Animal shelters, veterinary clinics and animal control buildings appear straightforward at first glance. Yet beneath that simple exterior lies a level of technical complexity that surpasses that of many other building types. Think about required ventilation rates, material durability requirements or intricate plumbing systems. All of these components converge within a single building environment.

If you are considering bidding on an animal care project, understanding these unique elements is essential for protecting your profit margin, setting realistic construction expectations and delivering a facility that performs as specified.

Study the Construction Documents

Unlike many commercial projects where contractors can rely on field adjustments or lean on design-build flexibility, animal care projects require contractors to be well-versed in all the construction documents from day one. This type of facility depends heavily on precise details and complex systems that run throughout the entire building. And small oversights early in the process can lead to significant coordination issues or costly change orders later for contractors.

So how can you prepare for this type of build? Start by thoroughly understanding all the construction documents—especially the mechanical, electrical and plumbing drawings. The mechanical plans often account for a significant portion of the project’s complexity. They are also a source of information that directly impacts other aspects of the build, from routing to equipment selection to structural coordination to envelope penetration.

It is also a best practice to get all your questions answered from the beginning. As you work through the documents, consult with the design team to receive any detailed clarifications you may need. Often, these clarifications and answers impact how contractors make decisions on procurement, scheduling and installation. Three aspects of construction that have significant investment impacts.

As contractors work through the construction documents, they are often surprised to see that animal care facilities often have far more mockups than traditional building projects. Another unique aspect is that many of the building components require field validation before complete implementation—from the finishes to kennel systems to waterproofing transitions to mechanical assemblies. Without validation, contractors are often responsible for correcting issues down the road.

A good rule of thumb is that if something seems unusually specific or heavily detailed, there is a reason behind it. And usually that reason is tied to an engineering requirement related to durability, sanitation or animal welfare. If a detail raises questions, it is far better to clarify than to assume.

Understand That MEP Systems Drive the Project

If there is one area that consistently surprises contractors new to animal care work, it is the mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems. These systems are not only more complex than those in most commercial buildings but often govern the entire project’s sequencing, costs and risk profile.

Modern animal care facilities must meet exceptionally high ventilation rates to control odor, disease transmission and humidity. At the same time, current energy codes require significant amounts of conditioned outside air, which drives the need for a dedicated outdoor air system. Introducing large volumes of outside air creates a unique challenge: humidity control. This is one of the most common points of failure in animal care buildings. The failure often occurs because dehumidification equipment is frequently targeted during value engineering decisions. Standard AC-based dehumidification only works when the cooling system operates. On cool, damp days (common in many parts of the country), the building may require moisture removal even when the air temperature does not call for cooling. And without dedicated dehumidification, moisture begins to accumulate on surfaces, odors intensify, mold becomes a real risk, and animals and staff experience uncomfortable, unhealthy conditions.

Contractors should confirm the specified dehumidification type and evaluate whether any suggested value-engineering options compromise system functionality. No one wants to be involved in post-construction litigation.

It is equally important to ensure that all of your subcontractors, especially mechanical subcontractors, fully understand the design intent. These systems must be sized, installed and controlled correctly. Otherwise, the building will never perform as designed and that could lead to legal challenges in the future. The long-term ramifications of improper humidity control often far outweigh any up‑front cost savings.

Choose Subcontractors Carefully

The quality of any building project often reflects the quality of its subcontractors. Nowhere does this ring truer than in animal care construction. Not every plumbing, HVAC or flooring subcontractor has the experience or technical knowledge needed for environments that experience frequent wash-down cycles, heavy moisture and high sanitation demands.

• Ensure your MEP subs are comfortable with complex ventilation systems, pressure differentials between rooms, chemical-resistant equipment, specialized drainage and wash-down systems.
• Ensure your waterproofing subs must execute details with precision, as even minor lapses can lead to major failures.
• Ensure your flooring installers understand resinous systems and moisture mitigation.

Choosing subs based solely on price can put your entire project at risk. If a sub does not have direct experience in animal care, explore whether they have successfully worked in similar environments, such as laboratories, food processing facilities, clean rooms or smaller animal care projects.

Don’t Underestimate the Material Requirements

Materials used in animal care facilities are subject to conditions well beyond those typical in commercial construction. Every surface must withstand moisture, chemical exposure, animal abrasion and frequent cleaning. Contractors sometimes underestimate the cost, lead times and installation complexity of these products. The lower four feet of walls, for example, take the most abuse and must be finished with materials that resist scratching, impact and moisture. Traditional drywall is normally unacceptable except in specific low‑risk areas.

Flooring presents another challenge. Simple sealed concrete rarely holds up under continuous washing and chemical use. High‑performance resinous coatings or specialized flooring systems are usually required to meet the animal care facility’s sanitation, durability and moisture-resistance needs. Even doors, frames and casework must be moisture‑tolerant, which often means stainless steel or solid polymer materials.

It is also important to assume that any room—even administrative or office spaces—may ultimately house animals during overflow or emergency conditions. Build with that logic in mind.

Prepare for Strict Acoustic Requirements

While many contractors expect odor and durability challenges in animal care buildings, fewer anticipate the acoustic demands. Noise control (particularly related to barking dogs) drives several major design decisions. To meet acoustic requirements, many shelters rely on grouted and filled CMU walls, walls that extend to the deck or hard‑lid ceilings instead of suspended acoustical tiles. These requirements increase both labor and materials costs. Further, they can complicate coordination with mechanical and electrical systems.

To add to the challenge, many standard sound‑absorbing products are not acceptable in wet or washable environments because they are porous and can harbor moisture or bacteria. As a result, acoustic performance often requires specialized products or assemblies that may differ significantly from what estimators encounter in other building types.

Plan for Disease and Odor Control Measures

Infection control and odor management are not optional in animal care facilities. They are fundamental to the building’s functionality. This introduces a layer of technical complexity that rivals healthcare construction.

• Exhaust systems must be strategically located and routed to prevent cross‑contamination.
• Surfaces in every room—from holding areas to exam spaces to laundry rooms—must be easy to sanitize and moisture-resistant.
• Drainage systems require precise coordination, from trench drains to sloped floors to backflow prevention.
• Pressure relationships between spaces must be maintained through careful MEP balancing to keep odors and contaminants confined to appropriate zones.

Misunderstanding or overlooking these requirements almost always leads to costly change orders, rework or post‑occupancy complaints.

Expect Active Construction Administration

Another aspect that often surprises contractors is the high level of involvement from the design team during construction. Animal care projects are rarely a simple punch-list situation. Instead, the design team typically participates actively throughout construction. Common ways include:

• Attending coordination meetings
• Reviewing detailed submittals
• Clarifying field conditions
• Conducting regular site visits

The focus is not micromanagement but rather proactive risk mitigation. The complexity of MEP systems, waterproofing details, kennel assemblies and finishes requires close oversight to ensure the building performs as intended. Catching issues early and ultimately correcting them before they escalate protects both the owner and the contractor.

Bidding on an animal care facility requires more preparation, more technical understanding and more coordination than most standard commercial buildings. When contractors take the time to review the drawings thoroughly, engage early with the design team, select experienced subcontractors, respect the HVAC and humidity‑control requirements, and recognize the environment’s durability and acoustic needs, projects run more smoothly with fewer surprises.

Animal care buildings may be challenging, but they are also deeply rewarding. When well constructed, they support communities, protect animals and serve as a testament to the contractor’s technical capability. With the right approach and awareness, your team can deliver a high‑performing facility that serves its staff, animals and community for years to come.

SEE ALSO: TOP FIVE CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRECONSTRUCTION COST ESTIMATING FOR ANIMAL CARE FACILITIES

The post What Contractors Need to Know Before Bidding on an Animal Care Project first appeared on Construction Executive.

