4 Keys to K-12 Construction in DFW

Planning for any kind of school construction project is a daunting task for any school administrator. It doesn’t matter if you’re facing your first bond issue or your 30th—your background is in education and your priorities are delivering the best learning experience for your students. At McCownGordon Construction, we get that. 

Building spaces for learning requires a special touch and dedicated expertise.

Our K-12 education construction team focuses on building new and renovating both public and private schools. When renovating occupied schools our team focuses on minimizing disruptions, incorporating learning lessons, and most importantly, student, faculty and visitor safety. 

McCownGordon proudly serves education throughout the Central and South U.S. that fosters students’ learning.

1. Strong relationships built on trust

At McCownGordon, our client experience promise ensures our clients have a smooth and straightforward construction process no matter where they are in the process of their project. After all, a core to our business goal is building long-standing relationships with our clients. 

With more than half of our business coming from repeat clients, the impact of our workplace culture is clear. Our associates live the tenets of our core values each day. They invest in understanding not just the construction project in front of them, but our client’s business, and act as advocates for those business goals throughout the construction journey. 

The value of invested associates

Our founders set the bar high for the McCownGordon workplace culture. Our associates come to work excited about what their day holds and proud of the difference their work makes in our communities. Each member of our team lives and breathes the core values that shape the way we do business. 

With 100% employee ownership, everyone is a stakeholder in our success, which means everyone is a stakeholder in the success of your project. Because if your project isn’t a success, it impacts our business. 

Our associates get excited about how our projects impact the communities where they are built and where our clients live and work.They understand our work has meaning, not only to our clients, but to the surrounding communities. At the end of the day, it is our people who make up McCownGordon; it is the people who build relationships and structures. 

Because of that, we understand the importance of each associate acting as a reflection of our workplace culture and the impact it has on our clients. What results is a sense of belonging, not just among McCownGordon associates, but among our trade partners and for our clients.

2. Collaboration from start to finish

Owners of construction projects face a mountain of daunting decisions, risks and challenges from the conception of their idea to project completion. The project delivery method you choose will drive the success of your plans and determine how much support our team can give you throughout the process.

What is a project delivery method?

There are a few different ways to approach both the planning and execution of a K-12 Construction project.

Understanding the different delivery methods gives a great foundation for exploring which method will help your project succeed. At McCownGordon Construction, we’re here to help you navigate the experience as a partner. Our expertise allows us to perform on any project delivery method, but our experience demonstrates advantages to collaborative methods like construction manager at risk and design-build in DFW and across our markets.

Design-build is a common construction project delivery method we use for more and more projects each year. The ability to collaborate is one of the major differences between design-build and the more traditional design-bid-build delivery method.

With design-build, a construction manager, trade partners and architects work together for a common goal from the concept stages of the project. Plus, with the development of a guaranteed maximum price early on, there’s a reduced likelihood of pricing changes throughout the process. It also allows for flexibility in overlapping phases of the project for a reduced schedule and greater overall value.

You deserve a company that believes helping customers is of the utmost importance. We do anything we can to clear up misconceptions to make the building process as stress free as possible. In today’s market, design-build is the delivery method for a growing percentage of construction projects.

3 key advantages of design-build project delivery

Deliver Projects Faster

Construction teams are brought on early to review drawings for price and constructability. Architects, in turn, provide the construction team with progress drawings and information. This exchange of information makes it easier for the entire team to quickly understand potential changes in the plans further along in the process.

Save on Costs

The team chemistry between owner, designer and builder drives a reduction in cost per square foot, along with open book contracting terms and lower initial contracted unit costs. Those factors, when combined with the earliest possible involvement of the builder, stops out-of-control cost growth.

Reduce Risk to Owners

The nature of a single contract between the owner and the design-build entity transfers the risk onto the design-build entity’s shoulders. In addition to this actual transfer of risk, the collaborative nature of design-build project delivery reduces risk through open communication and common goals. 

