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1 www.redcomllc.com The Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth NJAIS Trustee Day 2013 Slide 2 2 www.redcomllc.com Who We Are and What We Do REDCOM Design & Construction LLC is a multifaceted design/build company. Established over 30 years ago as REDCO Engineering & Construction Corp., we are a second generation General Contracting company. Our 30 person staff includes in-house licensed Architects, Engineers, Designers, Project Managers, and Job Superintendents. Single source responsibility, qualified in-house professionals, and experienced project managers have enabled REDCOM to design, receive approvals, and construct many diversified facilities. Over the past 30 years, we have designed and built over $150 million dollars worth of new construction. We have been designing and building private schools specifically for over 25 years and have worked with a number of NJAIS and ASAH schools in NJ including: Chatham Day School, Gill St. Bernards, Midland School, ECLC, Cerebral Palsey School of Union County, Goddard School, Learning Experience, Rainbow Academy, Kids One School, Somerset Hills School, and High Road School. Our clients are continuously impressed by our creative and economical approach to design and construction. Gregory J. Redington, P.E, P.P, President Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a minor in Architecture Professional Engineer and Professional Planner in the State of NJ 25 years of experience in the Design Build industry President of REDCOM since 1997 Lives in Westfield, N.J., with his wife and 3 children. Outside of work, Greg enjoys family activities, coaching, playing lacrosse, surfing, sailing, and traveling. Slide 3 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Objective: Today I will explain the process involved in expanding or renovating your school so that you will be able to move forward and produce a facility change that is in alignment with your schools mission in the most efficient manner. To Do This I Will: Show you a birds eye view of the entire process Share with you my companys 5 step process that we use with all our clients 1.Assessing 2.Forecasting 3.Budgeting 4.Planning 5.Executing (Designing/Building) Give you suggestions, instructions and forms so your school can go through most of the process on your own Provide you with examples throughout 3 Outline OUTLINE Slide 4 What is the mission of your school? I imagine it has something to do with becoming great at: Educating students Attracting new students and families Staying financially healthy How do you determine and acquire your school facility needs now and into the future to achieve these goals with excellence? An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 4 Mission How do you make sure your schools campus and all its physical assets are aligned perfectly towards achieving this mission? These goals? These values? Slide 5 Mistakes that I see schools (as well as other organizations I work with) make often include: Not exploring and pursuing the big dream Not being able to make the hard decision to move forward with confidence Not having the courage to redirect the focus after resources have been spent Not choosing the proper in-house school team Not choosing the proper outside consultant team Not looking into all possibilities for each step of the process (my personal fear of omission) Hiring one professional to do too much too soon Not choosing the proper construction team and method Not maintaining good communication and coordination between everyone involved Being surprised by design issues, costs, or delays late in the project that were not planned for An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 5 Mistakes Slide 6 Who are team members? School board Facility committee Finance Dept. Head of School Teachers Trustees Land Use Attorney Engineer Architect Contractors Interior designer Furniture designer, etc. An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 6 Teams TEAMS Slide 7 7 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Teams The Team Member Test Ask yourself these questions when deciding to bring on each new team member: Do they care about this project? Do they bring any working knowledge about the process or details required of it? Do they have the time to commit to it? Will they work well with the others involved? Are they experts in an area that is important to this project? Are they looking after their own needs or the needs of the school? Can you count on them to work with you if things go poorly? Slide 8 5 Step Process 1.Assessing: To measure and itemize your schools existing situation 2.Forecasting: To calculate or estimate something in advance of your schools changing size 3.Budgeting: Assigning costs to each need, want, and wish 4.Planning: Putting priorities in the proper order 5.Executing:Getting it done in three dimensions ( Design/Building ) 3 Dimension An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 8 5 Step Process Slide 9 What facility change does your school need in order to be perfectly aligned with its mission? I bet you missed some things 9 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Fear Of Omission Fear of Omission Now think about other more subtle changes that your school needs to make And finally really small change or updates that you school needs. Slide 10 Physical elements of an independent school: 10 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 11 ASSESSING : To measure and itemize your schools existing situation Perform a present day programming analysis (PA) A measurement of your existing facilities and current conditions It can be as broad as Language department is fine Science rooms need updating It can be as specific as 10 swivel stools in art room, 4 need repair Sink in lower wing janitors closet drips Library is too small Gym locker rooms need a new floor An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 11 Assessing The