The Solution for Tough Construction Sites: Creativity

As availability of flat, greenfield construction sites decreases with time, General Contractors are becoming adept at creative solutions for complicated sites. Pence is working with several clients who have found ideal locations that pose some challenging site and budget issues. How are we resolving those issues? Creativity.

Bruce Turner, Pence Chief Estimator, is a longtime Value Engineering expert and creative problem solver. On a recent site in Washington one of our senior living clients found a narrow strip lot with challenging terrain resulting in huge earthwork costs. While the location and size of the lot may have been ideal, the budget did not allow for substantial earthwork costs.

“This is why people get us involved early,” Bruce said. “They do single page sketches, get their ideas on paper and ask us for a budget. With this project, we couldn’t get the budget where it needed to be with standard practices.”

Bruce and the team at Pence noted that the one story building the client had planned for could be changed to a two-story, which would have positive budget impacts via foundations, roof structure, exterior envelope savings and dramatically less earthwork required with a smaller footprint on the site.

“This is part of what we do,“ Turner said, “We couldn’t get the numbers where we needed them, so we said, ‘think about a two story building and the architect did a new sketch of the two story plan and the cost savings were significant with no impact on the building’s aesthetics or function.”

Ultimately, looking at this project from a different perspective saved over $1,000,000 and gave our client the budget they needed to pursue the project.

Pence Construction is always looking for ways to give our clients peace of mind and the ability to pursue their project with confidence.

Shannon Parker
Communications Director
Pence Construction