JE Dunn takes an integrated approach to our projects by providing dedicated design resources at the beginning of every project. These resources serve as a single point of responsibility for clients during the design phase, ensuring quality design is delivered on budget and on schedule. Our design managers work closely with our external design partners to help inform their decisions throughout the design process.
JE Dunn’s design resources also include in-house design production capabilities including architecture, planning, and interior design services.
For JE Dunn Design-Build projects, design resources are available to manage the design process and deliverables being produced by an external design trade partner.
For select JE Dunn Design-Build projects where we deliver design services, architecture, planning, and interior design resources are available. Design scope may vary from early conceptual design to Architect of Record role, or Full Design Services.
JE Dunn’s integrated partnership approach extends to the preconstruction phase—where we work closely with the design team to provide timely, consistent, and accurate feedback on pricing, scheduling, constructability, safety, and quality. Our real time estimating capabilities work directly with the design team’s models ensuring accurate information, so the project stays on budget and goals are met.
This process is much more than simply providing a price and schedule update at specific design milestones. It becomes a true partnership where ideas are exchanged openly, information is processed accurately, and decisions are made in a timely manner to produce the best plan possible before the first shovel is in the ground.
JE Dunn understands that our role during preconstruction is to bring real value to the project through:
JE Dunn’s approach to ensuring continuous alignment of scope and budget during preconstruction combines decades of cost history from hundreds to thousands of projects with proprietary technology that was developed in-house.
Our estimating platform allows us to link our conceptual estimating program with the project’s 3D Revit model.
With our estimating platform, changes made to the design are reflected in the cost model, which allows the team to avoid misalignment between scope and budget. Interaction with the client and the design team will be through both formal meetings and informal communications. From those discussions, we will continue to revise and update the estimate, considering cost driver information, such as schedule and constructability review input.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Virtual Design Construction (VDC) play a major role in all JE Dunn projects. These tools enable more effective problem solving and coordination prior to and during construction.
Our VDC group engages all stakeholders to ensure a highly coordinated plan and efficient workflow. We coordinate and overlay individual models from architects, engineers, and key trade partners. We have integration procedures to ensure models are compatible.
Dunn Dashboard provides collaboration and efficiency when it comes to utilizing VDC in real time. This industry leading JE Dunn-designed technology tool provides web-based collaboration on design documents, digital models, virtual estimates, and other project documentation. The technology has an advanced level of digital sharing that allows us to be more efficient, while also providing real time access to all critical project information, across all project stakeholders.
The key to managing and avoiding schedule impacts caused by long lead items is early identification. We follow a very systematic approach to identify and track those systems, materials, and equipment that are difficult to obtain or have limited availability.
JE Dunn’s Target Value Delivery (TVD) encompasses Target Value Design and Target Value Production, taking a disciplined management approach to a project to ensure operational and performance value is met, project teams are utilized to establish and execute goals and metrics, and innovative practices are used throughout the project lifecycle to increase value and eliminate waste.
To help address labor shortages in a demanding construction economy, and bring efficiency to project teams, prefabrication and manufacturing practices are being used across the country. Our prefabrication and manufacturing methods consist of creating a building’s components off-site, and then assembling or fabricating in sections, and shipping and installing on-site to create a finished product. The benefits of prefabrication include safer job sites, schedule certainty by leveraging parallel construction efforts, and cost certainty.
During preconstruction and project planning, we identify and evaluate the many available fabrication opportunities, labor productivity and transportation requirements, material handling, and other logistics costs. We then compare these costs to on-site productivity factors to determine what fabrication method is most beneficial.
At JE Dunn, we have the capacity to self-perform various construction trades. Through our near 100-year history, our skilled trades workforce has honed their skills in different scopes to add value to our projects. We consistently deliver results because we select key scopes of work to successfully perform. As the company has grown to 26 office locations, so has our ability to perform skilled trade work, thus providing added value, quality control, and scheduling benefits to our clients.
We will self-perform when it helps our clients achieve their business, project, and schedule goals. Some of our self-perform capabilities include: