EXPERTISE

When the discerning business person engages a prospective partner, it is expected that the partner is knowledgeable about their presumed skillsets and that the represented organization will ultimately adapt to the needs of the partnership. Whether to a client, a trade contractor or a designer, davisREED promises to contribute an unrivaled construction knowledge, unparalleled adaptability and an unquenchable tenacity to produce successful project results. We accomplish our promise to partnering through leveraging our many decades of experience, entrepreneurism and ethics embodied in the phenomenal people who call davisREED home. We find our outlet for leveraging our powerful human talent, and unqualified value, through providing unique and effective contracting methods, pre-construction support and, of course, construction services.

• Contract & Delivery Methods

Under the cost-plus contracting method, davisREED is compensated for actual project costs incurred on the project (as construction progresses), plus a service fee. All contractual arrangements, excluding the hard costs, are negotiated prior to contract execution. The intent of this contracting instrument is to enable our clients to retain a certain amount of budget flexibility when the scope of their project is substantially undefined and therefore unlikely that davisREED and the client will decide upon firm costs prior to construction start. A cost-plus arrangement is used for the predominant purpose of spurring along construction activities so that ultimate end goals, such as certificate of occupancy target dates, are not hindered by a lack of defined scope. davisREED accomplishes this flexible contracting through highly transparent reporting of project expenditures so that it is completely understood by our client the precise cost of the project as it proceeds. Also known as “open book”, cost-plus contracting is a very effective manner of realizing our partners’ visions even when those visions are not fully revealed.

When it is in our client’s interest to negotiate into the contract firm construction costs, the cost-plus contract will include a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) provision. Under this arrangement, davisREED is accountable for all predetermined, itemized project costs, which were thoroughly negotiated and stipulated prior to contract execution. The GMP process is an exhaustive endeavor that involves davisREED’s sometimes intimate involvement in design discussions, our recruitment of multiple subcontractors in each building trade and a methodical audit of scope items so that davisREED’s representation of commitments within our GMP estimate is beyond question. Savings for costs not incurred on the project under a GMP agreement are returned directly to our client, unless a “shared-savings clause” is added to the agreement as added financial incentive for the project team.

Frequently our clients rely upon davisREED to participate in portions of the design process by assisting the traditional design professionals (spearheaded by the architect of record) in providing design guidance that will have direct impact on the constructability, cost, quality and schedule for the project. davisREED provides this assistance through our in-house expertise of seasoned project managers and superintendents, who are also assigned project team members from the initial design engagement through construction completion. These construction professionals bring to bear their veteran experience, but also the specific expertise of key subcontractors, in assisting our clients’ designers through a unique role of helping to translate a complex, developing design concept into a buildable construction project. davisREED’s design-assist activities typically revolve around the more sophisticated and cost-sensitive trades of a construction project, including: mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire suppression, structure, façade and other specialty disciplines. When our clients are positioned to select design-assist, paired with the appropriate contracting method, davisREED reacts effectively and powerfully to the project’s cost, schedule and quality requirements.

Some circumstances may motivate our clients to shift a larger share of their project management purview to davisREED’s seasoned builders by empowering us to hold the master contract with the architect of record, thereby delegating davisREED as the single source of accountability for designing and constructing the project. The decision to enter into a design-build contract may be driven by a myriad of factors, but whatever the reasons, clients frequently rely upon davisREED to bear both the design risk and the construction risk of a project, both of which we are able to effectively manage through several key resources embedded in the davisREED corporate structure and culture. As builders entrenched in several niche product markets, we have built strong relationships with architecture and engineering firms who specialize in projects that require exceptional design acumen. When it is in the interest of a client to engage davisREED in a design-build opportunity, we immediately draw upon our friends in the A/E community, many of whom are architects and engineers who have worked intimately with the very project manager or superintendent assigned to preconstruction of the proposed design-build project. What ensues is a deftly-orchestrated design phase that seamlessly transitions into construction with utmost efficiency and success.