3. Commitment to safety

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) considers construction a high hazard industry, and in response has established a thorough set of regulations those in the industry must follow. They state:

Construction is a high hazard industry that comprises a wide range of activities involving construction, alteration, and/or repair. Construction workers engage in many activities that may expose them to serious hazards, such as falling from rooftops, unguarded machinery, being struck by heavy construction equipment, electrocutions, silica dust, and asbestos.

A Safety Team that’s always involved

Each project we undertake gets personalized attention from our Safety Team. They develop safety key progress indicators (KPIs) for each project and make recommendations for continuous improvement. Their findings also integrate into our Safety and Health Management System (SHMS), an easily accessible digital dashboard that puts vital information at our fingertips.

Using a collaborative dashboard empowers project teams to understand safety expectations before running into issues. When we use safety KPIs as a proactive measure instead of an afterthought, K-12 construction projects run smoother from start to finish—they stay on budget, on schedule and free of injuries. 

Safety is paramount in all that we do, ensuring your school’s construction team gets the care they deserve. 

Safety and Health Management System (SHMS)

At McCownGordon, our teams utilize a dashboard containing a collection of visual reports on safety data, both in real time and the long term to track trends. We visualize and drill down on project-specific hazards to improve overall construction site safety. Additionally, the SHMS features a tracking matrix so we can determine how our overall safety culture is advancing. 

The reports and data collected in the SHMS seamlessly integrate with our construction management software, Procore. These tools put critical safety data at our fingertips with the ability to enter all data on hours worked and incidents that may occur. Every project has easy-to-read data available on one dashboard for ease of access. 

The importance of tracking in construction safety

Measurements help us grow and improve. By tracking KPIs, we can laser focus on any potential deficiencies and to put corrective measures in place so we move forward in a positive way. We’re also able to pinpoint practices or procedures that result in improved safety so they can be implemented on all projects in relatively short time. 

By tracking safety KPIs, this allows our project teams to see results in real time and then be able to make any necessary changes for the health and safety of our craft associates. Giving access to easy-to-read results of those measurements brings the entire project team into the conversation. 

Many clients we work with have their own established KPIs. Through collaboration and continuous learning, we can integrate our own safety progress indicators into theirs (and vice versa) to track the vital information from both perspectives. 

4. Bond program experience

Our dedicated K-12 education construction team focuses on building and renovating both public and private schools. Whether renovating occupied schools or building new facilities, our team prioritizes minimizing disruptions, incorporating learning lessons, and most importantly, student, faculty and visitor safety. McCownGordon understands how much the learning environment contributes to student success and constructs schools that foster student learning and engagement.

Effective Collaboration

By engaging the entire team from the very beginning, we are able to collaborate effectively and provide higher quality information to the public about your school bond issue. 

Efficient Building

Working with the architect and tapping into leading construction technologies means we bring buildings to life with virtual design and construction models that provide the most thorough understanding of how each piece comes together. This gives the public a better understanding of the bond issue’s goals.

Minimized Risk

Through early collaboration with the school district and architect, together we develop a plan that minimizes risk for the school district by providing a proven process, detailed construction plan that delivers value while ensuring the safety, schedule and constructability of high-quality learning environments. 

Discover our commitment to K-12 construction in DFW

When we build or renovate a school, we’re helping to build the future. McCownGordon is proud of the positive impact our work has on the communities we serve. We bring unmatched experience to bond issues and successful K-12 construction projects.

At McCownGordon, our team maintains a customer-focused mentality, allowing us to meet or exceed even your highest expectations. Dedicated to promoting integrity, performance and relationships, it’s our people and values that truly make the difference.

Our customers aren’t simply another project; they’re an extension of our team and community. Together, we don’t just build—we bring creative visions to life. From first thought to final nail, we deliver quality work to ensure our builds stand above the rest. 

We have four regional offices around the Midwest—Kansas City, Manhattan, Wichita and Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas. Call us at 888-304-4929 or use our free online quote tool to start building today. 

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