HARPER GENERAL CONTRACTORS EXPERTISE OVERVIEW
FIRM OVERVIEW
HISTORY OF FIRM
Harper is a full-service general contracting and construction management firm headquartered in downtown Greenville, South Carolina. An award-winning company, Harper consistently receives recognition in the areas of quality, safety, environmental stewardship, and community involvement. Since 1950, we have had the opportunity to develop strong professional relationships with clients across North Carolina and South Carolina. By bringing to life the vision of our clients, Harper leaves a lasting impression on members of the community. The core of our company is geared toward collaborating with owners and design professionals in an open and transparent manner, enabling the owner to know how every project dollar is being invested.
We bring the same talent, innovation, and expertise to each of our valued clients throughout the Southeast. That doesn’t happen without dedicated, hard-working, experienced, effective, and honorable people. For us at Harper, our reputation, the way we conduct our business, and the way we treat you and each other is paramount. And that same level of respect, care, and honor that goes into our relationships goes into every single project we’re awarded.
MARKETS
OUR PEOPLE
At Harper, our people are our greatest resources. We employ some of the most talented, trustworthy, and dedicated professionals across the Southeast, ready to work with our clients to make their project vision come to life.
PEYTON HOWELL, LEED AP SR. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER PHOWELL@HARPERGC.COM
As Senior Business Development Manager for Harper, Peyton brings over 26 years of comprehensive experience in the construction industry. Utilizing his experience from project management, preconstruction, and business development, Peyton represents Harper to identify, develop, and maintain lasting business relationships for our Business Development Team. Priority is placed on earning client trust and ensuring that Harper clients obtain a rewarding construction experience.
RIP MAJOR
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
RIP.MAJOR@HARPERGC.COM
Rip Major brings extensive industry knowledge and experience to the Business Development team. With over 15 years of experience in construction material sales and commercial real estate, he is exceptionally knowledgeable and committed to sourcing quality, long-lasting relationships with clients and diversifying our markets. He excels in identifying new opportunities for our team through strategic research, analysis, and networking. A graduate of Clemson University, Rip is known for his passion for the Upstate area, friendly demeanor, and team-focused mindset, always seeking opportunities to build trust within our company and community.
MATTHEW HANCOCK
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
MATTHEW.HANCOCK@HARPERGC.COM
A Clemson University alumni and a native of the Upstate, Matthew Hancock offers a fresh perspective and local values to our Business Development team. His role involves discovering new opportunities, nurturing existing relationships, and supporting the Business Development team as a bridge between Harper, design partners, and clients. Matthew has a natural ability to form connections with his peers, an eagerness to engage within the marketplace, and a keen eye for business procurement.
Matthew is a member of the Clemson Friday Lunch Club and is an active participant in the Greenville community.
HARPER APPROACH TO CM AT-RISK
The Harper Approach to a project is centered around one core element - trust. Trust is the foundation upon which we build relationships with our clients, design partners, trade partners, vendors, and our community. It is because of this established trust that we enjoy a seven decade history of building the Upstate that we hope to leverage to make your project successful.
COMMUNICATION
It is important to our team that we clearly understand each key team members’ focal points that define success for our client. We propose a team kick-off meeting at preconstruction initiation to identify project goals and integrate the team. With stakeholders’ goals identified, Harper will immediately commence with the preconstruction effort to construct a plan that will effectively achieve the desired result within the schedule and budget allotted for the project.
In addition to personal interaction, Harper will utilize the most well vetted tools to integrate and communicate with our teams. We employ user-friendly, web-based programs to ensure the entire team has at their fingertips access to all necessary project specific information through any computer platform. We also develop a formal monthly owner report to track project progress and communicate with the entire team. Throughout the preconstruction effort, Harper provides open book access to budget information.
DRIVING VALUE
With the majority of our work being CM At-Risk projects, the Harper Team understands the value of reviewing a variety of building systems to ensure the client receives the best value. We will evaluate a number of building structures, exteriors, interior systems, etc. to provide a balance of appearance and cost. It is our responsibility to provide our clients with necessary cost information in an effort to allow educated decisions to be made.
As an experienced Construction Manager, our team has proven expertise delivering successful preconstruction efforts. To provide a successful effort to our clients, it is our belief that preconstruction and operations staff must work in partnership to provide customers a complete service. Our project management and estimating will work hand in hand throughout the preconstruction effort and have ample experience working with each other to deliver a complete GMP that is inclusive of all costs while also meeting client’s desired budgets.