When a client seeks to evaluate in a competitive setting davisREED’s ability to perform the requisite services, then qualifications and cost are the two critical criteria assessed. The best-value procurement method is favored by davisREED because it allows our firm to showcase our vast experience by illustrating our past accomplishments, while also proving our estimating aptitude. Throughout a competition for the contract award, davisREED is compelled to virtually construct the project by presenting a technical project approach, a viable management team, a representation of relevant experience and an estimate of costs to successfully complete the project. A thorough assessment of davisREED’s qualifications as a builder allows our prospective client-partner to fully appreciate our capabilities and therefore conclude that davisREED is a brilliant fit to successfully complete the project. Similarly, the exercise of assembling a cost for a particular project also indicates davisREED’s acquired understanding of the project through analyzing project scope and synthesizing this understanding into a cost.

There are unique cases when davisREED provides a base cost for construction, qualified only by a set of designs and specifications issued by a client. The award of the construction contract is made solely upon the client’s acceptance of the lowest bid and builder qualifications are either critiqued as a minor factor, or not at all. davisREED understands that the design-bid-build procurement method, which awards on the basis of a stipulated sum to complete the project, is a necessary tool in the procurement toolbox of some of our valued clients. As such, davisREED evaluates these opportunities on a case-by-case and strategic basis.

• Preconstruction Support

Many davisREED projects have found its origin on the back of an envelope. A project cannot begin until it is conceptualized; a budget cannot be substantiated until an almost countless number of assumptions are validated. It may seem an impossible task to put an accurate number to a $40 million, four-star hotel project with designs that are only 10% complete, but as davisREED proves many times over, it is not impossible but rather a free service that we perform on a frequent basis for our clients. Not only that, our conceptual estimates are remarkably accurate to the eventual design and cost of the ultimate building product. This skillset, to accurately estimate the budget of a multi-million-dollar construction project with minimal design input, can only be leveraged with two ingredients: human ability and historic pricing data. davisREED maintains a robust database of pricing information corresponding to particular design scopes for various building occupancy types. This is a powerful tool for the savvy real estate development investor, seeking accurate, verifiable construction costs at a very early stage in the due diligence process, when variables are so uncertain as to cause the average estimator complete befuddlement while davisREED is able to deliver on expectations.

For any given project, hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent by our clients in the design-development phase. davisREED leadership and staff have spent hundreds of thousands of cumulative hours coordinating with architects, engineers and other designers to establish and fine tune countless project designs. The design guidance that davisREED offers clients and their designers directly translates into value added to the project; whether evaluated from quality, schedule or cost standpoints, our expert knowledge and professional representation of design options gives relevant feedback to our clients and design partners so that they have an augmented ability to make decisions about design options from the builder’s perspective. Under this arrangement, davisREED is now not only ultimately responsible for the project’s actual work product, but also accountable for much of the design rationale. Since now design responsibility rests partially on our shoulders, we also assume accountability for our own design recommendations, which incentivizes davisREED to make appropriate and thoughtful suggestions for the benefit of the project.

Under many circumstances, the projects that davisREED builds are nothing short of works of art, so therefore changes to those projects for the benefit of cost savings should be approached with a respect for the intended design objectives. From a similarly important point of view, when the project is financially infeasible then that work of art will never be realized off of paper. Many extremely ambitious davisREED projects have been successfully built because of successful partnership between our clients and design partners in balancing design with budget parameters. Where some are daunted by the sophistication and complexity of high-end projects, davisREED sees opportunity – it is precisely because of the integration of complex systems and sophisticated materials that davisREED is able to balance one crucial yet relatively expensive option with another complementary and cost-effective solution. As a rule of thumb, the more expensive the cost per square foot of a project is, the more value engineering options davisREED will present to our client.

