Three trades, one contract, on a campus full of children

The challenge

San Angelo ISD

School district work carries two constraints most commercial jobs do not. The building is full of children, so everybody who sets foot on campus is screened before they arrive. And the calendar does not move — the work happens when school is out, or it does not happen.

What we did

• Self-performed all three trades. The labor on this job includes electrical journeymen and apprentices, journeyman plumbers and plumbing apprentices, and HVAC crews — every one of them on our own payroll, not a subcontractor's.
• Installed two new chillers to plans and specs, insulated to spec.
• Fingerprinted and background-screened every technician assigned to the job before they set foot on a campus.
• Carried a payment and performance bond through Granite Re against the full contract value.
• Priced a five-year labor and refrigerant warranty plus twelve months of preventive maintenance into the contract, rather than selling it afterward.
• Kept our own lift equipment on site, including 10,000-lb telehandlers with 54-foot reach, instead of building the schedule around rental availability.

Why it matters

A district does not want to manage a mechanical contractor, an electrician and a plumber against one summer window and hope they line up. One contract, one bond, one superintendent, one warranty, and one company to call when something needs attention in year three.