When teams coordinate early with manufacturers and align foundations, utilities and long-lead systems around a pre-engineered building package, they often cut months from traditional timelines and reduce schedule risk from weather, trade stacking and material delays. 

WHY PEMBS ACCELERATE CONSTRUCTION

PEMBs use a systems approach that standardizes many elements that typically slow projects the most, including:

• Structural steel detailing
• Connection design
• Secondary framing
• Building envelope interfaces

Manufacturers design and engineer frames, purlins, girts, cladding and bracing as an integrated package. Components arrive on site ready for assembly, so contractors don’t have to field-fit them. That approach eliminates a large portion of requests for information, rework and sequencing conflicts that often appear when separate teams handle structural, envelope and miscellaneous steel scopes.

The model also aligns with the realities of modern construction labor. Crews assemble prefabricated frames and panel systems with repeatable, well-documented erection procedures, which help contractors ramp up new team members quickly while maintaining productivity. Because pre-engineered metal buildings rely on bolted connections instead of extensive field welding, teams reduce specialized labor needs and compress critical erection durations.

STREAMLINED DESIGN AND ENGINEERNG

Coordinated Structural Design Up Front

Pre-engineered metal building projects shift design effort from the field into the front end of the job, where it produces the greatest schedule benefit. During the design phase, the building manufacturer and design team coordinate structural loads, bracing locations, deflection criteria and interface points with slabs, mezzanines, mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, and architectural features. When the team resolves these issues before fabrication, the contractor avoids costly detailing changes and field modifications that can stall erection.

Property and business owners increasingly treat PEMBs as mainstream solutions for low-rise nonresidential work, so guidance and requirements exist to support predictable delivery. For example, state-level pre-engineered metal building guidelines in the public sector require complete sealed documents, clear load tables and explicit code compliance criteria, which provide a solid framework for permitting and plan review. The clarity reduces back-and-forth during approvals and keeps design milestones aligned with construction and start dates.

Standardization That Protects the Schedule

PEMB systems benefit from repeatable details that manufacturers have refined across many projects and climates. Standardized frame geometries, panel profiles and connection details streamline engineering checks and shop drawing production, which shortens the path from schematic design to released-for-fabrication documents. In practice, that means contractors receive issued drawings earlier and can lock in procurement and erection plans with more confidence.

Because PEMB suppliers build to established specifications and quality programs, contractors also gain schedule protection on the back end of the project. Consistent tolerances and predictable connection behavior reduce time spent resolving misalignments, flange conflicts or panel fit issues during erection. This results in fewer unscheduled downtime days and a smoother critical path for follow-on trades such as interior build-out, process equipment installation and site improvements.

OFFSITE FABRICATION AND LOGISTICS ADVANTAGES

Pre-engineered metal building components come from controlled factory environments instead of jobsites, which removes weather from much of the structural schedule. Fabricators cut, drill and weld members indoors with automated equipment and quality inspections, so the contractor receives ready-to-assemble bundles instead of raw shapes. This off-site manufacturing model reduces fabrication variability and allows parallel progress, since the building goes into production while sitework and the foundations are in the works.

Logistics planning becomes more straightforward. Manufacturers ship frames, secondary members and panels in sequenced loads that match erection order, which minimizes double-handling and laydown congestion on tight sites. With fewer SKUs and a higher degree of prefabrication, contractors spend less time chasing missing pieces or improvising substitutions that can trigger change orders and schedule slips.

FASTER, MORE PREDICTABLE ERECTION IN THE FIELD

Erection speed remains one of the most visible advantages of pre-engineered metal buildings for contractors under schedule pressure. Because primary frames, roof structures and wall systems arrive as coordinated packages, crews can move quickly from first columns to a dried-in shell.

Weather sensitivity decreases once the building reaches that milestone, so the project team removes a major external risk from the schedule.

Repeatable erection sequences also support more accurate planning. Critical path schedules for PEMB projects often show compressed durations for structural steel compared to conventional methods, especially on low-rise commercial, industrial, athletic and agricultural buildings.

Less in-field layout, fewer complex connections and minimized welding enable smaller crews to maintain high productivity, which proves especially valuable in regions where specialty labor remains tight.

LABOR, SAFETY AND SITE COORDINATION BENEFITS

PEMB projects often require fewer total onsite labor hours than comparable conventional builds. The fewer the hours, the shorter the overall calendar time and the reduced exposure to site risks. Prepunched members and factory-fitted components limit cutting and drilling at height, while bolted assemblies reduce hot work. Those characteristics support safer workflows and more predictable productivity rates, which help contractors hold critical milestones even when conditions change.

Simplified scopes also ease coordination with other trades. Clear building geometry, known frame lines and predictable roof and wall assemblies give MEP and specialty contractors a solid foundation for routing and support planning.

When teams model penetrations, support points and hanging loads against pre-engineered metal building design early, they avoid many of the clashes that typically require late-stage rework.

APPLICATIONS WHERE SCHEDULE GAINS STAND OUT

Contractors see the strongest schedule impact from PEMBs on projects where simple structural grids and large clear spans take priority. Distribution centers, light manufacturing, storage facilities, athletic complexes and agricultural buildings often fit this profile and can move from foundation to occupancy significantly faster with pre-engineered systems than with traditional framing.

In sectors that depend on fast deployment, such as logistics, cold storage or year-round training facilities, compressed schedules translate directly into earlier revenue or operational readiness.

Specialized facilities, including metal equestrian buildings, also benefit from the repeatable, open-span structures that pre-engineered metal buildings deliver. Designers can integrate a steel shell, so contractors still meet sector-specific requirements while maintaining aggressive timelines.

BRINGING SCHEDULE CERTAINTY TO THE CRITICAL PATH

As owners push for shorter delivery windows and more predictable openings, contractors face increasing pressure to control variables that traditionally sit outside their direct influence. Pre-engineered metal buildings address that challenge by packaging key structural and envelope decisions into a coordinated, engineered system that moves much of the risk away from the jobsite and into controlled design and fabrication environments.

When project teams engage PEMB suppliers early, align permitting and foundations with the manufacturing schedule and plan erection logistics around sequenced deliveries, they create a clearer critical path and more reliable completion dates for commercial and industrial projects.

SEE ALSO: EVOLUTIONARY THEORY: PREFABRICATION’S TRANSFORMATION OF THE INDUSTRY

The post How Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings Can Help Contractors Shorten Project Timelines first appeared on Construction Executive.

These scenarios play out in commercial buildings across the country every day. And in most cases, they can be avoided entirely with proactive capital planning.

An Elevator Works Harder Than Most People Realize

The average commercial elevator makes up to 500 trips per day, equivalent to traveling more than 1,000 miles per year. Over the operational life of a building, that is an enormous cumulative load on mechanical and electronic components that were engineered for a specific service life. The cab and its components such as control systems, drive technology and door operators are relics of the era in which they were installed, likely operating well past their optimal performance window.

Regular maintenance can keep aging systems running smoothly for decades, but even the best maintenance plans have their limits. At some point, repairs can only do so much, and the cost of keeping an outdated system operational begins to outpace the cost of replacing it with something built for the next 20 to 30 years. 

The Three Costs Building Owners Aren’t Accounting For

When a building owner defers an elevator modernization, the calculus often looks straightforward: The repair bill today is smaller than the proposed modernization project. What that calculation misses are the three categories of cost that accumulate as your elevator equipment ages.

The first is operational. Aging components fail more frequently and less predictably. Emergency service calls can carry premium pricing, and replacement parts for obsolete systems can be difficult to source, which adds extended downtime on top of cost. What begins as a manageable maintenance budget and downtime can quickly double over a three-to-five-year window as a system continues to age.

