mixed-use building.  The client worked with their architect and developed a plan consisting of two levels of parking in the basement, along with one floor of retail on the ground level and three floors of hotel rooms above (128 total hotel rooms). The client asked our team to give them a budget for the development to determine its economic feasibility. We kept talking in terms of cost per square foot, and I gave them some construction costs that fit within the budget.  The square foot cost of the development was within the expected range, but the overall cost of the development seemed high.

To help understand the variables a bit more clearly, I broke the costs down into cost per revenue unit ($/space for the parking, $/sf for the retail and $/key for the hotel).  It turned out the appropriate UNIT costs for the parking and hotel uses were too high.  We worked with the team and investigated acquiring the adjacent lot, which would have allowed us to consolidate all of the parking below grade with an extra half floor.  While the cost per SF for the garage increased, it became a much more efficient design and as a result the cost per parking space dropped by 20%.  We changed the cost metric to match the revenue metric, and the deal made sense.

In addition, we were able to simplify the structure of the building by eliminating one set of structural transfers, and were able to reduce the height of the building by one floor. Ultimately, we were able to increase the amount of retail area and hotel rooms (resulting in a $6,000,000 revenue increase) while increasing the project cost by just $500,000, even after taking in account the added land cost.

When I work with clients evaluating multiple spaces or buildings, I often hear people talking in terms of cost per square foot.  They will say, “space A is 1200 sf and has a rent rate of $25 per square foot and will cost $50 per square foot to buildout.  Space B is 1000 sf and has a rent rate of $28 per square foot and will cost $50 per square foot.  Space A is the better deal.”  The appropriate answer is it depends.  How does your business generate revenue for that space?  If you are a health care provider, maybe it is per treatment location.  If you are a retailer, it may be by lineal foot of display space.  For a restaurant, it is probably by table.  Not all spaces are created equally and it is important to evaluate the specific conditions of a particular space as it relates to your needs.  If you can fit all of your business needs in a smaller space, a higher rental rate may be justified as your expenses (taxes, utilities, rent) are all based on square footage.

Oftentimes, building owners will cram in additional square footage to maximize floor area ratio, rationalizing that the end user will pay for it and their profitability will increase.  This is a common trap.  First off, the owner will find that most of their costs for the superfluous area are based on square footage (construction costs, soft costs, interest carry, commissions, etc), while most users will only pay for space that is valuable- especially in today’s market where higher vacancies across most asset classes make for a user’s market.

May 11, 2010 | Categories:Construction Business, Processes, Value Engineering | Tags: , , , , , | Leave A Comment »

Tenant Representation

Tenant Representation:  Retain the Construction Partner Early to Get the Deal Done

Any commercial real estate broker will agree that tenant improvements are one of the most important and heavily negotiated components of a lease transaction.  And, while unanticipated or (under-anticipated) TI expenses can and often do derail deals late in the game, quite frequently these costs are not estimated until a considerable amount of time and effort has been expended on a potential transaction.  Simply by identifying a tenant client’s construction partner and incorporating them into the team at the start of the process, both site evaluation and the definition of their program becomes more precise.

The benefit to bringing in a construction manager or contractor as early as possible in a tenant’s site search is enormous.  First, prospective locations be vetted and compared on a basis of construction costs early on.  Location A may have a lower asking rent than Location B but, if the tenant’s portion of the construction costs are significantly higher in the former, then the latter may be a better overall value.

Relying on ‘common sense’ or ‘eyeball’ cost estimating without using a professional is a risky proposition.  While certain comparative components of the needed build out in two different spaces are very obvious, there are many more that are not so.  Again, if there’s no need to guess or wait and see, why would you?

Additionally, the exercise of more thoroughly outlining a tenant’s program requirements and development of a cost estimate for the same can greatly help refine the requirements.  This cost-benefit analysis of the individual components streamlines the process of separating the ‘must-haves’ from the ‘would like to haves’.  Trade-offs often must be made or, conversely, dollars can be found in the budget to add certain amenities or features that were thought to be out of the budget.

Finally, as in any negotiation, knowledge is the key to making a great deal and doing so quickly.  An adage that is frequently used in the real estate business is that ‘time kills all deals’.  It couldn’t be more accurate.  Prepossessing the costs associated with the construction component of a transaction makes it easier to give swift responses to deal points.

The team of professionals at Helios Design + Build has a significant, proven track record of working with real estate brokers and tenants to achieve their goals.  If you would like to learn more about how we can help streamline the site selection process for you and your clients, please contact us today.

May 05, 2010 | Categories:Construction Business, Processes | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave A Comment »