Beyond the bricks and mortar: Part three
Customer service and partnering has become more important than ever. In this post I will share with you an example of going above and beyond to ensure a successful project.
Superintendent Robert Houle recognized the importance of partnering with the owner’s medical equipment coordinator to guarantee the construction schedule aligned 100% with their furnished medical equipment purchasing schedule. During preconstruction, he developed a specialty room tracking sheet that was incorporated into our subcontract agreement. Outlining each piece of new and existing medical equipment, the sheet also defined a scope of work that was reviewed by the equipment vendors, owner, architect, and the engineer of record to confirm that the project team captured the complete design intent and vendor requirements that may or may not have been indicated on the drawings. This spreadsheet was incorporated as an exhibit to our standard subcontract agreement to make sure there were no change orders during construction regardless of what the drawings indicated.
He reviewed equipment shop drawings with the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing trades to ensure no changes were made to the original scope reviews. All changes were immediately addressed with the owner. He developed a schedule based on the owner’s requirements for new and relocated equipment that included all required information. Leading up to the actual rooms being completed, he worked with the physicist as each wall, floor, and ceiling was poured to ensure proper thickness and density of the concrete were achieved to meet the physicist requirements. Through this partnership, both the written and unwritten expectations of the project were satisfied without time or cost implications.
With healthcare building, there is so much more to construction than just building a structure. So take a look beyond the bricks and mortar and remember you are impacting a community and are, in part, saving lives.