The second is liability. Aging elevator equipment interacting with the public every day creates real exposure for building owners, operators and managers alike. ADA compliance, fire safety codes and local inspection requirements are not static, and systems that were fully compliant at installation may no longer meet current standards. Owners who get ahead of modernization are protecting their tenants, their visitors and themselves.

The third is asset value. In a competitive leasing market, vertical transportation is not a background amenity, it’s a daily touchpoint for every tenant in the building. Slow wait times, frequent service interruptions and outdated cab aesthetics are documented factors in tenant retention decisions. For building owners preparing for a refinance, a sale or a major lease renewal cycle, an aging elevator system is a liability that sophisticated buyers and tenants will price in.

Modernization Is a Roadmap

One of the most persistent misconceptions about elevator modernization—one that often causes decision makers to delay—is that it requires a complete system replacement, a prolonged construction period and a major capital event. In practice, a well-structured modernization can be phased across budget cycles, prioritized by risk exposure and executed with minimal disruption to building operations.

Modern approaches allow individual cars to be taken offline for upgrades while the remaining units stay fully operational, a meaningful advantage in multi-cab modernizations where downtime is the primary operational concern. Building owners and their contractors can also take advantage of online planning tools that allow modernization scenarios to be modeled and costed before any contractor engagement begins, enabling more informed conversations with lenders, ownership groups and tenants.   

The conversation has also shifted around destination dispatch technology, which optimizes traffic flow across a bank of elevators by assigning passengers to specific cabs before they reach the lobby. Originally developed for new high-rise installations, this technology is now broadly applicable to modernization projects and can be added to many existing systems without a full cab or hoistway replacement. For building owners looking to meaningfully improve performance without a full overhaul, it represents one of the highest impact upgrades available for elevator systems.

The Efficiency Case Is Getting Harder to Ignore

For building owners navigating ESG reporting requirements or managing LEED-certified properties, an elevator modernization carries an energy efficiency dividend that is increasingly difficult to overlook. Modern drive systems, including regenerative drive technology that return energy to the building’s electrical system during descent, can reduce elevator energy consumption significantly compared to older motor-generator technology. In large, multi-cab installations, that reduction is a meaningful contribution to a building’s overall energy profile.

Modern systems also reduce the carbon footprint of ongoing maintenance, as intelligent diagnostics and remote monitoring allow service teams to address emerging issues before they become emergency calls. This predictive maintenance reduces unplanned service calls and tenant disruption.

Where to Start

For contractors advising building owner clients, the starting point is an honest assessment of the equipment. The right questions are simple: How old are the core control and drive components? What does the repair history look like and in what direction is it trending? Are there pending code reviews or renovation projects that could trigger compliance requirements? What does the leasing picture look like over the next three to five years?

Online planning tools now make it possible for building owners and their advisors to begin modeling modernization options, including phased timelines and associated costs, well before a formal contractor engagement. That early homework separates building owners who are in control of their modernization timeline from those who find themselves at the mercy of it.

The Cost of Waiting Is Already on the Ledger

For building owners and facility managers with aging elevator equipment, an elevator modernization is not just a future expense to be budgeted; it is an opportunity to plan your downtime and therefore provide a better customer experience. The cost of waiting to modernize your elevator is real, and those who work in the industry can confirm it almost always exceeds the cost of a proactive modernization.

Treating your vertical transportation systems as strategic assets rather than maintenance line items will put you in control, helping to avoid emergency calls, increase tenant satisfaction and retention, and ultimately protect the long-term value and reputation of the property. The cost of waiting to modernize is real, and in the experience of those who work with customers facing these decisions every day, it almost always exceeds the cost of proactive modernization. So rather than crossing your fingers that your equipment can survive another year, talk to your elevator service provider about how to get ahead of it on your schedule, on your terms, and on your budget.

SEE ALSO: RISING DEBATE: PROPRIETARY VS. NON-PROPRIETARY ELEVATOR EQUIPMENT

The post How Deferred Elevator Modernization Quietly Erodes Your Building’s Bottom Line first appeared on Construction Executive.

What drew you into the entrepreneurial world?

I’ve been in construction my whole life starting at age 14 or 15. I worked in Lubbock framing apartments and learning all the ins and outs of how not to hurt yourself. Ultimately, after I graduated college, I tried all kinds of different jobs.

I ended up at a company in Grand Prairie, Texas, called Read Plastics. I had to wear a suit and tie and work indoors. We supplied colorant to any company throughout the U.S. that would manufacture a plastic product that had color. One of the companies that we supplied material to was called Sport Court out of Salt Lake City. So, I picked up the phone and gave them a call—fortunately it was family owned back then. They said for $250 they’d send me a [sport court starter] kit. So, I scrambled up $250, sent it on in, and that’s how it got started. That was around 1988, 1989—and I’ve just enjoyed the journey so far.

While sport courts themselves are prolific, construction-wise they are down a pretty niche avenue. Elaborate on the actual construction process of building a court.

It starts with a phone call or a referral. We talk to the family or business briefly about what they’re looking for, how many people will be using the court, what sports they are looking to play, etc. And then we work on setting up a time and a date to go out and meet with the client at their home or business, paying close attention to easements, HOA requirements, permitting, etc. If mother nature isn’t an issue, we can get permitted pretty quickly once we start breaking ground—typically about 45 days or less.

Then we work on design: If it’s outdoors, that means paying attention to the lay of the land, the flow of water, the orientation of the sun at different times of day. Once the design is set, we come in and pour a concrete slab, which sets up for a few days. Then we can start topping it out with the fencing, the lights, the hoops, the surfacing, the tennis net, the shuffleboard lines or other. Then it’s a cleanup, a handshake and years of fun.

All these courts are built custom, in one-foot increments, whether it’s a full-size tennis court or a compact sport court—which allows you to play up to 15 games from roller hockey to basketball to volleyball to pickleball to paddle tennis to badminton and more.

We do a lot of indoor courts, as well. We are seeing a trend of more and more families doing indoor courts, especially in homes up in Minnesota where they have frigid temperatures, or in incredibly hot climates. We actually have a ribbon cutting tomorrow with the Mavs Foundation—we supplied the floor and the sports equipment for the YMCA in Flower Mound.

Do you do work with any multifamily complexes or retail places?

We have an individual in our office who specializes in that area. There’s a huge amount of development going on in North Texas right now with homes, community homes, apartments, etc. We are staying busy every week building commercial pickleball courts, basketball courts, tennis courts.

How has your company grown since you first started?

Early on, it was just me and my dad. Eventually, I met my wife and she came on board and took care of all the stuff that I wasn’t doing properly—I had shoe boxes in our bedroom where I kept all my receipts. She got me organized and started handling the phones, entering in leads and more, and that enabled me to go out and continue to sell and build and so forth. Over the years we went from three people to now 12 employees, so it’s grown a lot. And of course our business seems to keep growing as well.

We want to continue to grow. We are always looking at potential new products and partnerships. Ten years ago, we teamed up with Donnie Nelson of the Dallas Mavericks. He created the PFL, the Professional Futsal League, and we helped promote that league for him and it just slowly keeps growing and growing and growing. And we’ve partnered with FC Dallas, building eight mini-pitch soccer courts for them. We are always looking for ways to grow our business, and a lot of that’s going to have to do with making sure that we know what’s coming down the pike as far as new sports and new equipment and things of that nature.

Talk about your philanthropy efforts—namely the Nonprofit and Corporate Citizenship Award from D CEO magazine—but also where did these efforts originate? Was this always something you wanted to make part of your business plan?

