Are you for that

By Rick Hollenkamp

TIHINKING about relocating and building a new yard?

|- The prospect of construction can be daunting. Here's some advice on what to consider before you embark on your project, and what you should expect in the process.

There are multiple approaches you can take to managing and coordinating your project:

1. no it yourself... at the expense of your business and your personal life. Keep in mind that your greatest value to your business is your day-to-day management of that busiNESS.

2. Delegate. You can line up an employee to handle your daily responsibilities while you tackle construction. But don't be surprised if his or her judgment and experience isn't always in keeping with your best interests. Meanwhile, who's covering that employee's regular job?

3. Co with the pros. To maximize the benefits of hiring a contractor, think outside the design-bid-build box. Consider utilizing a design/builder. Under the design/build delivery system, you can represent yourself in all the critical decisions, while escaping a lot ofthe hassles.

BULK SHED is one option in beefing up your yard storage.

An experienced design/builder offers you plenty of advantages: driving all the elements of the process and eliminating costly duplication of efforts.

Freedom from Needless Spending.

The greatest economies are garnered at the very earliest stages of project development. rvhen contractor input can steer you towards cost efficiencies in design. materials. labor and scheduling. among other factors.

Freedom of Control.

With a competent design/build team in place. you'll enjoy greater control over the process. rvhile still being able to manage your business.

Freedom from Favors.

As soon as rvord of your project hits the street. you'll be inundated rvith trade contractors and customers calling for your business. A third-party construction manager fields all requests and evaluates the trades on the basis of their competitiveness and ability to perform rather than their personal relationship rvith the store owner.

Freedom from Costly Surprises.

Design/build delivery practices open book accounting. All work is performed on the basis of actual cost plus a nominal percentage fee. Note: The fee structure should remain the same for all change orders.

Freedom from Getting Bogged Dorvn in the Details. Your design/builder becomes your single point of contact for the entire design and construction of your project.

The following is an outline of the process. First, your construction manager should conduct a feasibility study and quickly follow with a credible budget analysis based on preliminary sketches. This early budget analysis should include all items of work to be completed, land, financing, fixtures, furnishings and equipment.

Our best advice on how to save a considerable amount of money is to keep in mind: You should have built it last year. Labor, materials, fuel, interest rates, inflation and other factors will exert their influence on your project regardless of when you begin. In our experience, a single year's delay will generally cost much more than the fee that you pay to have an experienced design/builder handle your project.

Think you've found the "perfect" site? Three words of advice: due diligence study. Make arrangements with the current land owner to get both soil borings and a complete survey. Put a clause in the purchase agreement that will reimburse the land owner for the cost of these items if you purchase the land. A site may not be quite so perfect on closer inspection, and you may need to re-negotiate the purchase price or look elsewhere.

By now you and your construction manager have met with your storage rack supplier, your product salesmen, and the architect, who has provided options for a site plan and perhaps an early floor plan. The next step is to have a pre-design conference with the city or county officials that mission, and city council, to name but a few.

A preliminary building code review determines all applicable building codes. The review also defines limits on building size and height, proximity to property lines and other buildings, construction type, classification and occupancy group, fire protection, firewalls and exit requirements.

Next it's time to seek financing. The mortgage banker will also have a list of requirements, and some may seem like deal breakers. Analyze his requirements with your development team and come up with some viable solutions. Chances are, it can be worked out.

Once you have a comprehensive budget, approvals, and a handle on finances, it's time to complete the construction documents. Once again, if you're working with a design/builder, you're in luck. The final bid process can commence as soon as the final scope of work is defined. In addition, early lead items can be identified and procured, financing finalized, land purchase completed, and application made for building permits. Design/build allows these tasks to be completed concurrently, expediting your project. Under the design-bid-build scenario, these items are handled consecutively, adding substantial time to the schedule.

you will be working with through the approval process.

The last time you expanded or remodeled, this process may have been limited to obtaining a building permit. Those days are over. Be prepared for a long and detailed approval process. including:

The required zoning review determines current zoning. setbacks, floor to site area ratio, minimum lot size requirement, building height or size limitation, parking requirements, drainage issues, availability of utilities, etc.

Additional approvals may be needed from the county commissioners, design review committee, city planning com-

Once the building permit is issued, construction can begin. Generally, it will take five to six months to construct a new yard, assuming limited site preparation. Construction is actually the easy part, if you have selected the right builder.

Good luck with your new building venture. Seek out the most experienced team available to ensure all possible success. Your future business depends on it!

A S CITIES go in Tennessee. la.Jackson straddles maybe fifth or sixth place on the radar, a college town that's a sweet spot to pull over as you make your way along I-40 from Nashville to Memphis.

Tornadoes thought so, too. A wham-bam series of four killer twisters turned the entire downtown into toothpicks during spring 2003. Not everybody's first choice of horv to commemorate your I 00th anniversary, but City Lumber Co., founded in 1903, had little say in the matter.

"Building had been good and steady," recounts general manager David Fisher, who's been a part of the company for going on 32 years, until the twisters "pretty much destroyed the existing yard." Which only made things better.

Not missing a beat, sales have since vaulted from $12 million to $20 million in the years since devastation struck. Turns out. there was a silver lining in those storm clouds. "We had to go through what could have been a catastrophe," he recalls vividly. "Prior to that, we had l6 buildings; basically,