Since project site conditions and construction options are directly impacted by design evolution, and vice-versa, design and construction preparation should be integrated activities – integrated in the sense of being executed concurrently and collaboratively. The deliberate integration of design and construction planning provides firm knowledge of an otherwise nebulous understanding of how and when construction activities are executed within an extremely complex, everchanging and unpredictable environment. Enter into the project scene a davisREED project executive, manager and superintendent trio who may very feasibly have cumulative construction experience of over 120 years. Through collaborative site logistics planning, scheduling and project preparation, davisREED’s inclusion as a project partner during the design phase immediately removes speculation, insecurity and risk from an otherwise chaotic environment. davisREED’s image and narrative rich site logistics plans seamlessly compliment our project-specific CPM schedules, both honed and scrutinized by the discerning eye of our project trio: the davisREED project executive, manager and superintendent.

Within the past ten years great leaps in computer modeling of buildings have been made, to the point where we are able to virtually build the entire project, from excavation to MEP rough to finishes without even touching the site. davisREED primarily uses BIM for construction planning and coordination purposes. By determining the parameters that our staff and subcontractors have to work within, prior to beginning construction, we are able as a team to uncover tricky challenges that otherwise would have been left hidden without the aid of virtual design and construction tools, which translates into optimal quality control. Futhermore, BIM allows davisREED to more precisely schedule the project by accurately accounting for each piece of the material and when, where and how each of those pieces will be put in place. Similarly, this accounting of material and labor allows us to accurately estimate the project, particularly when the BIM is in a conceptual state and changes to the design can still be made for budgeting purposes.

There is a concrete reason why davisREED knows the cost of construction: because we build the project types featured on this website day in, day out. The data we use to cost estimate a conceptual design is the same data that comes off of the buyout logs from our completed and current projects. Furthermore, the polished report we furnish our clients frequently consists of over 50 pages of detailed unit cost and quantity figures, separated by each division of construction. Indeed, our client’s confidence in our cost estimating not only rests in our demonstrated experience, nor in our proprietary database of costs, but also in the very detailed report that our clients are literally able to take to the bank to make their project vision a reality.

Many years of construction experience brings with it the knowledge of how to build certain projects in the most effective manner, under the most challenging of circumstances. Whether the outcome is averting potential pitfalls, capitalizing on opportunities or implementing efficient methods, davisREED leverages generations of experience in analyzing the feasibility of a project’s proposed construction activities. Throughout preconstruction, the accumulated construction knowledge of our superintendents, project managers, estimators and executives lends to a collaborative sharing of experiences and current market data in an effort to assess and implement the most efficient methods of construction. Knowledge is indeed power, which davisREED gladly shares with our clients and partners for the benefit of a project’s success.

The integrity of an estimate is tested by a contractor’s ultimate ability to procure the material and services promised for the cost and quality represented. davisREED manages a significant portion of the end of the preconstruction process and the beginning of construction by confirming cost and quality with subcontractors and material suppliers. These negotiations culminate in the eventual procurement of the promised goods and services, in a timely and reliable manner. davisREED manages the procurement process with sophisticated tools that are integrated across our internal team and shared with appropriate external partners, such as the client and designers to ensure priorities are properly managed. In the end, time is money, and davisREED’s purchasing of a project’s estimated material and labor lends to the successful kick-off of a project.

• Construction Services

Once construction operations begin, the davisREED promise of partnering is fully assumed by our field staff, which facilitates daily construction activities on the project site. The average combined staff experience of a typical davisREED project is around 100 years – between our project managers, project superintendents, project engineers and project coordinators, our field staff are very intentionally assembled to leverage the experience and skillsets of many talented individuals. This deliberate and thoughtful approach to managing our human resources through staff assignments for our clients manifests itself in a professionalism of project management and supervision unparalleled in the construction industry, and for good cause, because the lion’s share of davisREED projects are highly complex and require the highest caliber of staff and resources.

