Top Ten Reasons to Choose a Design Professional

Over the years, many of our ebits have taken a look at all the choices you face as you start a facility project. In other words – which, of the many items you have at your disposal, do you reach for to assure a successful project? This week we take a look at reaching for an “Engineer/Architect that you Know, Believe in & Trust” to be on your team.

Here are the Top Ten Reasons to reach for an Engineer/Architect for your next facility project…

Number 10: You need extra “horse power” to get those out of the ordinary projects completed.

Number 9: You need individuals with specialized skills on building codes, architectural design, engineering and construction management to supplement your in-house staff.

Number 8: You need political cover from the corporate “sacred cows” and all that jazz.

Number 7: You’re looking for Best Practices from someone who has served multiple clients facing similar problems across different sectors.

Number 6: You are looking for a fresh set of eyes that are not bound by daily routines.

Number 5: You are looking to validate ideas that have already been created within the organization.

Number 4: You are looking to understand the building codes & government regulations and leverage them to your advantage.

Number 3: Lawyers are too expensive.

Number 2: Your brother-in-law is busy this weekend.

And the Number 1 Reason you should reach for an Engineer/Architect is….It’s fun to look at all the drawings!

In all seriousness (not that these 10 Reasons are not serious), having a professional alongside you will calm the stress of the day to day decision making because this is what we do; nothing new here for us. Give us a call, we look forward to being a part of your team…

The Beauty of Teamwork

As many of you know, I am a huge Purdue fan and this past weekend saw my favorite team win its 25th regular season Big Ten Championship. I know that Purdue’s past struggles in the the Big Ten Tournamant and the NCAA Tournamant are well documented, but I’ll worry about that in the coming weeks of March as this team navigates its way through both tournaments. Watching Purdue play basketball this season made me think a lot about teamwork. These guys lost several key members from last years team and added several new faces this year. They came together and ended up having a very successful season.

Teamwork on the basketball court is very similar to teamwork within a buiding project. You have multiple members of the team (the client/owner, the designers and the contractors). All members have to come together and support one another, otherwise you will end up with a subpar project in the end. Much like a basketball team working its way through a 35 game season, building projects can be a bit of a marathon themselves. Up front planning (much like the basketball preseason) is essential to a successful project. If you skip the planning process, you will likely find yourself behind throughout the entire project.

If we can be of help, give us a call so we can team up with you on your next building project.

“Rules” of Construction – A Follow Up

Around this time last year, I wrote an e-bits about “Rules” of construction. I had just gotten home from spending a few days in Florida and the e-bits was mainly talking about how building codes in different parts of the country are unique to each location, but ultimately getting a project from the starting point to the finish line is very similar no matter what part of the country you are in. The photo above is the comparison of the condo building during construction last year and the completed project this year. While in Florida earlier this week, I had the opportunity to see the finished product and it made me think about how interesting it is to see a project go from start to finish. There were lots of building codes that the design professionals and the contractors needed to adhere to, but in the end they were able to construct a beautiful building on a beautiful piece of property.

We at PDMi have extensive building code knowledge not only locally, but across the United States. If we can be of help on your next project, regardless of the location, give us a call.