Preconstruction: Peace of Mind That Pays for Itself

At its core, the preconstruction process develops and aligns a project’s budget, design, and schedule to our clients’ expectations. Preconstruction services minimize unexpected costs during construction, ensure the project’s scope is complete and reviewed for constructability, and greatly reduce surprises or changes once construction begins. Swinerton’s high level of certainty ensures clients’ peace of mind, as preconstruction services provide tremendous value over the course of the project—in effect, paying for themselves.

The Preconstruction Advantage

Our preconstruction services go far beyond estimating and scheduling. We bring together a multidisciplinary team of experts who collaborate with clients, design teams, and trade partners from day one. This early engagement allows us to identify opportunities for value engineering, optimize design for constructability, and proactively address potential risks before they become costly issues in the field.

Our approach is rooted in transparency and partnership. We provide real-time cost modeling, detailed constructability reviews, and logistics planning that considers every aspect of the project lifecycle. The result is a clear, actionable roadmap that aligns with clients’ goals and ensures that projects stay on track.

TAKT: The Cadence of Construction

One of the innovative preconstruction methodologies teams have recently deployed is TAKT scheduling, a LEAN construction principle. Derived from the German word for “beat” or “rhythm,” TAKT divides projects into repeatable chunks, establishing a consistent cadence for all trade partners.

Once structural components are complete, teams begin developing a TAKT schedule by identifying the trade partner with the longest duration, and asking them to evaluate how much time they need to complete work in a given area, and with how large of a crew. The team uses this information to set the cadence and crew size limits for every other trade partner, creating a steady and predictable workflow that transforms construction from a series of handoffs into a choreographed sequence where every participant knows exactly when and where they need to perform. Trade partners can optimize their assembly processes, right-size their crews, and more effectively manage their commitments to ensure the highest quality work.

While TAKT is just one part of our comprehensive preconstruction offering, it exemplifies our commitment to bringing industry-leading solutions to our clients. Swinerton’s deployment of TAKT has delivered measurable results, particularly in the demanding healthcare sector in Northern California. But the benefits of this approach—and our greater preconstruction expertise—extend to any project where predictability, efficiency, and standardized delivery are paramount.

Significant Schedule Savings

A recently completed medical office building (MOB) in Modesto, CA exemplifies TAKT’s transformative power. This 107,400-square-foot, three-story facility marked the confidential national healthcare client’s first templated MOB using TAKT methodology. The client had not only asked Swinerton to develop the specific cadence for the project, but also cement the process for developing a TAKT schedule within the client’s existing templated MOB program. The client trusted Swinerton with the task due to success on past projects and the project team’s familiarity with LEAN construction principles.

After the structural concrete scope was completed, the project team met with trade partners to develop a five-day TAKT rhythm, which led to exceptional predictability and accountability.

At the UCSF Health Peninsula Outpatient Center project, Swinerton further demonstrated TAKT’s usefulness in overcoming significant challenges. Despite over $3.6 million in change orders due to unexpected existing conditions and design changes, Swinerton’s team beat the contract schedule by 38 days. The hybrid TAKT approach emphasized collaboration, bringing trade partners into the scheduling process and creating weekly coordination meetings that maintained transparency and resolved issues before they could impact other trades.

Improved Efficiencies & Reduced Costs

Another testament to TAKT’s cost-saving potential in a complex, occupied facility environment, Swinerton completed façade repairs at Sutter Roseville Hospital. When COVID-19 impacted the original schedule, the team re-sequenced work using TAKT principles, extending the timeline but reducing costs through improved production efficiencies. The project not only maintained operations across 11 phased areas but achieved a deductive change order of nearly $900,000 through production savings realized from TAKT implementation.

Universal Applications

The efficiencies of TAKT scheduling in healthcare settings speak to a greater hallmark of success that all clients crave in their projects, regardless of market sector or location: predictability.

In short, by identifying opportunities for prefabrication, optimizing schedules, and creating accountability structures before construction begins, preconstruction services seek to eliminate the expensive surprises that plague improperly planned projects. While Swinerton’s expertise has been proven in healthcare, the principles and processes our teams use are universally applicable. Manufacturing facilities requiring minimal downtime, educational institutions operating during construction, and commercial developments with accelerated timelines can all benefit from the predictability and efficiency that preconstruction brings.

In an industry where uncertainty is often the only certainty, Swinerton’s preconstruction approach provides the strategic advantage that creates greater cost certainty, schedule reliability, and risk mitigation to start projects off on their best footing.