more specific you get, the better your results! Step #1 Count every room, desk, item, and space Is anything underutilized? Slide 12 12 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Assessing Suggestion for completion: Self-perform department by department evaluations for presentation to a board committee using these standardized forms. Have each department submit a list with items listed in 5 categories (Waste, Works, Needs, Wants, Wishes) Follow the directions. Hire a consultant to conduct interviews of your staff, inspect your physical facilities, and write a large report about your existing facilities. Directions: 1.Get a list of all the areas in independent school might need 2.Have a department head staff meeting explaining the process of evaluation the school is going to undertake 3.Personalize & distribute forms to department heads for each of their spaces 4.Have each department conduct a staff meeting to explain the process and distribute the forms to all their staff 5.Have the Department heads review and compile all their forms and summarize all the items into lists of Waste, Works, Needs, Wants, Wishes 6.All department summary forms are to be submitted to the facility committee OR Slide 13 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 13 Assessing Questionnaire FormData FormBubble Form Slide 14 WASTE:This is part of your facility that is not being used to its fullest potential. An asset that is too large or that goes un-used part of the day are examples of this. WORKS:An area (or thing) that is perfect for its use, and is used to its fullest potential. NEEDS:This is something that you are severely lacking that is a top priority just to continue serving your current needs. WANTS:This is an item that you would like to have to improve your current situation. WISHES:This is the big dream item. Dont limit your imagination here, if you dream about it write it down. An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 14 Assessing Term Definitions Slide 15 FORECASTING : To calculate or estimate something in advance of your schools changing size Forecasting Steps: Similar to Assessing, only here you need to incorporate a growth factor to your requirements Determining this growth factor is a high level board decision Go through each form from the Assessing step and adjust it for your determined growth factor CAUTION Growth Pinch Points When will you need another section for 4 th grade instead of another desk? When do you need another lunch period or larger dining hall vs. more tables? When do you need another practice field vs. different scheduling? An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 15 Forecasting Step #2 Do not fall into the trap of letting your current campus facilities determine your growth factor Your growth factor should be based only upon what your IDEAL school size is If your school is currently at its ideal student body and staff level then your growth factor will be 1.0 Slide 16 Suggestion for execution: An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 16 Forecasting Hire a consultant to follow up on the present day programming analysis by conducting planning meetings with school leaders about future plans, growth, and needs. Apply multipliers to the current facilities and write up a report about what they heard. Directions: 1.School board decides upon a growth factor 2.Meetings with Department Heads to talk about inter-department size changes 3.Department Heads adjust PA Forms according to growth factor 4.All department forms get submitted to the facility committee ORPerform in-house department by department meetings with one of the schools leaders about how growth can be best managed, and how their department fits in with the rest of the schools plans. Have each department submit a list with items listed in 5 categories (waste, works, needs, wants, wishes). Follow the directions. Slide 17 Now all your background information has been compiled and your future needs have been identified. You may feel that the specific improvement your board has been talking about for years is an obvious choice to being your first priority and there is no need in going through the previous few steps of Assessing and Forecasting. In most cases this thinking will result in a less than ideal change to your school. Since you have not asked thorough detailed questions to all of your departments there are other needs at your school that are passing by unnoticed or they are possibly being held up behind the popular big addition to your campus that has been talked about for years. An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 17 Another thing to consider is even if the process of Assessing and Forecasting does not yield a priority higher than the one that the board has been thinking about for years, it is likely that some other need will present itself that you will be able to incorporate into your big addition idea. Forecasting But your school already knows what it needs next right? Slide 18 18 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Midland School The Midland School - 2002 Slide 19 19 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Midland School The Midland School 2002 Enlarged Portion Slide 20 20 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Midland School The Midland School 2004 Gym Schematic Plan Slide 21 21 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Midland School The Midland School 2006 As Built Plan Slide 22 BUDGETING : Assigning costs to each NEED, WANT, and WISH All the results of your programming analysis get itemized here with a cost attached An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 22 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Budgeting Step #3 Every waste category item gets a credit attached to it because there is a value you may not be taking advantage of: You have extra space in the lower school wing You have extra furniture, equipment, etc. Some spaces are empty some parts of the day