It started probably 25 years ago with the Mavs Foundation. I learned that they would go out once a year and renovate an old basketball court. And I actually saw them doing that in South Dallas 25 years ago. What they were doing back then is taking an old basketball court and then putting a layer of paint on it. But in six months to a year, that paint would either peel or crack or the logos would fade. So, I introduced them to the modular-tile sport court product, and they thankfully said, ‘You know what, let’s try one.’ 25 years later, we’ve completed probably close to 40 courts now with the Mavs Foundation.

Then I became a sponsor of the Texas Legends in Frisco, the NBA G-League team. I did a court for Pat Summerall, the former pro-football player and sports announcer. Then I met Nancy Lieberman, the former pro-basketball player and coach, and she put together a program called Dream Courts, and we built her very first one 17 years ago in Frisco. And now she’s done 150 nationwide, and we’ve done about 50 of those locally.

It just kept blossoming: We did five or six ball-hockey courts for the Dallas Stars Foundation, and we’ve done about eight futsal courts for FC Dallas.

By partnering with these organizations and groups, we’re able to provide that same upper echelon product and design to the lower income communities that normally might just be playing on a painted slab or an asphalt court.

When you go look at an old basketball court that’s been there for 25 years, the rims are faded, they’re broken, the court’s cracked. For an organization to come in and use a high-end product, the before and after pictures are unbelievable. When the local kids who are used to the dilapidated court walk in and see this color—because it comes in 20 different colors—they are just so excited to see what someone’s given back to them.

From there, we got into donating courts to some of these nonprofit groups for their live auctions. The very first one I did was with the Children’s Cancer Fund of Dallas. It just so happened at that first event, Dak Prescott was the highest bidder. So, we built him a pickleball court. Then Dak Prescott’s foundation—Faith. Fight. Finish.—called and said, ‘Hey, will you do that for us?’ So, we have stayed active in that realm.

How do you instill that sense of philanthropy in the people you hire?

When a court’s donated, obviously we have to fund it. And I’m not as young as I used to be, so I tend to ask one of my sales reps. It’s worth their while because every time you build a court, you build a relationship with a family or business and that family or business has relationships with other families or business associates.

Right now, we just finished a court for someone who was the highest bidder at the Cattle Baron’s Ball in Dallas. It turns out we’re actually doing a big basketball court and a little football field in his neighbor’s home, whose best friend and wife are this year’s chair of Make-A-Wish. So, to give the employees and give the sales reps stories to tell is a big part of selling.

Of course, the benefits of getting involved in a lot of these groups and organizations is you often get invited to events, and we make sure that our employees and their family can come to these events, which is always a lot of fun as well.

Let’s talk about the award.

This is the benefit of having a PR firm like The Power Group. One of the things they started doing that I never would’ve thought of doing is to nominate the company for various awards like this one. So, I have to give 100% of the credit to The Power Group in Dallas.

When you received word that you got the award, how did you feel about that?

Well, I felt excited. Finally, I found an avenue where people can educate families and educate the public about what we do. Hopefully there’ll be a family that sees it, and we can help them build something for their kids to grow up with in their own backyard.

We were also just awarded a contract to build seven mini-pitch soccer courts for the North Texas World Cup Committee. So, we’re very excited about that. It’s probably going to be over 40,000 square feet of court surfacing, fencing, soccer goals. I grew up in Arlington, Texas, playing soccer, and one of the courts is going to be right in downtown Arlington, real close to where the games are going to be starting in June. The World Cup coming to DFW is a once-in-a-lifetime thing, but then being awarded that contract is just something else.

SEE ALSO: TRUSTING THE PIPELINE: SUPPORTING EARLY-CAREER CONSTRUCTION TALENT

The post Build a Court, Give a Court: Dallas Business Founder’s Philanthropy and Construction Efforts Culminate in World Cup Spotlight first appeared on Construction Executive.

This unique dynamic creates an environment where construction activities are happening adjacent to sensitive testing and treatment, a complex setting where disruptions can have serious consequences. Skanska continues to successfully navigate these challenges across multiple sectors, including from occupied lab space at the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s (NCDEQ) Reedy Creek Laboratory in Raleigh to hospital corridors alongside staff and patients in various hospital locations across the country.

While laboratories and hospitals are inherently different, the approach behind renovating these facilities without disrupting regular operations is quite similar. The secret sauce: strong communication with the customer, alongside careful planning and strategic scheduling that keep disturbances to an absolute minimum.

Construction in Phases

Splitting construction into phases is critical: It allows upgrades to be carried out in predetermined spaces, while maintaining the majority of the customer’s standard operations. This strategy is implemented with a detailed schedule that establishes the framework for the duration of critical activities in each specific phase, guaranteeing the customer is informed about every step in the process. Each phase is sequenced deliberately and intentionally, such that work generating the most noise, dust or disruption is clustered together and scheduled when it will have the least impact on surrounding operations, so that no single moment in the project catches the customer off guard.

Navigating Disruptions

While assembling a thoughtfully crafted plan to renovate an active facility is difficult in itself, the real challenge begins when crews step into the occupied space to start construction activities. Isolating the activities with barriers  is crucial to maintaining operations and reducing the impact of noise and vibrations.

Skanska has extensive experience working within active hospitals nationwide. Protecting patients, staff and ongoing operations is always a priority. Construction activity is carefully isolated from treatment rooms, laboratories and corridors through temporary partition walls and negative air pressure environments that keep dust and debris within the construction zone. This is instrumental for patients to receive uninterrupted treatment and testing progresses as usual.

At NCDEQ, the firm utilized vibration monitors on sensitive equipment to ensure construction activities had no adverse effects. In addition, while noisier actions and complex electrical work were completed on weekends or outside of typical working hours.

Maintaining Critical Infrastructure and Technical Systems

Occupied facility renovations demand meticulous attention to air quality, power continuity and specialized infrastructure. Air quality is particularly crucial in healthcare facilities and laboratories, where airborne contaminants from construction could compromise patient health or experimental integrity. In instances such as this, advanced filtration systems and carefully sealed containment barriers can be used to ensure particulates and fumes stay confined to construction areas—a standard that goes beyond typical jobsite practice.

While air quality is a major concern, the presence of construction chemicals in a laboratory space pose a similar threat to ongoing research. Skanska held extensive discussions with the NCDEQ to identify and review the chemical makeup of proposed construction materials, verifying these chemicals would not impact ongoing testing. Knowing exactly what compounds were present in the lab determined which adhesives, coatings and construction materials could safely be used in proximity to active research.

Maintaining power during construction is perhaps the most important when working on an occupied facility. Healthcare and research facilities depend on uninterrupted electrical service for everything from life-support equipment in hospitals to climate-controlled sample storage in laboratories. While upgrading electrical systems at NCDEQ, Skanska used temporary panels, circuits and mechanical connections to sustain power for lab technicians as work progressed, ensuring that at no point during the electrical upgrade did researchers lose power to the equipment they depended on.

In addition to electrical upgrades, Skanska’s work at operating facilities throughout the country include the replacement of the entire mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure; these sophisticated overhauls require careful tracing of the existing MEP systems to confirm there is no interference while preserving service throughout the facility’s active and occupied spaces.

Keeping Crews and Occupants Safe

The importance of safe construction practices is always paramount; however, safety is further heightened when working in active facilities. The construction site is no longer an isolated zone but a shared space where construction workers, facility staff, patients or researchers may all be present simultaneously. Managing that reality means more than posting signage—it requires construction teams and facility staff to operate as a single coordinated unit, with clear protocols for who goes where, when and why. Comprehensive safety measures include creating clearly marked construction zones, establishing controlled access points and exits, implementing strict material handling procedures and maintaining constant communication between construction teams and facility management.

