Any construction project can face unforeseen delays and schedule changes. Whether it is renovation or new construction of an office building, a resort village, or hospitality project. Any obvious delay or inconvenience to occupants and guests can affect current and future business if not handled with care.
Certainly each project has a schedule with some flexibility built into it, but some factors that can interrupt follow-through are not predictable. For example, the available labor force on a recent hospitality project in a remote location was a bit precarious. An issue arose that involved only one trade, but ultimately affected most (if not all) of the trades and delayed the entire project.
In addition to labor issues, forces of nature, materials shortages, or delivery problems can pose schedule problems. A mountain resort development, for example, faces inherent weather challenges — despite consistent efforts during the winter to melt or remove snow in work areas, schedule delays still occur. Individually, anomalies such as this utilize the extra time strategically built into a schedule; an accumulation of these can compound the situation.
A good design-build team can take steps to avoid inconveniencing occupants while moving forward with a schedule. The same steps can apply to a new facility or renovation of an existing one, and can include:
- tracking schedule details
- adapting to changes
- maintaining effective communication
- establishing safety measures
- developing a plan to allow phased occupancy during construction
- maintaining an aesthetically pleasing environment.
Details and Options
By carefully monitoring the schedule, the design-build contractor can identify impending changes and create strategies to resolve them as soon as possible.
A materials shortage or labor force issue might call for a change of course such as using equipment rather than manual labor, or adapting different methodologies to complete part of the project. Construction of a cast-in-place concrete structure, for instance, might shift to a steel-framed structure that goes up quickly with the right equipment and limited manpower rather than labor-intensive field-formed concrete. Although this change might add dollars, it can result in earlier occupancy of critical parts of the building and can be “value added.” Because if getting the business going “on time” for the owner has the greatest priority, then all parties are likely to benefit.
Communication
If all scheduling has been monitored, problems have been identified, and changes made, but the scheduled goal still becomes impossible, the design-build team must develop alternative strategies with the owner such as phased occupancy.
Owners are important to this step because they are most qualified to identify the critical areas to be opened and functioning. This input allows the design-build team to appropriately modify the schedule to allow a logical phased occupancy of the building.
Keeping the owner of a project, such as a hotel, informed on the daily schedule is also crucial. This allows the owner to know what construction activities to expect and can actually help the contractor stay on schedule without interfering with guests.
Cooperation on the schedule should also be encouraged among all those involved. This could mean team-building activities such as pizza lunches or information sessions with hotel employees and construction workers together. This fosters camaraderie between the groups and also helps everyone understand the plan to safely and pleasantly phase in occupancy.
Safety
When making decisions for a phased occupancy situation, it is important to recognize that the foremost concern is the users’ safety and welfare. The first step is to consider all the inherent risks involved with construction. The second is to involve a local building department official. This person is keenly interested in maintaining a safe environment and can help identify the construction elements and systems that must be put into place in the project’s early stages. This allows the design-build team to factor items such as fire protection, alarm systems, heating, and emergency electrical support into the phased occupancy schedule.
Involving the local building official early is important because that person allows facility use by issuing a temporary certificate of occupancy. Although this may be thought of as complete as all spaces are occupied, a final certificate of occupancy must still be obtained once the project is completed.
In addition, the design-build team may want to form a safety team with an on-site, owner-appointed representative to monitor personnel and procedures. This ensures that established safety measures are maintained while the temporary certificate of occupancy is in place.
This person can also be valuable to ensure safe entry and egress for all building occupants once circulation paths are established. Creating separate entrances for workers and guests should provide guests with a pleasant entrance-free of dust, noise, and construction restraints; separated from efficient access for contractor personnel, equipment, and materials.
Seamless Occupancy
The goal of a phased schedule is to allow seamless occupancy as soon as possible. Once partial occupancy is allowed, however, construction efficiency still needs to be maintained to successfully complete the project.
Work that might annoy guests can occur in other parts of the building, or at times when patron use is minimal. An entire floor or groups of floors can be worked on separately, or well ventilated unoccupied areas of the building might be painted when the remainder of the building is occupied.
Another important consideration in planning early occupancy is to create a formal or main guest entrance experience from the beginning so guests form intuitive patterns and habits during their stay. Back-of-house and other less critical portions can be completed after initial use of the building has begun.
When the project is a renovation, the use of functional spaces and guest enjoyment will need to continue. This may require creating appropriate alternative event facilities to fill these needs during the course of the project.
Extensive remodels also may cause areas of a building to become deactivated on a systematic basis, so recognizing the best way to maintain accessibility should be one of the first steps in the project plan. In a mountain resort facility, for instance, ski support areas such as lockers, rental shops, or ski repair rooms can be worked on during the summer when they are normally closed. This would virtually have no impact on users.
Aesthetics
Once safe occupancy is assured to guests, and once methodologies for continued construction are determined and implemented, the overall guest experience should continue to be evaluated. In particular, the main entrance should provide a very pleasant experience for guests entering and leaving the property. This way, they will retain a positive image and are encouraged to return many times in the future. Another objective is to create aesthetically pleasing barriers to the construction while continuing to allow access to the facilities through project completion.
If these or other creative strategies are put in place, a phased occupancy is possible without compromising guest enjoyment or the finished property.
INFO: MHTN Architects (www.mhtn.com)