Every works category costs $0.00 because it is fine now and for the foreseeable future The needs, wants, and wishes categories get costs attached to them Slide 23 23 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth How do we know what things will cost? How can we get prices without specific designs? How can we nail down costs without knowing when the work will be done? How can we tell if the quality & details you expect will be included in the budget? Answer: There are plenty of experts and consultants that would be anxious to share their knowledge about costs at little or no fee. If they object, then maybe they dont meet your criteria for an ideal team member. Budgeting WE CANT FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT ALONE! Slide 24 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 24 Budgeting Slide 25 Suggestion for completion: An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 25 Hire a consultant to line item your programming analysis results with price estimates attached and present a report to you. Assign the task to an in-house team member. Have them access experts and/or consultants familiar with the costs of each item. Follow the directions OR Directions: 1.Collect all the PA Forms from the Department Heads 2.Create 5 separate lists: 1) Waste, 2) Works, 3)Needs, 4) Wants, 5) Wishes 3.See if anything from the Waste use can be matched up with a Need/Want/Wish 4.Assign costs to all other Need/Want/Wish with the help of experts and consultants Budgeting Slide 26 Words of caution: An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 26 Budgeting Expert vs. Consultant Expert: An expert is a person or company that performs the work. The expert is afraid of not getting the work for fear of giving you too high a price and losing the job to someone else, but he is also responsible for the price he is quoting you because he is the one that is committing to provide you the service personally for the costs he is quoting. Consultant: A consultant is a person or company that specifies (designs) the work. The consultant has no personal liability in giving you a high or low price, but he is afraid of giving you too low a value for fear that you will go over budget late in the project and blame them. All consultants are also experts in specifying (designing), so as far as acquiring estimate for the cost of their services, they are experts. It is hard for a consultant to be up to date on the trends and month-by-month fluctuations in economic costs, product availability, and timing that affect all facility costs. Even on the most thorough of designs receiving different prices that range over 25% from one another is not uncommon. Slide 27 PLANNING : To determine in advance the best order of priorities for a number of items Up until now all the steps have been fact finding exercises Planning now becomes the subjective part of the process All your items have been identified and assigned a costs Which ones get top priority? An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 27 Planning Make a plan. Set a goal. What is a goal? A dream with a deadline. Step #4 Slide 28 28 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Planning Suggestion for completion: Hire a consultant to walk the school decision makers through the exercise of evaluating the prioritizing all of the needs/wants/wishes and writing up a report with the results. Set facility committee meetings to prioritize the needs/wants/wishes in order of value to the school. Follow the directions. OR Directions: 1.Go through the needs list and categorize all of them by cost from least to most 2.Take the top two selections and compare them to each other 3.Remembering your schools mission and each items cost, ask the question: Which one of these two items is most in alignment with my schools goals 4.Take the winning selection and then compare it to the third item on the list the same way 5.Continue down the list comparing the winning item to the next item, until you get to the end 6.Do the same with the 2 nd item one by one down the list always elevating the winner 7.Remember to consider the costs of each item as well as its alignment with the schools goals when you are deciding each winner 8.Do the same with the Wants & Wishes lists placing the first want below the last Need, and the 1 st Wish below the last Want. 9.Growth Pinch Point items may jump the list as needed Slide 29 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 29 Planning Caution: Do not let a small cost item get buried behind a large dream that is years away You may discover that some smaller items may be able to become incorporated as part of a higher priority larger item The resulting list will be the schools needs in order of VALUE to your schools mission Slide 30 Example #1: Your in-house team has gone through the first 3 steps in this procedure and came up with these items as priorities: Paint Classrooms & Halls$ 30,000.00 Tennis courts$ 80,000.00 Repaving & lighting Parking lot$ 200,000.00 Dining Hall$ 1,000,000.00 Gym$ 3,000,000.00 Your board or CFO told you that there was $200,000.00 available to spend on facility improvements. Do you save it for the new Gym or Dining Hall in the future? (the big things will never happen unless you save for them) Do you spend it all on the parking lot now? (it costs more and more each year to patch it, and it looks bad) Do you build the tennis court now and save the rest for the larger projects (the kids would love it, and the parents would be impressed and it is a multi-use surface) Should you paint the classrooms & Hall and save the rest? Maybe also do the tennis court? Maybe repave only half of the parking lot and do the tennis court and classroom painting? 