Case Study

Having developed space internationally with some of the most tenured and very large general contractors in the World, Nixon Peabody took a chance in hiring a 3 year old newly established construction company, Principal Builders.

Nixon Peabody, San Francisco

Principal Builders was selected by Nixon Peabody based on a very cost effective price, and our commitment to a very tight schedule. The four floor 90,000 square foot space consisted of three lawyer floors, and one reception and conferencing center floor.

Nixon’s environmentally conscious culture also demanded the space be LEED Certified. The ultimate outcome was a space delivered within the project budget, on the date promised, and the largest LEED Certified Law Firm space in the Country.

Achieving the goals were not without challenge however. The preconstruction and planning effort for Principal Builders was eliminated due to a lump sum competitive bid delivery method. From time of award to the start of construction, Principal Builders had 2 weeks to issue contracts, mobilize the site, and immediately begin construction. We realized early that procurement of long lead items to support the schedule would be a critical success factor in timely delivery and completion of the project. We also realized untimely delivery would cause out of sequence construction and expose both Principal Builders and Nixon Peabody to change orders.

To eliminate the risk, Principal Builders constructed an onsite jobsite office where an entire Principal Builders Team of 7 were located for the duration of the project. The strategy for “on-location” staffing allowed real time decision making and problem solving thereby eliminating all out of sequence work efforts and change order exposures for the entire Team.

At the end of the project, Jon Bashein a very tenured Nixon Peabody Project Sponsor indicated the San Francisco project was one of the best he’d ever worked on, and our Project Manager Brandon Jones was one of the best project managers he’d ever worked with.