ENGAGING TRADE PARTNERS
Engaging a multitude of trade partners during the preconstruction process, we will identify multiple bidders for each scope of work as the design becomes more defined, ensuring competition at every level. Harper utilizes our 75-year history in the Upstate to encourage trade partner participation in the project. Once the GMP is established, we work with the client and design team to produce a final set of bidding documents and coordinate a final pricing effort with the understanding that trade partner awards will be made from this established pricing round. Harper will solicit bids from a list of prequalified trade partners and subsequent de-scoping efforts will follow. A bid tabulation identifying all bids and scoping efforts will be produced for review with the client. By virtue of this process, Harper will identify the subcontractor who includes the correct scope for the lowest price. Harper will utilize the bid proposals and scope sheets to make a recommendation of who should be awarded the project. Following the necessary reviews and confirmation, Harper will issue the successful bidder a contract for the work.
COST MANAGEMENT
For Harper, cost management begins in the preconstruction phase and continues throughout the duration of the project. Identifying all known/anticipated costs early in the process allows us to deliver a successfully executed GMP. During the preconstruction phase we will also manage internal costs by making efficient use of our staff, driving the project to an early start through the development of early release packages. This will result in reduced general conditions costs to the project.
The goal is to develop a GMP and drive cost at or below this number. Harper continually updates the team on the project cost status to avoid budget surprises for our client. Harper will award trade partner and material contracts during the procurement process. This is an integral part of the cost management effort, as scopes of work, qualifications, schedules, and costs are analyzed for completeness and project integration. In order to accurately track costs, all trade partners and vendors submit a schedule of values for the contracted work included in their subcontract.
REACHING GUARANTEED MAXIMUM PRICE
We understand the value to our clients of reaching an early guaranteed maximum price that is complete and thorough. In order to define an early GMP, we meet often with our client and the design team to ensure understanding of all project scope elements. Our team will obtain trade partner pricing and thoroughly de-scope that pricing to ensure all scope elements are captured. When a “gap in scope” is determined, we will obtain market pricing for that “gap” to minimize the use of allowances. Because Harper thoroughly catalogs historical costs, we are able to provide accurate allowance pricing when required.
SCHEDULING METHOD
Harper will create a master Critical Path Method (CPM) schedule for not only the construction process, but also the preconstruction process. This schedule will be comprised of design, pricing efforts, procurement durations, BIM modeling activities, permitting durations, and other items that have a schedule impact to the program. It will create a clear path from the commencement of estimating through the completion of the project. Our team will also emphasize the use of the pull planning schedule method in both preconstruction and construction. Pull planning, a lean construction method, requires analysis of work durations and manpower requirements to develop a complete schedule. Information from the pull plan will be updated in our CPM schedule. Utilizing our BIM and pull-planning methods, it is our experience that the Harper team can reduce project schedules by as much as 20% through proper planning and execution.
CONSTRUCTION PHASE APPROACH
Harper provides a dedicated full-time management team and site staff to facilitate all construction activities. Our on-site project management staff are collaboratively located with our superintendent in the same on-site construction office. It is our experience that success is best driven when the project management staff and superintendent are able to work together on the project site to push the project to early completion as this results in costs savings for our clients. The on-site team will manage all aspects of construction documentation, schedule maintenance, quality assurance, and post construction activities.
We will use Procore, our web-based Construction Management platform, to facilitate all project documentation. Our management processes are built around utilization of Procore which is accessible to all members of the project team to include owner, design team, commissioning agent, other design consultants, and our trade partners. The system provides a single source of access for all project documents, project models, project cost, submittals, shop drawings, meeting minutes, inspections, and closeout.
BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING
Harper’s BIM process changes the entire delivery of a project when compared to traditional methods. During preconstruction, we use Assemble 3D estimating to develop accurate takeoff of the building design. Using Assemble, we also have the ability to make “onthe-fly” design decisions and see the immediate impacts to the project budget. We allow trade partners secure “read only” access to the same models to eliminate ambiguity in their early estimates where vague assumptions are often inherent in early package pricing. The result is a more accurate estimate development process.
CHANGE MANAGEMENT
Our team’s goal is to minimize or eliminate change orders. Utilizing our BIM process during preconstruction, we will regularly compare each design update for changes. Our system allows us to track finite design revisions in order to incorporate all necessary items into various bid packages and develop a fully inclusive GMP before these items become change orders.
QUALITY CONTROL
For Harper, quality is not ambiguous. It is a measure of how well each individual understands and executes the goals set forth by the entire project team. Our team is relentless in searching for constructability concerns, material compatibility issues, and sequencing flaws from day one. Our ability to force these issues to the surface before installation is where we most positively effect quality. Our mantra is “install it once, install it right”. Doing so raises quality and reduces costs by eliminating re-work. By establishing productive communication, utilizing the Project BIM Model, and on-site mock-ups, we strive to achieve a “zero-item” punch-list allowing for efficient closeout of the project.
ASHEVILLE | CHARLOTTE | CHARLESTON
CONWAY | GREENVILLE | SPARTANBURG