President Dave Menzel,
P.E. and Carolos Alvarez, lead a team whose portfolio of achievements include: Indialantic Town Hall; Mercedes Homes; MIMA; Omni Healthcare; Kelley Ford; Cocoa Beach Surf Company; Crane Creek Medical; Marina Tower; and Seaside Centre. There are even distinctive residential homes that enhance the list, making MAI a design/ build company boasting 500 landmark projects in Florida. These projects include commercial, industrial, hospitality, manufacturing, medical, large residential and multi-use.
The Distinctive Edge The brains and brawn
since we provide design and construction to the project.” This streamlined way of
project development, from concept-design-build, with realistic expectations, has been MAI’s best marketing tool.
The MAI Difference
resources together. Single leadership controls costs, quality, scheduling and performance.
UNIFIED CLEAR
TIME
COMMUNICATION: Client focused from the start.
SAVINGS: Seamless single design, builds results in quick bidding process.
communication and cost savings. DOLLAR
behind MAI believe that architects not only build, they must align themselves with the community and address concerns such as the need to preserve the urban heritage, maintain architectural continu- ity and improve the environment. “MAI was established 25 years ago as a full-service design
firm,” says Menzel. “Our projects range in size from small additions to commercial projects that are over 200,000 square feet and in excess of $37 million. So, the old adage, ‘No project too small or too big…’ rings true for MAI.” Doing what a company does best, and doing it extremely
well and extremely fast is something MAI has down to a science. “Our niche is in design-build projects. We can take a concept and provide preliminary drawings of site and buildings very quickly and provide fairly accurate costing for construction in a few days,” says Menzel.
Staying Ahead of the Competition But with many architects vying for the same position,
how does MAI do it? How do they get the big signature projects that are not only functional, they’re traffic- stopping gorgeous? “Being a design/build firm, we can provide initial site and building drawings immediately. This enables us to do budgeting feasibility, and once we proceed we can provide a fixed cost,” he adds. This is “whether it be a commercial building or a large custom home. Our clients do not get change orders in projects that we design and construct. In addition, our fee structure is reduced
SAVINGS: Seamless design- construction means better
RESOURCES: They place both design and construction
The Advantage
of Design/Build The design/build deliv-
ery method differs from the design/bid/build method in several ways. Studies show that the design-build projects end up with up to 90 percent fewer field-generated change orders than design-bid-build projects. In some cases it can practically eliminate them, according to a 2005 Pennsylvania State University study. Change orders represent the
largest source of extra costs in the building/construction
industry. While change orders that are client-driven are expected, those that arise from design errors or lack of coordination are often avoidable. Those field-generated change orders cause prob- lems: changes in work sequence; declines in productivity; increases in overtime; and need for costly reworking. The study showed: 8 Cost growth due to unforeseen change orders was 98 percent lower
8 Average size of all change orders was 50 percent lower 8 Size of unforeseen change orders averaged 77 percent smaller
8 Number of unforeseen change orders was reduced by 90 percent
8 Cost growth due to change orders was 71 percent lower (Source: April 2005, Contracting Business)
Refining the Craft Being good doesn’t necessarily protect businesses from
a downturned market and MAI attests to this. “This slow cycle has provided us the opportunity to sit back and focus on the business and the companies we serve. From this we have established new strategies that are now refined and ready to implement on a larger scale once the economy picks up,” Menzel adds. Solid business practices, a seamless approach, putting the
client first and exceeding expectations all around position MAI Design Build as a keen competitor here and beyond Brevard.u
spacecoastbusiness.com JULY2010[57
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