High rent savings
Quick thinking by Andres Construction saved Veranda nearly $2 million

[Published in the Second Quarter 2001 edition of Construction Paper, the newsletter of Andres Construction Services.]

By David Stewart
Todd Lindley and Ron Howell sensed they would need a resourceful construction manager for their 93,000-square-foot retirement community. Located on an oddly shaped tract along Central Expressway just south of Forest Lane, the success of The Veranda hinged on reclaiming land from the flood plain.
Lindley, president of Veranda Senior Communities, and Howell, Veranda’s director of development, sought out a construction manager that could tackle tough problems and save them time and money.
“When we hired Andres,” Lindley said, “we believed their best traits were their ability to think outside the box and their ‘never say die’ attitude. We were right on both counts.”
“We talked to a lot of people who were not on the Andres reference list,” Howell added. “We were looking for weaknesses. We have yet to find someone to say something bad about them.”
Early on, the Andres team of Wade Andres and project manager Jeff Kempf found a way to reduce the expense of relocating 800 feet of sewer line out from underneath the proposed placement of fill. Kempf told Howell, “We can get the same result by taking a different approach.”
Rather than moving the entire 800 feet of sewer line per the civil drawings, Kempf demonstrated to Lindley and Howell that only about half of the line needed to be moved to accommodate the new construction. The idea saved the Veranda Corporation approximately $200,000.
Under the new plan, the sewer line would be routed through a break in the retaining wall, which was being constructed to elevate the site out of the flood plain. But before plunging ahead, Wade Andres suggested meeting with city officials to see if they had any objections with the sewer line’s new alignment.
City officials approved the new sewer line alignment but were worried about a 84” water transmission line that was positioned three feet outside the proposed location of the retaining wall. If the city ever had to repair a rupture in the line or perform maintenance on it, the officials were concerned about the global stability of the soil underneath the retaining wall.
“The city recommended that the wall footing be lowered eleven feet, increasing the height to 21 feet. We knew that would create budget problems,” Kempf said. “So we conducted an analysis of the bearing pressures and found that by moving the retaining wall three feet, we would alleviate the global stability issues and the nine-foot retaining wall would be on safe ground.”
The civil engineer had proposed a cast-in-place, concrete retaining wall with a cost $446 per linear foot. Kempf proposed a battered milsap, stone retaining wall that came complete with its own engineering with a cost of $225 per linear foot.
“Kempf’s proposal saved us $135,000 and we were ecstatic with the aesthetics of the stone retaining wall,” Howell said.
Meanwhile, Wade Andres was conducting a structural analysis of the project. His study concluded that a tunnel-form structure would be more cost-effective than structural steel. Working with the architect, it was decided to employ the tunnel-form structure for the main buildings and use steel to connect them.
“Wade told us they could build it if the architect could make some concessions to the grid pattern,” Howell said. “We decided it would work for parts. We ended up with a combination of tunnel form and traditional steel. It saved us about $6 a foot.”
In addition to the money saved, tunnel-form structures save time. Once the concrete is poured into the tunnel form, the wall is ready for finishing. Since concrete is fireproof, tunnel-form structures also save the time and money normally required for fireproofing.
“We had an incredible rainy season; no one was going to factor in 60 days of rain. Dave Rafferty, (the site supervisor), and Jeff orchestrated as tight a schedule as possible considering the rain events over the last six months,” Howell said.
“Without their aggressive schedule management, we’d be opening our project in a different market cycle than we originally intended,” he added.
“Problems are opportunities for us,” explained Wade Andres. “We feel we are good at analyzing issues and helping the client come out with the best answer. Sometimes a problem may be only a perception of a problem. But since perception is reality, a perceived problem must be solved all the same,” he said.
“Problem solving depends a great deal on being process oriented,” insisted Kempf. “We are focused on the process right from the start so that we can identify problems and challenges at an early point in the job. Then we address them proactively to save the client time and money. ”
Lindley couldn’t be happier. “Jeff bird-dogged each challenge until he found the best solution. He didn’t always feel confined to the specs, he is comfortable outside the box. He has the ability to venture beyond what the architects and engineers have specified and submit innovative ideas to the team for approval.”
“Andres doesn’t limit their efforts to the given parameters. If it means saving the client money, sometimes they’ll redefine the parameters,” Howell added.
“There was no shortage of problems on this project,” Howell said. “It really tested Andres’ problem-solving capabilities. We have been very pleased with the way they responded.”
“Andres Construction managed somehow to give us what we perceive to be some of the best features at a very reasonable price That is a credit to the relationship they have with their subcontractors and the network of people they can call on to get the best deal.”
“We really believe that if Andres had not been our construction manager, we’d be about $2 million over budget right now,” Howell said.