30 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Planning Slide 31 Example #2: You have decided to build or renovate your gym. Budgeting assessed a $2.5 million price to this a few years ago. Your board has already completed all the items on the list with a higher priority, and it is the gyms turn. You have set a 2 year fundraising deadline. A consultant(s) is brought in (Lawyer, Architect, Engineer, Contractor, etc.) to work with you on the project... During more detailed discussions with your consultants and communication with other schools that have gone through the process themselves in the past, you learn that you can spend either $2 million or $3 million on a gym that would do the job. Your fundraising committee tells you that the $2 million gym can be finished in 2 years, but you would have to wait another year to build the $3 million gym. Also, the $1 million dollar difference could instead be used for that art/music/dance/classroom/administration wing that is the next priority on the list of achieving your schools goals. Which way should you go with the gym? Would your decision change if all the money could be acquired at the same time? (There is likely a way to do that with urgency, loans, or other funding resources) 31 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Planning Slide 32 Example #3: What is better for the school? To have more building area with less expensive details, or a smaller area with more expensive details? Can you build the larger building area, and after it is open fill in costly details in the coming years as the money comes in, or as namesake donations are received (hold off on the $100,000.00 bleachers to help pay for the meeting room and offices you want right away). Or do you permanently change a design decision (like building size - or wood or rubber for the gym floor) based upon cost? 32 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Planning Slide 33 EXECUTION : Designing/Building: Getting it done in 3 dimensions During this step you will select your outside team members. These may include: Land Use Attorney Planner Civil Engineers Architects General Contractor Surveyors Sub-Contractors Interior Designers Lighting Designer Sound Engineer MEP Engineers Structural Engineers Furniture Suppliers IT Companies and etc. Lessons to Remember: Do not limit your choices to organizations you have previously worked with Once hired, do not let one of these new team members get too far ahead of the others Encourage communication between outside team members and manage this communication Make sure all team members have passed your team member test Dont be afraid to replace a team member if this decision is in alignment with the schools mission It takes courage to say NO to what is commonplace so you can find something that is truly exceptional An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 33 Execution Step #5 Slide 34 Tips for qualifying new outside team members: Having a team member being local and familiar to the community helps. (Land Use Attorneys, Engineers, and Surveyors) Having a team member knowledgeable with the type of project you are undertaking helps. (Architects, Sub-Contractors, Interior Designers, and Furniture Suppliers) Having a team member with the experience and professional staff needed to work well with others and bring everyone together to act as one whole. (General Contractors) Also remember the level of importance each outside team member is to the process as measured by the portion of the total costs that you pay them: 0-2% - Attorney, Surveyor, Interior Designer 2-10% - Architect, Furniture Supplier, IT Company 90% - General Contractor An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 34 Execution Slide 35 Things you should do before hiring any outside team members: Get references and speak with them Visit jobs they have completed and speak with the owners (or heads of school). Remember not to fault or praise the contractor for the design, or the designers for the quality of construction, or the lawyer for either Visit their offices and meet their key personnel Go over their proposal and contract in detail Review all with your schools attorney Make sure they pass the team member test we discussed earlier 35 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 36 The involvement of these four professionals early on will ensure no resource is wasted during the execution stage as the project goes through its feasibility tests. It will also ensure a fast-tracked and smooth execution after township approvals are received. The town planning zoning ordinance has to be researched to ensure that your schools project is permitted to be built Engineering analysis of the lands attributes will contribute heavily to the projects location on your property and associated costs The facility size and layout will affect both of the other legal and engineering issues A realistic value engineered price estimate will help finalize the decision of the school to move ahead with the project Other outside consultants will also be needed, but most of these will be brought on under the umbrella of one of the main four already selected. An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth 36 Execution Try to hire the Big Four outside team members at the same time: Land Use Attorney Engineer Architect General Contractor Slide 37 Often hired professionals have some very specific ideas about how a project should proceed. Try and vet out this information during your selection process: Lawyers often have a good idea of the probability of success you will have at the town and how long it will take Engineers will know a lot about a site just from historical information they have and on- line searches they do. They often know how they will go about their designs before they are awarded the contract. Architects should have done layouts, shared design ideas, and produced some drawings as part of their proposal to you. General Contractors should already have shared their experience in costs per square foot for the type of facility you are considering, as well as shared value engineering ideas they have used on other projects. Each of them should be able to give you a firm estimate of the price and time