Since davisREED’s normal project type carries with it an elevated sophistication and a high complexity of materials, workmanship and systems, many clients approach davisREED with the expectation of having their project visions realized through a capable contractor experienced in that project type. Nevertheless, such visions invariably bear costs that must be reconciled against proformas and other rigid financial analyses. davisREED has a long and credible track record of honoring a client’s vision of their quality expectations and managing the cost implications associated with the vision, which, when construction is underway, requires daily attention to achieving the promised quality level of all integrated aspects of the project with the agreed upon cost. In this way, our company has established itself as an invaluable partner in achieving high-quality delivery of construction projects while adeptly managing cost expectations.

Whether the project-applicable standard comes from the United States Green Building Council, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools or a specific governmental regulatory agency, davisREED has always been committed to providing cost-effective, high-quality construction options that incorporate green materials and construction methods; indeed, at Vista Dunes davisREED built the first-ever LEED Platinum multi-family project in the United States. Through relationships with knowledgeable subcontractors, savvy designers and by virtue of our own staff’s experience in building LEED and CHPS projects, davisREED is a frontrunner in the ever-changing landscape of sustainable construction.

Substantial completion or beneficial occupancy of a new building are certainly important milestones in the lifespan of a construction project. However, there are many elements of a construction project that must be reconciled by the general contractor following the grand opening, whether the nature of those elements are financial, regulatory or otherwise contractual. The importance of a professional attention to the period of closing-out a project cannot be diminished and the general contractor’s level of aptitude in satisfying the closeout requirements of a project renders the contractor that much more valuable to a client seeking a return on the construction resources expended. As a key player in the construction partnership, davisREED intuitively understands that our clients’ satisfaction rests upon our ability to diligently bring a project to the finish line through timely and professional closeout procedures.

At its corporate core, davisREED is keenly sensitive to the downstream impacts of on-time delivery of construction projects. Akin to our commitment to aligning ourselves with a client’s quality and cost expectations, our project staff are culturally conditioned to appreciate the importance of crafting and adhering to a critical-path-method schedule. At the heart of our project schedule creation is the superintendent, pumping construction experience and knowledge into the logic and sequencing of the project schedule. Both the davisREED home office and the field managers integrate the superintendent’s schedule with purchasing, submittal, manufacturing and delivery of materials so that milestones are achieved in a deliberate and premeditated manner. In addition to look-ahead schedules and procurement logs, davisREED also collaborates with other project partners on pull-scheduling efforts, which are used to test the authenticity of a critical path and for identifying recovery activities if needed. The fundamental davisREED mantra is to set a project schedule and make it happen.

Over the years davisREED has honed our processes and procedures to best manage dangers and risks to our staff and other partners operating on our project sites. As a practitioner of behavioral based safety, davisREED follows a direct system of educating, mentoring and delegating of safety responsibilities to every worker on the job-site, including crew and management. Our commitment, evidenced in those corporate policies and procedures, allows davisREED to boast among the lowest recordable incident and lost worktime rates in the general contracting industry. This rate is not simply a number, but it exemplifies a track record that gives our employees and partners confidence that davisREED’s most fundamental corporate objective is to ensure the safety of each and every human being associated with the construction of each of our projects. davisREED’s goal for every project is to have zero accidents, incidents or near misses, period.

When it is in the best interest of our client’s project and when davisREED is able to offer quality, schedule and cost-effective solutions, davisREED will perform select construction trades utilizing our own labor resources. Under these unique circumstances, such trades typically include: general labor, framing, drywall and concrete.

davisREED recognizes the use and benefits of building information modeling, or BIM. We employ Revit software to create a model that is structurally, materially and systematically consistent with the project’s architecture and engineering. From the model, we are able to produce cost models, schedules and identify trade conflicts before they are permitted for construction. We accomplish this by tracing designers’ documents to build a three-dimensional representation, which thereby greatly enhances our general contracting capabilities. Through BIM, davisREED is able to quickly modify and evaluate alternative designs, collaborate with designers and construction trades on incorporating solutions and the BIM also allows davisREED to independently validate the constructability of the design before programmatic decisions are made and before the point when wholesale changes are most costly to the project.