Building For Tomorrow, Operating Today

Renovating active healthcare and laboratory facilities is entirely achievable with the right combination of strategic planning, technical expertise, and collaborative communication. Skanska has proven that success relies on a phased construction approach, rigorous safety protocols, earned trust and a commitment to minimizing disruption to the essential operations within these spaces.

The work performed at NCDEQ and various research and hospital locations throughout the country doesn’t just provide modernized facilities, it demonstrates that with enough planning, transparency and technical discipline, construction and critical customer operations can share the same space without either one giving ground. As the demand for modernized healthcare and research infrastructure continues to grow, projects like these will serve as a blueprint for how the construction industry can address that need without completely shutting down critical operations.

SEE ALSO: INSIDE CONSTRUCTION’S HIGHEST-PERFORMING PROJECTS

The post Building the Research and Healthcare Facilities of Tomorrow Without Impacting the Progress of Today first appeared on Construction Executive.

The location was Early Branch, South Carolina, the site of a new 300,000-square-foot distribution center and 23,000-square-foot office building for French-Belgian cookware company Le Creuset. The designs for the company’s new 62-acre campus were striking, but the damp dirt was jarring even for a Lowcountry construction veteran like Horton.

“It was probably the wettest site we’ve ever built on,” says Horton, project director for Frampton Construction Co., which has offices in South Carolina, North Carolina and Florida. “We’ve dealt with it before, but this dirt was super saturated. When we got the reports back on the moisture content, they were kind of off the charts. We had reports before taking the job, so we knew what we were getting into, but it ended up being worse than we thought.”

Fortunately, Horton was well-suited to handle the challenge. He has managed roughly 30 distribution center projects during his career, and Frampton’s willingness to address the difficult soil conditions while still completing the project within 12 months helped the company win the job. Groundbreaking took place in February 2025.

“Le Creuset had deadlines they had to hit, and we figured out a way to do it,” Horton says. “The owner later told us, ‘You had four or five other people bid against you. Everybody said it was probably about a 15-month project. You guys came in and said 12.’ That was a big deal for them. They had to trust that our schedule was right.”

The compressed timeline was driven by the holiday season. Le Creuset needed to install racking systems and move products into the facility ahead of Thanksgiving and Christmas, when sales increase significantly. The installation was completed in phases while construction continued.

“There was a lot of sequencing because they were moving product while we were still under construction,” Horton says. “We worked really well together as a team to make sure they could do what they needed to do while also protecting their product and keeping everyone safe. It required a lot of coordination.”

The project’s remote location created additional logistical challenges. The nearest major cities—Charleston, South Carolina, and Savannah, Georgia—are both more than 55 miles away.

“You’ve got to get construction materials, subcontractors and everything else to a site that’s not near a major city,” Horton says.

To stabilize and dry the soil, Frampton implemented cement soil stabilization. However, Early Branch was not close to cement suppliers, and the area lacked major ready-mix concrete providers capable of supporting the project’s slab and wall pours.

The solution was to build an onsite concrete batching plant, which improved quality control and helped keep the project on schedule.

The campus ultimately opened on time, with a grand opening celebration held Feb. 20. Horton says competing bidders later called Le Creuset to ask whether Frampton had really completed the project in 12 months.

The distribution center itself is a concrete tilt-up facility designed to accommodate future expansion. But Horton says the office building became the project’s showpiece.

The space features open ceilings, polished concrete floors and a two-story lobby anchored by a grand black-metal staircase. Le Creuset’s signature bright, warm colors—inspired by its cookware products—were incorporated throughout the office by design firm McMillan Pazdan Smith.

The lobby bathroom sink, for example, is a flame-orange Dutch oven, while the elevator interior is bright red.

“They’re the colors they use on their products, so it’s more fun than a normal office space,” Horton says. “The flooring, wall tile and furniture are all colorful. The cubicles are red, orange, blue and green. Their team was very specific about what they wanted the space to look like, and we made it happen for them.”

The campus was also designed with employees in mind. Amenities include a cafeteria with a covered patio and grills, walking trails around the property and pond, and locker rooms.

Horton says employees have responded enthusiastically to the space, but for him, the project’s greatest success was the trust established between Frampton and Le Creuset. The cookware company hired Frampton directly without using a third-party construction manager.

“They know how to make Dutch ovens and pots and pans. They don’t know how to build buildings,” Horton says. “They trusted us to manage the construction and do what was right for them. I think we built that trust early in the interview process. I’m proud of our team. We guided them through the process, stayed on budget and avoided major surprises.”

Other than the wet dirt, of course.

SEE ALSO: BRINGING HOME THE (FANCY ITALIAN) BACON: HOW TO BUILD A NEXT-GEN GOOD PLANT

The post Distribution Center, Served Hot: Le Creuset’s New Location first appeared on Construction Executive.

But beyond recognizing exceptional work, the data behind these projects may also offer a roadmap for delivering better outcomes across the broader construction industry.

Can the performance metrics from award-winning projects help owners, designers and contractors make decisions that lead to safer jobsites, stronger budget performance and more predictable schedules? According to ABC’s growing EIC data set, the answer appears to be yes.

Over the past several years, ABC has enhanced and automated the EIC application process, enabling the organization to capture and analyze detailed project-performance data across hundreds of projects nationwide. The findings reveal several clear trends among top-performing projects: value-based procurement dominated over low bid selection; preconstruction services consistently improved schedule reliability; and contractors investing in technology and early collaboration often delivered stronger safety and budget outcomes.

The 2025 EIC portfolio—recognized at ABC Convention 2026 in Salt Lake City—provides one of the clearest pictures yet of what project excellence looks like in practice.

The portfolio includes 341 national-level projects totaling $15.09 billion in construction value, representing 38 million work hours, 48 million square feet of construction and 3.6 million acres of developed land. The projects span every major market sector, including data centers, healthcare, multifamily, petrochemical, institutional, renewable energy and aviation.

Collectively, the projects achieved a total recordable incident rate of 0.68—70% below the 2025 industry average TRIR of 2.3. Ninety-eight percent finished within the final contract budget despite collectively overcoming 2,647 days of delays. Across the portfolio, contractors deployed a wide range of technologies, including robotics, telematics, drones, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.

The data also challenges several longstanding assumptions about high-performing construction projects. While many EIC projects exceed $100 million in value, nearly 200 are valued below $20 million, suggesting the practices driving excellence are not limited by project size. The portfolio also demonstrates that merit shop contractors are successfully delivering large-scale, technically complex projects while achieving industry-leading safety performance.

Taken together, the portfolio significantly outperformed broader industry benchmarks in safety, budget reliability and schedule management—raising an important question: What were these projects doing differently?

The data points to several leading indicators that consistently show up in award-winning construction.

THE VALUE OF EARLY ENGAGEMENT

Project success begins with procurement strategy and the services purchased during project development.

All procurement methods were represented across both general and specialty contracting. However, 60% of projects were procured primarily on value- or qualification-based selection, while 40% were procured primarily on price. Of the price-based projects, half were awarded through select bidding processes involving prequalified contractors.

While much of the broader construction market still relies heavily on price-driven procurement, EIC projects skewed strongly toward qualification- and value-based selection (encompassing both the “value-based” and “solely negotiated” designations in the preceding and above infographics).

Every market sector selected contractors primarily on qualification at least 50% of the time. The high-tech/data center sector and renewable energy sector relied most heavily on qualification-based procurement, at 74% and 75%, respectively.