duration it will take to do their portion of the project before you commit to bringing them onto your team. 37 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 38 Mis-Step Example #1 Too often I see schools go down the road with an architect or engineer and spend much to much money with them too early in this process. It is common for large sums to be paid for the detailed design of a facility. Then it gets priced out, and the entire thing gets tabled for years or the town rejects it and it needs a re-design. After which the process usually starts all over again with another team. How can you avoid this cycle? You need to challenge the need, priority, scope, and costs for every facility change along every step. Just because one designers cost estimate for one design is $3 million for the item they have been hired to design does not mean that you cant get the same space for $2 million. Or you might want to spend $4 million on it. Dont rely on one idea, price, or design. There are lots of others out there to consider before you charge ahead, or shelve something. Design competitions are a good way to see how committed outside organizations are to your school, it is also a good way of getting differing views on a solution quickly and inexpensively from qualified professionals. It is often a good idea to get your favorites together for a casual discussion about the project to see how they relate to each other, and see if any new ideas come out of it. 38 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 39 Township Approval After you choose your land use lawyer, civil engineer, and architect you can make application to the town for a site plan approval if your facility growth priority involves new construction. Very few detailed drawings are needed by the architect until after town approval is secured. Only a basic floor plan and elevations are required. However, once town approval is received, then the footprint and general building image is locked in place, so it is important that your General Contractor has given you a firm construction estimate so that you know that the school is financially ready to go ahead with the project. Once town approval is secured it is time to decide the form of construction you should use and what your relationship between your architect and contractor will be. 39 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 40 Forms of Construction: Low Bid General Contractor (GC) Invitation only Low Bid GC Negotiated GC Design/Build (D/B) Construction Manager (CM) to GC CM directly to Subcontractors Owners Rep. directly to Subcontractors Developer (when a lease is involved) 40 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 41 Low Bid GC & Invitation Only Low Bid GC This is when an architect and engineer prepare full bid documents and specifications that go out to the public market place (or invited bidders only). This is the format our government uses for all public projects. Pros: This method allows your school to get apples to apples bids on a single design The owner should know exactly what the facilitys specs are before prices come in. Cons: Pay and wait for full set of design documents as well as allowing for bidding time to get project cost Forces owner to a single design Creates an adversarial relationship between designers and winning GC Public bid documents are expensive and time consuming to produce due to volumes and volumes of information given to protect GCs from litigation and change orders Designers professional goals are not aligned with the goals of your school 41 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 42 Negotiated GC This is when a GC is selected to join your team early in the process, before the design drawings are finished. Pros: Enables your school to know the costs of all your design decisions while they are being made Allows your school to have more than one professional opinion (value engineering) Enables your school to change the scope of the project as costs are learned Ensures time and expense of final design is not wasted Fast-tracks process by allowing bidding and document development to overlap Ensures cooperation between designers and GC Cons: It is impossible to have a true apples to apples cost comparison Your school is at the mercy of the GC for pricing any future detail Some design element decisions that are left in the schools hands if the designer and GC disagree on some details 42 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 43 Design/Build (D/B) Design/Build is when the design and the general contractor join up to present the school with a single team in charge of the design and construction of a facility. A D/B team may be a single company or it could be a combination of separate companies. Pros: Offers all Pros of Negotiated GC Presents school with pre-formed team Enables owner to know exactly what design choices cost in real time Avoids time delays when two separate organizations are involved Minimizes soft costs on design work Little to no expense wasted on design documents Cooperative relationship between designer and builder Almost always results in a shorter project duration with less money wasted D/B teams goals are perfectly aligned with your schools goals Cons: Does not allow for exact apples to apples competitive bidding between competing D/B firms Eliminates a layer of 3 rd party oversight Value Engineering options offered all come from the same organization 43 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 44 44 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution CM Directly to Subs During this format a construction manager is hired as in the example before, but in this case a GC is not hired. Instead the CM also acts as a GC and hires the subs directly. Pros: CM directly to Subs offers all of the Pros of a CM to GC arrangement The school saves the expense of a GC Cons: There is not any firm fixed price involved with this job. You will not know the costs until the end The CMs