Meeting the Challenges

The news is filled with headlines about challenging construction conditions locally and nationwide. Skilled labor shortages, an active storm season, rising material costs and extended lead times all require a strategic approach to complete projects. Downtown Auburn's Municipal Complex project is large and complicated, and impacted by all of these factors, yet progress continues on track.

How is Auburn managing the obstacles?

Local partnerships

BM&K is Auburn's construction partner, based in Braselton. Because they also do engineering and consulting, they have broad expertise on the team to adapt and find solutions.  "We've worked through challenging times before, not just surviving, but thriving," noted Don Clerici, BM&K President, "While we are a sizable organization working around the state, we've built valued relationships with our local partners."

Much like the seller's market happening in residential real estate, competition for skilled labor is fierce this year. Thanks to BM&K's history with key contractors in the area, there are experienced crews - including subcontractors and suppliers from Auburn and surrounding counties - committed to the project.

Strategic Planning

Early buying locked in prices and reserved supplies for mechanical, electrical, plumbing and steel packages, as well as rebar and elevators. While traditional lead time for concrete pours used to be 4-5 days, labor and trucking shortages now require scheduling more than two months ahead. Estimates and quotes that were good for 90 days, now may only be held for 5-10 days. BM&K continuously scans the market to determine the best approach for each phase of the project.

Nationwide pricing shifts

Adjustments

The team is finding alternatives that do not impact quality, to keep the project on track. For example, bar joists are not available until April of 2022.  So, a metal floor truss system will be used instead. Rather than delay up to a year waiting for Polyisocyanurate foam panels (known as Polyiso), spray foam will be used under the roof trusses and shingles on plywood decking, and rigid foam insulation board and plywood under the TPO roofing. "Since we do a lot of design build work as well, we have resources across departments to help, said Sloane Laughman, Project Manager at BM&K, "We are part of the solution, not just handing over the problem."

Patience

Timing is a big part of strategic planning, especially when it comes to weather. Rain can be a challenge on any project, especially in the early stages when most of the work takes place outside. Rainfalls in recent months have been higher than average, but by consistently taking advantage of dry weather days, the project is progressing.

"Any large project has challenges," said Alex Mitchem, Auburn's City Administrator, "that's why we built a team with the experience and expertise to make sure this one keeps moving forward in a timely and cost-effective way."

Continuing updates are available at DowntownAuburnGA.com.