“Owners are increasingly seeing that selecting a construction partner based on best value, not just low price, leads to savings overall,” says Buddy Henley, president of Gaithersburg, Maryland-based Henley Construction. “Having a trusted partner engaged during design allows risks to be identified earlier and problems to be solved before they become costly. That early collaboration improves cost certainty, supports smoother schedules and significantly reduces surprises in the field.”

Government projects relied most heavily on open hard bid or price-based procurement, using that method 27% of the time. By contrast, the high-tech/data center market procured just 15% of projects through open hard bid.

Among general contractors, 74% were selected primarily on a qualification basis. Nearly one-quarter of those projects were solely negotiated, and those projects represented the highest average contract value at approximately $101 million.

“The most successful projects are the ones that bring the design team and construction manager together at the very beginning. Early collaboration improves constructability, clarifies scopes for the trades, and reduces gaps that create risk,” Henley says. “That early alignment leads to better budget predictability and stronger trade relationships, which directly supports safer and more successful projects.

When owners focus on value-based procurement instead of low bid alone, the outcomes are consistently stronger. Choosing teams based on experience, collaboration and the value they bring creates real partnership across the project. We see better cost control, higher-quality results and safer jobsites when the right team is selected from the start.”

Lorri Grayson, partner and founder of Rehoboth, Delaware-based GGA Construction, echoes Henley’s sentiments. “Early involvement creates an atmosphere of strong collaboration among project stakeholders. It enables the project team to define the scope of work, identify long lead items and, most importantly, control costs from the earliest stages,” she says.

“It also helps develop a bid strategy that responds to current market conditions. For example, early involvement on our current project, The Continental, located at the University of Delaware, saved the owner over $5 million on a $90-million project,” Grayson says. “Early coordination allowed us to identify critical procurement needs and minimize budget risks, resulting in a more efficient and cost-effective process.”

That emphasis on early collaboration and value-driven procurement was reflected throughout the EIC portfolio data. Just 18% of general contractor projects were procured through open hard bid, and those projects represented the lowest average contract value at approximately $15 million.

The owner perspective also supports early contractor involvement.

“Successful projects are built on strong partnerships rooted in trust, transparency and psychological safety—where titles are set aside and teams feel comfortable speaking openly to solve problems together,” says Spencer Moore, vice president and chief facilities officer for globally renowned cancer center UT MD Anderson. “Early collaboration creates that foundation, allowing teams to address challenges with humility and ownership before moving toward solutions.”

That same emphasis on qualifications, collaboration and long-term value also appeared in how specialty contractors were selected across the EIC portfolio. Specialty contractors were procured primarily on qualification 46% of the time, while 31% were selected through select bid and 24% through open hard bid. Contract value did not appear to significantly influence procurement methodology for specialty trades.

One of the more surprising findings in the data was that procurement strategy did not necessarily dictate contract structure. Regardless of how projects were awarded—whether through qualification-based selection, negotiated work or open bid—top-performing projects utilized virtually every form of contracting across the portfolio.

One notable distinction emerged between general and specialty contractors: Lump-sum contracting overwhelmingly dominated among specialty contractors regardless of procurement method.

THE PRECON ADVANTAGE

Across all market sectors, preconstruction services were provided on 74% of projects—well above what many contractors would consider typical across the broader marketplace. General contractors delivered preconstruction services on 73% of projects, while specialty contractors did so on 75%.

“Early involvement allows specialty contractors to contribute practical, experience-based insight before key decisions are locked in. When we’re engaged during preconstruction, we can identify coordination challenges early, help refine scope and sequencing, and offer practical yet innovative solutions to tough problems–reducing rework,” says Matt Terry, president of Dallas-based mechanical contractor TDIndustries. “That upfront collaboration directly improves schedule reliability, cost certainty and overall project performance.”

Steve Grauer, executive vice president for Hensel Phelps, agrees. “In my experience, the best outcomes to project success on complex projects are rooted in project teams that exemplify a high level of trust, practice transparency, have accountability, truly collaborate, and have a high level of executive commitment and engagement in the project and where there is open communication by all the stakeholders,” he says. “These traits are best embedded when project teams have some type of early engagement, giving them an opportunity to work collaboratively to resolve early challenges and work to build personal relationships prior to the start of construction.”

Notably, no preconstruction services were provided on 51% of projects procured through open hard bid.

While preconstruction services were utilized across all procurement methods and contract structures, the combination of open hard bid procurement and lump-sum contracting most frequently resulted in projects without preconstruction involvement.

Twenty-six percent of all EIC projects did not utilize preconstruction services, and 75% of those projects followed the open hard bid/lump-sum model.

FROM PLANNING TO PERFORMANCE

At a time when the construction industry continues to battle cost escalation, labor shortages and schedule disruption, EIC projects significantly outperformed broader industry benchmarks in safety, budget reliability and schedule management. The EIC portfolio overcame more than seven years of cumulative delays, delivering 98% of projects within budget and achieving a TRIR of 0.68.

The next question? Whether procurement methods, contract structures or preconstruction services contributed to those outcomes.

When comparing planned project duration to actual construction duration—including delay recovery—projects utilizing preconstruction services demonstrated stronger performance.

Projects with preconstruction services showed slightly better schedule outcomes overall. Fifty-two percent achieved shorter actual durations compared to projects without preconstruction services.

More importantly, projects with contractor involvement during preconstruction overcame more delay days and exhibited lower schedule variation.

Projects without preconstruction services experienced a 14% variance between planned and actual construction duration, including delays.

The same trend appeared across contract structures. Lump-sum contracts—which included preconstruction services on only 47% of projects—experienced an 11% variance between planned and actual duration. Construction manager-at-risk projects, where preconstruction services were included on 96% of projects, experienced only a 1% variance.

The trend became even more pronounced among general contractors. Design-build and CMAR delivery methods significantly reduced schedule duration variance compared to lump-sum and time-and-materials contracts. This aligns with the fact that design-build and CMAR projects incorporated preconstruction services on 90% and 96% of projects, respectively.

“The biggest gains we see come under the construction-manager-at-risk approach. Early cost validation during design helps identify savings without sacrificing quality,” explains Henley. “Clarifying scopes and resolving issues early reduces financial risk and improves safety across all trade partners.”

Among specialty contractors, preconstruction services also reduced schedule variation regardless of procurement method or contract type. Projects without preconstruction services experienced a 25% schedule variance. When specialty contractors participated in preconstruction, that variance was reduced by at least half.

Although 98% of EIC projects finished within the customer’s final approved budget, variation still existed between original and final contract values through approved change orders.

Projects utilizing CMAR and design-build delivery methods experienced lower budget variation than lump-sum and time-and-materials contracts, suggesting fewer scope changes and change orders over the course of construction.

No significant correlation emerged between procurement method, contract type and safety performance, with one exception: time-and-materials projects recorded an exceptionally low TRIR of 0.04.

Time-and-materials contracting was most common in industrial, infrastructure and renewable energy markets.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY

Technology adoption continues to expand across the construction industry.

• The four most commonly used technologies during the past three years remained consistent:
• Project-management platforms
• Safety workflow technologies
• Drones
• Jobsite security technologies

TECHNOLOGY MOVES TO THE CENTER

Just three years ago, artificial intelligence was virtually absent from EIC projects. Today, 18% of projects report using AI technologies.

Importantly, no major technology category has declined in usage over the past three years, suggesting contractors continue to realize measurable return on investment.

Technology deployment also spanned all contract types and project sizes.

Construction technologies were utilized across projects of every size category. Data indicates that technology deployment frequency remains consistent regardless of project dollar value.

“During the past three years, we have experienced unprecedented growth which we attribute to two key factors,” says Rob Griffith, chief operating officer of Gaylor Electric. “First, we are collaborating with our customers earlier in the precon process. The second—related—factor is our commitment to utilizing innovations that increase efficiency and safety for our workforce and the speed at which we deliver reliable outcomes on projects.”