costs will likely be more under this arrangement Like the other CM arrangement this is more practicable for the larger multi- phased projects. Slide 45 45 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Owners Rep directly to Subs This is the format you are currently using for small projects. Your facility team hires subs directly to work on various things on your campus. In a slightly more formal version, your school would hire an individual directly to work specifically on one project as an employee or Owners Rep Pros: Works well on low expense simple projects with only a few subcontractors Lower cost than other solutions Best if this individual also hires the design team Minimizes time required by other school staff Cons: High complexity jobs may reach a choke point with only one individual running the entire thing All Subs checks need to be written individually by the schools finance department which could create a paperwork burden There is little recourse if things go poorly on the project There is no guaranteed fixed price The longer the project lasts, the longer the Owners Rep is employed Slide 46 Construction Manager (CM) to GC CM to GC is when your school decides to hire a construction manager to manage this entire last step for your school. This can incorporate the selection of the designers as well as the GC. Usually a CM works under a contract with the school that includes a fee that is a set percentage and also a fixed monthly expense that may vary depending on the stage of the project you are in. This arrangement is limited to large multi-phase projects which may involve different designers and GCs for different portions of the work. Pros: Allows school to have independent 3 rd party team member to overlook all phases of a project Minimize required involvement of in-house team members Cons: The longer and more costly a project is, the better it is for the CM The expense of a CM is on top of all the other costs of a project 46 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 47 Developer (when a lease is involved) This arrangement is only engaged when your school wishes to lease a facility from the developer that is building the facility for you. A lease rate and term would be agreed on based upon a facilitys size and finishes agreed upon. This option may come into play if you have an off-campus facility or if you wish to minimize the schools capital investment in real estate. This is a very specialized circumstance, please come see me if you are presented with this as an option. 47 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 48 Financing Options There are also a variety of financial arrangements that can be used: Cost Plus Fixed Fee Lump Sum Developer build to suit to lease 48 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 49 Insurance Needs There are different levels of insurances you need to request and decide upon Owners risk (inexpensive when the owner buys it and worth it) General Liability (for all 3 rd parties involved) Professional Errors and Omissions insurance for consultants Construction Bond (costs 1 % - 3% of a jobs total and only kicks in if the builder is basically bankrupt) Operations daily insurance (some is included with owners insurance additional is expensive) 49 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Execution Slide 50 Ideas to consider: Bring the culture of the school into the facility growth process. Tours or studies on things they can see during the construction math, science, geography (where materials come from), history (how long have they been doing it like this) Include student design or art in the finished product, or in its development. Student design competition for the project, or art, etc. LEED facilities Solar panels as a ethically responsible way of generating a 5-7% return on your investment. 50 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas Slide 51 The more specific you question, the more specific the answers you get. People are also amazingly adaptable and resilient. I have spoken to teachers working in basement classrooms about how they like their space they love it, its fine, no problem. You need to push for reality. What are all those blankets in the corner? Oh, the kids wear them whenever it gets below freezing outside. Dont you have any heat? Oh of course we do, but that one radiator hasnt worked in years. 51 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas If you ask a general question in passing: How are you doing you get a general answer: Fine But if you ask a specific question: How is your family making out during this bad flu season? You are likely to get a more specific answer: Ok, after my daughter got really sick around Thanksgiving we all went and got flu shots and since then we have been fine. Slide 52 Clayton Christensen who wrote The Innovators Dilemma said Questions are places in your mind where answers fit If you havent asked the question, the answer has nowhere to go. It hits your mind and bounces right off. In the case where you are depending upon others to come up with answers Their answers are only as good as the questions they ask, or are asked. Your school staff knows better than anyone what the issues are. But often they are so use to doing the best with the existing conditions it is hard for them to imagine anything really different. You really need to question deeply, challenge thoroughly, and push them it imagine a better way. You need to keep challenging others to come up with better and better solutions to your needs. People will rarely give you more than you ask for. Whether it is more money, more details, more time, or more effort. 