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Preconstruction Services

The Tompkins Builders preconstruction services include project scheduling, project budgeting, constructability reviews, value engineering, site utilization management plans, staffing requirements, determination of early release long-lead procurements, and recommendations for contracting methods. In short, we will provide overall project coordination.

The first tasks required for any project is confirmation of the building type and structural system to ensure that the budget parameters are met. Our first requirement would be to confirm a complete understanding of the design intent proposed by the project architect. Immediately following this confirmation, we will create a control budget and schedule for the project. These controls will become the benchmark for the performance of the project team.

Budgeting
A primary mission of Tompkins is to monitor and control costs and schedules during the design phase. Our estimates are developed entirely in-house, a critical factor in our costing skills. A database having current and historical data collected over a 94-year period supports our efforts. Mechanical and electrical costs, that can typically account for up to 30 percent of project costs, are estimated and managed in-house by our own MEP Coordinator. Labor costs, which typically account for 40 to 50 percent of total building construction costs, will be a primary focus during the estimating process. Assembly and sequencing plans will be developed to define the most cost-effective and productive use of labor resources.

Life Cycle Cost Analysis
Tompkins performs life cycle cost analysis early in the design phase to ensure the client an accurate evaluation of not only what it costs to build a facility, but what it takes to operate and maintain the finished project on a daily, monthly, and annual basis. All relevant cost factors, such as energy usage and cost of maintenance, are evaluated and a total life-cycle cost is projected. This process exposes potentially hidden costs that some clients may not have anticipated for the actual operation of a facility.

Constructability Reviews
The constructability review involves examination of the contract documents to discover any impractical, inefficient, or non-constructible elements of the project. A team of experienced construction professionals is assembled, project hindrances and barriers are identified, a lessons-learned database is consulted and updated during the review, and recommendations are prepared for modifying the contract documents and/or the materials and assembly techniques. There are tremendous benefits in the Tompkins constructability review program. Industry experience has shown that a 10:1 benefit-cost ratio is routinely achieved when a constructability review is implemented at the early stages of a project.

Value Engineering
In developing value engineering studies, Tompkins also concentrates on the impact of the selection of one particular system or material on other related systems. We seek to identify all these inter-relationships before developing a value engineering study for a system.

Cost Control
Our estimators and schedulers will prepare cash flow projections to assist the Owner in planning the required project financing. We will prepare a cash flow curve by plotting project schedule against dollars to understand financing requirements to keep the project on schedule and within budget.

Subcontractor Management
In its 94 years of contracting experience in the Mid Atlantic Region, Tompkins has developed a computerized database of subcontractors and vendors. Through this database, we are able to monitor local market conditions to a degree never before possible. Our database is continually updated based on recent subcontractor and vendor pricing on hard bid and negotiated projects. In addition, through working relationships on current and past projects, each subcontractor and vendor is reviewed for quality, workmanship and capability as a guide for future references.

Project Experience

  • Station Place, Washington, DC
  • Gallery Place, Washington, DC
  • The Hartford, Arlington, VA
  • 1210 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, DC
  • Hilton Garden Inn, Arlington, VA
  • 900 7th Street, Washington, DC
  • Hotel Monaco, Washington, DC
  • 1899 PA Ave., Washington, DC
  • Congress Hall Hotel, Cape May, NJ
  • 12 & K Streets (apartments), Washington, DC
  • Capitol Hill Towers, Washington, DC
  • Hilton Garden Inn, Washington, DC
  • Sovereign Circle, Washington, DC
  • Sofitel Hotel, Washington, DC
  • Embassy Suites, Arlington, VA

 

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