Projects utilizing safety technologies consistently reported lower TRIR rates than projects without those technologies.

The trend suggests that investments in safety-focused technology are contributing to improved jobsite performance.

“Technologies like BIM, VDC, field-management platforms and real-time reporting help teams communicate more effectively and make informed decisions faster,” Terry says. “Our longstanding investments in these tools give our teams a distinct advantage when delivering high-quality results. This amounts to better productivity, safer jobsites and more predictable outcomes for owners.”

WHAT THE INDUSTRY CAN LEARN

Companies qualifying for EIC awards should take pride in their performance. The data confirms that ABC’s EIC-awarded projects significantly outperform industry averages across safety, budget and schedule metrics.

• The analysis also reinforces several broader conclusions:
• Preconstruction services deliver measurable value
• Technology adoption is accelerating and becoming a key differentiator
• Safety leadership remains foundational to project excellence
• High-performing contractors consistently deliver quality projects regardless of procurement method or contract structure

The data also provides insights worth sharing broadly across the industry. Regardless of project size, market sector or delivery method, the conditions for excellence can be created through intentional planning, collaboration, innovation and leadership.

SEE ALSO: ABC UNVEILS AWARD-WINNING CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS, NATIONAL CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR, SAFETY AND DIVERSITY EXCELLENCE IN THE INDUSTRY

The post Inside Construction’s Highest-Performing Projects first appeared on Construction Executive.

Beneath the excitement of architectural ambition and civic pride lies a risk landscape that has fundamentally changed since the last wave of stadium construction. Teams, cities and contractors that rely on outdated assumptions may find themselves exposed to cost overruns, schedule delays and liabilities that are far more difficult to unwind once construction is underway.

The Risk Environment Has Fundamentally Shifted

Stadiums are being built in a completely different risk environment than they were a decade ago. The complexity hasn’t just increased structurally, it’s increased digitally, contractually and operationally, and this convergence has caught many teams off-guard. Supply chains are more fragile, labor markets are tighter, regulatory scrutiny is higher and digital systems are now deeply embedded into building operations. Meanwhile, project delivery models have evolved, often shifting more risk onto contractors and design teams through aggressive schedules, fixed pricing and complex public-private partnerships.

The result is a merging of risks that amplify one another. Stadiums are large, highly customized, schedule-driven projects with intense public visibility and limited tolerance for failure. A delay in one trade ripples across dozens of others: a procurement issue escalates into a financing problem, a supplier delay threatens deadlines and a cyber vulnerability becomes an operational threat long before opening day.

Why Stadium Projects Face Concurrent Risks—and How to Mitigate Them

Stadium construction is uniquely susceptible to what can best be described as “stacked risk”–multiple exposures occurring simultaneously rather than in isolation.

Stadiums involve massive quantities of structural steel, long-lead mechanical systems, specialty façade components and bespoke architectural features. A new tariff policy, material shortages or supplier insolvencies can derail procurement timelines quickly, particularly when substitution options are limited or politically sensitive.

Labor constraints compound the challenge. Stadiums often compete regionally for the same skilled trades as infrastructure, commercial and industrial projects. When schedules change, trade crews may be reallocated to other projects and are not easily pulled back once they move on. This creates a cycle where delays compound rather than resolve.

Procurement adds another layer of friction, given that processes for publicly funded or high-profile projects tend to be rigid and slow. While intended to promote transparency and fairness, these processes can reduce flexibility when conditions change mid-project, making it more difficult to mitigate emerging risks without formal change orders or renegotiation.

Another recurring risk factor in stadium construction is site selection. Stadiums are often built on challenging sites such as former industrial lands, waterfronts or dense urban areas, bringing hidden geotechnical and environmental risks such as soil contamination, undocumented structures and groundwater issues. These conditions often surface only during excavation, forcing redesigns, remediation, schedule delays and cost disputes. Risks are especially acute in fixed-price or design-build projects where allocations may not match actual site conditions.

Stadium projects benefit tremendously from clarity around control, whether through owner-controlled or contractor-controlled insurance programs that align coverage, reduce cost and mitigate fragmentation. Controlled insurance programs can be particularly effective on stadium projects where multiple contractors, trades and stakeholders converge under compressed timelines.

Such programs can provide a centralized risk management approach, improve safety and reduce coverage disputes, a level of coordination that is incredibly valuable on projects as complex and visible as stadiums. These programs can also help to manage additional stakeholder goals regarding centralization and monitoring of data, assisting in measurement of key objectives such as local labor participation or insights into the day-to-day activities throughout stadium construction.

Cyber Risk: The New Blind Spot in Stadium Construction

Notably, today’s stadiums are no longer just concrete and steel. They are smart buildings made of interconnected ecosystems that encompass building automation, access control, ticketing platforms, Wi-Fi and 5G networks, broadcast infrastructure, and AI-driven crowd management tools.

These systems are frequently installed, commissioned and tested during construction, long before an owner’s IT or cybersecurity team fully assumes control. As a result, vulnerabilities can be introduced during the design, integration or handover phases, when responsibility for cyber risk is poorly defined. Meaning, cyber risk has become a construction-phase exposure, even though many teams still treat it as an operational issue.

Cyber incidents can cause real-world impacts including delayed commissioning, failed inspections, operational disruptions and disputes over responsibility. From an owner’s perspective, the stakes are even higher—a cyber incident on opening day or during a high-profile event can create reputational damage that far outweighs the cost of construction itself.

Stadium owners face heightened cyber risk due to how construction payments are managed. Large stadium projects generate a volume and complexity of contractor invoices, pay applications and change-order requests that many owners do not routinely handle. This unfamiliarity creates fertile ground for impersonation schemes, fraudulent payment redirection and other forms of financial cybercrime, particularly when requests appear urgent and/or tied to construction milestones.

Without clear verification protocols and coordination between project finance and IT teams, a single compromised email or falsified invoice can result in significant financial loss often without immediate detection. When digital systems are mission-critical to the building’s performance, failures result in financial, legal and reputational exposure.

Rethinking Risk Allocation, Insurance and Claims Management: ADR Pros and Cons

Given these evolving challenges, stadium stakeholders must rethink how risk is allocated, insured and actively managed. Traditional approaches that rely heavily on contractual risk transfer are increasingly insufficient. When multiple parties are exposed to overlapping risks, disputes can delay resolution long after the underlying issue has been fixed. This is where integrated insurance structures and proactive claims strategies can make a meaningful difference.

The ADR structure—alternative dispute resolution—addresses workers’ compensation claims across complex, multi-year builds. ADR programs offer a win-win solution for management and labor, providing best in class medical care for injured workers while expediting the resolution of disputes regarding medical or indemnity benefits. These features shorten the life of the claim by reducing time out of work and lessening litigation. Additionally, ADR can reduce upfront CIP costs, backend claims costs and the total cost of risk for projects, thus making it a valuable investment into a stadium project’s broader risk and insurance strategy.

In practice, the ADR program has produced impressive results. In close coordination with stakeholders, NFP implemented an ADR program for the Buffalo Bills Stadium project, giving workers access to high quality medical care, speedy benefits and care authorization, all while reducing claims costs. The amicable nature of the ADR program allowed for additional features such as an onsite mental health program that not only provided typically sparse resources for workers onsite but also trained project leadership on how to recognize mental health issues within their workforce.

However, take into consideration that ADR programs are collectively bargained through a project labor agreement.

The Bottom Line

The current stadium construction boom represents an extraordinary opportunity for cities, teams and developers, but it also demands a more sophisticated understanding of risk.