52 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas Slide 53 General questions usually receive general answers. If you ask a department head How are your classrooms? You may receive a They are fine But if you ask instead Do your classrooms need painting? How are the chairs? Do you have enough computer outlets and printers? Is the HVAC keeping each classroom comfortable? It is likely that the classrooms are not all fine. Hopefully, the dept. head will also realize that they may not know all the answers to your questions, and want to ask each teacher about things also 53 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas Slide 54 There are a hundred ways to make a building energy efficient. Solar panels, radiant heat, automatic doors, toilets, lights, geothermal HVAC, windows (sizes, numbers, locations), floor covering, LEED, and building layout are all ideas that just start scratching the surface of energy efficiency in a building. If you accept the first answer/design/solution/opinion presented to you with its associated cost and energy usage, then you will never know how much money you can save by using slightly less efficient methods, or how just slightly more money spent can save you a huge amount of ongoing energy expenses in the future or even generate income for your school (solar panels yes, even for a 501c3 organization). Your in-house team may ask for a large foyer and a large meeting room. Your designer may come back with a beautiful design with a large high ceiling space entry foyer, with another large meeting room just off of it. Everyone loves the design. And if no one asks the question Can we have both spaces for less cost? You never know. But if the question is asked, then maybe the designer will return with one room on top of the other, and use only 50% of the roof area, or they may come back with one room that can serve both purposes at once with a second side entrance to use when a meeting is going on and save 50% of the floor area needed. 54 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth You may ask for an energy efficient building. This is an extremely general request. Ideas Slide 55 Usually my clients end up building the 10 th or 15 th version of a design. A am afraid that people settle on the 2 nd or 3 rd version too often, and never get to find out how the school could have benefited by having the design challenged more, and looked at from other points of view. Often I set up independent teams within our office to develop designs individually and present them at an in-house review by my entire staff. How can your school ensure that you are getting the best conclusion after a number to different approaches? Offer out a design competition to potential team members. This will give you multiple different insights about how a solution may be approached. You may choose to pay for this service, or as payment, award the design contract to the winning team. This will also give you insight about which organization is interested in your project, and which one will become a good team member for your school. 55 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas Slide 56 With facility needs sometimes it is better to think inside the box Can you get that extra classroom by taking some space from your current dining hall? How? By going to a 3 rd lunch period, thereby reducing the number of students eating at one time, thereby reducing the size of the dining hall. You will also be benefiting from a quieter, more intimate, and more easily managed eating environment. Are your existing classrooms sized according to the class size you have at your school, or are some of them leftovers from another era? We all love the idea of new things. They look nice, smell nice, impress others, and are fun to dream about. But often new can be achieved without adding any new space. Sometimes all it takes is moving a few walls, fresh paint, flooring, and window treatments to transform a space into your new department. This may turn out to produce a more cost effective and quicker solution than the build it from scratch approach. 56 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas Slide 57 And sometimes it is better to just think a little harder and come up with a unique solution Can you provide more gym space on most days by building an outdoor fenced tennis court area? Or can you use areas of the parking lot that is only used during drop off and pick up times? Can you use specialized spaces (like a stage) for daily activities (like a classroom) with small changes like installing a rigid folding door instead of its open curtain? Can your dining hall be used for other activities in the mornings or afternoons? How about that visual arts class you wanted or the music room? Lunch midday, library before and after? 57 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas Slide 58 As proud as I am about the ability of my staff to troubleshoot problems and come up with creative solutions to issues that our clients have, I have to admit that the most stubborn of our clients get the best solutions. They are always questioning us, pushing us, and challenging us to come up with another idea that will better suit their needs (faster, better, cheaper, etc.) This is common for all creative organizations. If our client is happy with the first version then everyone appears to win. We have impressed them the first time around with our great solution. We have minimized the time it has taken our company come up with it, and therefore maximized our profits. On the surface it is all perfect. Nothing should ever be accepted or approved on the first go around, but very often it is, with only minor changes made afterwards. I believe that although everyone is happy with the result, the result in this case is not even close to being the best solution to the problem. You need to really challenge yourself, your professionals, and all your team members to keep searching for the ideal solution. And finally, after time, trials, tons or trace, sweat and thought, a magically simple, economical, beautiful solution will rise to the surface. And everyone will know it is perfect. Immediately. Too good to be true you ask? Maybe. But it is our goal. Your dream with a deadline. 58 An Independent Schools Guide to Facility Growth Ideas FINAL THOUGHT