The Beauty of Teamwork

As many of you know, I am a huge Purdue fan and this past weekend saw my favorite team win its 25th regular season Big Ten Championship. I know that Purdue’s past struggles in the the Big Ten Tournamant and the NCAA Tournamant are well documented, but I’ll worry about that in the coming weeks of March as this team navigates its way through both tournaments. Watching Purdue play basketball this season made me think a lot about teamwork. These guys lost several key members from last years team and added several new faces this year. They came together and ended up having a very successful season.

Teamwork on the basketball court is very similar to teamwork within a buiding project. You have multiple members of the team (the client/owner, the designers and the contractors). All members have to come together and support one another, otherwise you will end up with a subpar project in the end. Much like a basketball team working its way through a 35 game season, building projects can be a bit of a marathon themselves. Up front planning (much like the basketball preseason) is essential to a successful project. If you skip the planning process, you will likely find yourself behind throughout the entire project.

If we can be of help, give us a call so we can team up with you on your next building project.

“Rules” of Construction – A Follow Up

Around this time last year, I wrote an e-bits about “Rules” of construction. I had just gotten home from spending a few days in Florida and the e-bits was mainly talking about how building codes in different parts of the country are unique to each location, but ultimately getting a project from the starting point to the finish line is very similar no matter what part of the country you are in. The photo above is the comparison of the condo building during construction last year and the completed project this year. While in Florida earlier this week, I had the opportunity to see the finished product and it made me think about how interesting it is to see a project go from start to finish. There were lots of building codes that the design professionals and the contractors needed to adhere to, but in the end they were able to construct a beautiful building on a beautiful piece of property.

We at PDMi have extensive building code knowledge not only locally, but across the United States. If we can be of help on your next project, regardless of the location, give us a call.

Design Assist

There is a term out there that I think very well defines PDMi as a firm: "Design/Assist". The term came from a seminar about managing and leveraging information needed to design and construct buildings through the use of Data Bases and 3D Modeling. As part of the seminar, the presenter talked about the three standard project delivery methods: Design-Bid-Build, Construction Management, and Design/Build. PDMi lives within one of those methods in every project that we do. The presenter went on to say professional firms do not build, but assist the owner and contractor in the successful completion of building their facility projects.

In reflecting on the topics of managing and leveraging information from the seminar, my mind keeps going back to the delivery method discussion and the idea that we assist in the building process by using data bases and 3D modeling to communicate the design information to the owner and contractors. Project Design & Management, Inc. is committed to Assist our clients during:

• Site Selection - We are not Real Estate Brokers, but we understand the real estate market and can assist in site selection, zoning/regulation requirements, and return on investment analysis.

• Planning - Our 3D modeling process assists our clients in visualizing the plan. Projects are not built in 2D so why would you plan them in 2D.

• Detailed Design - As licensed professionals, our detailed documents assist the contractor in translating the plan into a tangible facility.

• Construction - We are not contractors, but our knowledge and respect for construction assists the contractor during the building process.

If we can "Design/Assist" your next Facility project give us a call; we are ready and willing to be of service.