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Achieved through experience, a self-performing, multi-disciplined contractor has the unique ability to see opportunities that enhance the overall project — opportunities that most project teams may not even realize are possible.
For new capital construction projects, industrial facilities often face the challenge of finding multiple qualified single-discipline contractors, each with skilled craftsmen, to meet the project's schedule, budget and safety goals.
Why is this important?
A contractor with the ability to self-perform multiple scopes can save both time and money, especially when involved from the planning and design phase. The insight Standard Constructors has gained through decades of experience has been transformative for its client’s projects in schedule gains, reduced overall cost and improved safety. Those who don’t utilize multi-disciplined contractors will have to source, manage and balance multiple different contractors, adding layers of difficulty to achieve the project’s goals. A multi-disciplined contractor’s distinct advantage is to plan synergies and opportunities to stack the different disciplines without the challenges of coordinating multiple contractors in the same area. Otherwise, using single-disciplined contractors can lead to overcrowding, with each team blaming the other for delays.
As the project owner, managing a single contractor simplifies coordination, eliminating the need to juggle multiple parties with conflicting schedules and competing resource demands. A multi-disciplined, self-performing contractor can provide a great service to value engineer a project and see what the owner or engineer didn’t think was feasible from a constructability perspective.
Examples of projects that benefit from value engineering
A perfect example of this is in railroad construction. It is typical for rail contractors to perform services from the subgrade and up (ties, rail and ballast only). Another contractor is brought in to perform the drainage and subgrade, but the rail contractor subcontracts the subgrade job to someone else. All too often, if the track starts to have problems, the rail contractor will point to the company who did the subgrade, and vice versa. Now you have everyone claiming it’s the other guy’s problem. Even if the issue is resolved, it's still a problem because the rail contractor lacks expertise in drainage and subgrade, while the subgrade contractor isn't a rail expert, leading to significant time wasted on resolving the matter. Eliminate this and utilize a contractor who is an expert in both; the synergy is a good business decision.
The same could be said for the general civil scope for a plant expansion. This might include clearing and grubbing, cut/fill, utilities (firewater, sanitary sewer, etc.), piling (concrete, sheet, helical, etc), concrete (structural, water holding structures, paving, etc.). On many projects that involve "specialty" contractors, this could mean three or four separate contractors competing for space, while the owner is left to coordinate the entire process.
Time is money
The universal goal for project execution is to achieve excellence in safety, budget and schedule. A single contractor capable of handling multiple scopes will have cross-trained craftsmen and management who can identify opportunities to improve the schedule, all while operating under a unified safety program.
This leads to greater efficiency and reduced time, with only one mobilization, one management team and one contract. The Request For Proposals (RFP) and contract negotiation process can be time-consuming and costly for the owner. Using a contractor who can handle multiple turnkey scopes reduces the strain on the contracting team and enables more efficient mobilization and schedule optimization. Single specialty contractors may encounter issues with other contractors, leading to downtime and inefficiencies. This situation places the burden on the owner to manage multiple contractors with varying agreements and clarifications for their respective scopes, potentially resulting in disputes and unnecessary cost claims. A multi-disciplined contractor only has to worry about stepping on its own toes when sequencing work and optimizing the schedule for maximum value engineering.
Solution oriented
Nobody is better at understanding the details of a project than contractors. Who else is expected to provide detailed lump sum pricing to two decimal points in just a few weeks or less, while the design team has been working on it for months or even years? It’s the contractor’s job to become the expert on a project, and with its experience and turnkey capabilities it can quickly value engineer a project and determine where schedule and cost can be optimized for maximum gain to the project owner.
For more information, visit Standard Constructors.