Projects that rely on outdated assumptions or underestimate the interconnected nature of today’s exposures may find themselves unprepared for the realities of modern construction. Those that proactively address these challenges through smarter planning, clearer accountability, integrated insurance programs and streamlined claims resolution, will be far better positioned to deliver stadiums that perform as well operationally, as they do architecturally.

In today’s environment, risk management isn’t just a back-office function, it’s a strategic discipline. For stadium projects, how you manage risk off the field determines how the game plays out on it.

SEE ALSO: ‘YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT LIVES’: THE NEW NISSAN STADIUM

The post Hidden Risks Behind Today’s Stadium Construction Boom first appeared on Construction Executive.

For nonresidential contractors and owners operating in today’s compressed schedules and cost-sensitive environment, fit-outs require more than quality craftsmanship. They demand disciplined preconstruction planning, early coordination and clear accountability.

The following five pitfalls routinely disrupt commercial fit-outs. But there are practical planning strategies that prevent them.

1. Scope Gaps That Trigger Change Orders

Few factors erode trust faster than change orders that originate in gray areas.

Scope gaps often stem from unclear inclusions and exclusions, incomplete responsibility mapping between owner, landlord and contractor, or subtle disconnects between drawings, specifications and budget assumptions.

These oversights rarely appear dramatic or even problematic at the outset. Instead, they tend to surface as concerns midstream, when mobilization is underway and leverage is limited.

In North America, it’s estimated that a whopping 98% of all construction projects face delays, with the average project duration extending 37% longer than originally projected (often due to scope gaps that could have been avoided).

Common examples of project scope gaps include:

• Base building versus tenant improvement demarcations
• Utility capacity assumptions
• Demolition extent
• Technology or low-voltage scope
• Responsibility for temporary services

Avoiding these concerns begins with rigorous scope alignment before pricing is finalized. Effective teams conduct structured scope reviews that reconcile architectural drawings, engineering documents and trade narratives line by line.

Additionally, responsibility matrices can clarify who owns each component (landlord, tenant or contractor) and eliminate overlap or omission.

Budget narratives should also explicitly document assumptions. When scope decisions are captured early and shared across stakeholders, downstream disputes decrease and cost exposure narrows.

2. Late Design Changes That Cascade Across Trades

A seemingly small design change during construction can produce outsized consequences.

For example: Shifting a wall impacts framing, drywall, electrical, fire protection and finishes. Modifying lighting layouts affects ceiling systems and coordination drawings. Changing flooring after procurement disrupts sequencing and labor allocation.

In dense commercial interiors, trades are also tightly interdependent. Late changes amplify rework and compress float, often driving acceleration costs.

Prevention hinges on disciplined decision timing. Decision deadlines should align with procurement and coordination milestones. Early constructability reviews identify conflicts before they migrate to the field. Finish selections, particularly long-lead items, should be confirmed during preconstruction rather than deferred to mobilization.

Contractors that incorporate trade partners into early coordination sessions often reduce redesign risk. Field realities (access constraints, tolerances, sequencing) inform smarter design decisions before installation begins.

When decision-making frameworks are established early, change orders decline and schedule stability improves.

3. Overlooked Site Logistics in Active Buildings

Many commercial fit-outs occur within occupied buildings. In these environments, logistics can dictate performance morethan labor productivity.

Elevator restrictions, limited staging space, noise limitations, after-hours work rules and neighboring tenant sensitivities reshape how construction unfolds. Projects that fail to integrate these constraints into early planning frequently experience delays unrelated to trade execution.

Successful fit-outs treat logistics as a primary planning variable, not a secondary consideration.

Pre-mobilization walkthroughs with building management clarify freight access, laydown areas, material delivery windows and protection requirements. Detailed logistics plans should address:

• Material flow paths
• Temporary protection measures
• Debris removal routes
• Work-hour limitations
• Security protocols

Sequencing may need to adjust to accommodate vertical transportation limitations or shared corridors. In high-rise environments, elevator scheduling alone can influence daily productivity.

When logistics planning occurs early (before schedules are finalized), contractors can more effectively reduce friction with property managers and neighboring tenants while maintaining progress.

4. Permit and Approval Delays on the Critical Path

Permitting is frequently underestimated in commercial interiors, particularly when projects appear straightforward.

Even minor scope modifications can trigger additional review cycles. Jurisdictional backlogs, incomplete submittals or unclear documentation extend timelines unexpectedly. In some municipalities, revisions restart review clocks entirely.

That’s why permitting should be treated as a schedule driver, rather than a parallel task.

Proactive teams engage jurisdictions early to clear up submission requirements and review expectations. Complete, coordinated drawing packages reduce comments and resubmissions. Realistic review durations (including potential revision cycles) should be incorporated into the master schedule.

Where applicable, phased permitting strategies may allow early construction activities while final reviews continue. Maintaining consistent communication with plan reviewers often accelerates resolution of comments.

When permitting assumptions are transparent and built into the schedule, projects avoid last-minute compression that strains labor and budgets.

5. Budget Creep From Dozens of Small Misses

Rarely does a single catastrophic decision derail a fit-out budget. More commonly, cost drift accumulates from dozens of minor misses.

Untracked allowances, underestimated quantities, overlooked coordination items and incremental scope shifts combine to produce budget overruns that surprise stakeholders late in the process.

Preventing this requires active cost management throughout design and construction. In other words, detailed early budgeting anchored in trade input improves accuracy. Regular cost check-ins (aligned with design development milestones) surface variance before it becomes entrenched. Transparent change management procedures make sure all scope adjustments are documented, priced and approved prior to execution.

In my experience, contractors that treat budgeting as a continuous discipline rather than a one-time event maintain clearer visibility into financial performance. When small cost deviations are addressed immediately, cumulative exposure is better controlled.

A Framework for Predictable Fit-Out Execution

Across these five pitfalls, a common theme has emerged: Most disruptions are preventable through disciplined preconstruction and structured coordination.

A field-tested framework for commercial interiors includes:

• Early scope alignment and responsibility mapping
• Structured constructability reviews
• Decision deadline tracking
• Detailed logistics planning for active environments
• Permitting integrated into baseline schedules
• Ongoing cost reconciliation throughout design

For nonresidential contractors and owners, predictability is often more valuable than speed. Clear assumptions, early coordination and transparent communication reduce friction and protect both relationships and margins.

In truth, commercial fit-outs rarely fail because of poor craftsmanship. They falter when planning gaps compound under schedule pressure.

As tenant demands grow and schedules tighten, there’s no margin for vague estimates. Projects that feel controlled in the field are almost always the result of disciplined planning long before the first wall is framed.

SEE ALSO: NEW SURVEY REVEALS THREE TRENDS RESHAPING MEP CONTRACTING

The post Five Common Pitfalls in Commercial Fit-Outs—and How to Avoid Them first appeared on Construction Executive.

Spending was down on a monthly basis in 9 of the 16 nonresidential subcategories. Both public and private nonresidential spending were down 0.2% in March.

“Nonresidential construction spending contracted yet again in March,” said ABC Chief Economist Anirban Basu. “While a large portion of the ongoing decline is due to steadily falling manufacturing-related construction activity, weakness is becoming more widespread. Both public and private sector activity fell in March, and the latter is now down more than 2% on a year-over-year basis. With the exception of the ongoing boom in data center construction (+34.3% year over year), there are few sources of momentum. Despite this ongoing weakness, however, contractors remain optimistic about the outlook, according to ABC’s Construction Confidence Index.”

SEE ALSO: CONSTRUCTION HIRING STILL EXCEPTIONALLY SLOW IN MARCH

The post Nonresidential Construction Spending Down Again in March first appeared on Construction Executive.