You will find it difficult to walk very far in a DPR Construction office or jobsite trailer without seeing the phrase, “We Exist to Build Great Things.” This purpose statement appears on pencils, company vehicles, coffee mugs, notepads and is painted on walls, but most importantly it’s ingrained in our spirit and our actions. Though primarily known as a general contractor and construction manager, one of the founding principles of DPR is to be a “builder,” not just a contractor. DPR self-performs up to half a dozen various scopes of work on the projects that it manages adding up to more than 2.5 million craft man-hours in 2012. DPR is a builder at its core.
For the last 22 years, DPR’s largest self-perform group in both volume and manpower has been our drywall team. The drywall team includes interior and exterior metal stud framing, hanging drywall, taping and finishing as well as insulation and suspended ceilings. In 2011 we performed more than a million man-hours of drywall work spread across 10 geographic regions. In 2012, we exceeded 1.3 million drywall man-hours.
The primary reason why we self-perform work is because as a general contractor, having our own crews on site gives us significantly more control of the project, thereby allowing us to provide a better overall value for our clients. We feel our claim is validated with 80 percent of our clients being repeat customers (2012) and most of them fully embracing the value of DPR’s “builder” philosophy. By performing specific trades with our own crews, we are better able to control safety, schedule, quality and cost.
Safety Is Paramount
It’s no secret that both the perception and reality of safety in the commercial construction industry on the whole is not extremely positive. The primary concern of every responsible contractor should be the safety of those on the construction site and to ensure that everyone leaves unharmed each day. Unfortunately, the work we do can be dangerous, and not every contractor mitigates those construction dangers the same way.
DPR has always made an enormous investment in the safety of every person on its projects, and its self-perform work groups have historically set the bar very high, far exceeding industry averages. In 2011, DPR’s drywall team achieved a 1.58 recordable incident rate, almost three times safer than our trades’ national average of 4.3 (source: http://www.bls.gov/iif/oshwc/osh/os/ostb3183.pdf). Our self-performed crews set the safety example for all the other tradesmen on our projects regarding a safe working mentality, and reinforces that no factor is more important than, or worth comprising, the safety of its workers.
We Stay on Schedule
When DPR commits to an owner a specific date of turnover, every possible effort is made to meet that commitment. Since the drywall scope typically falls under the “Critical Path” classification on every project schedule, self-performing this work allow us to control the schedule. Underlining the importance of precise control is the large number of other trades that drywallers must coordinate with to complete the work. Work must be done side-by-side in a cooperative manner with all the trades that go through or attach to walls and ceilings—on a tenant improvement, this is nearly every trade onsite.
With our ability to control self-performing crews and with our understanding of the intricate coordination required, if necessary we can frequently make up time lost earlier in the project, or increase flow by shaving off days on the critical path.
Finally, DPR has proven that standing walls and hanging drywall is a huge motivator for other subcontractors to maintain pace or risk falling behind. By having this direct control of the critical path drywall scope, DPR is able to control the pace of work on a project at will, almost like an accelerator controls the speed of a car.
Experience Generates Quality
DPR self-performing drywall adds value to a project in two ways. First, our customer benefits from the experience of our craftsmen. Second, DPR crews can serve as “extra eyes” in the field looking out for our client’s best interests.
DPR’s expertise is in the construction of technically complicated commercial construction projects. We focus on five market sectors: advanced technology, corporate office, healthcare, higher education and life sciences. That means that our foremen and craftsmen have more experience in these types of technical buildings than many of our competitors. They understand the protocols and equipment associated with working in sensitive environments. Also, having a full crew of DPR craftsmen on-site from layout to final touch-up means that we have dozens of extra DPR eyes in the field watching the other trades to ensure that the entire construction team is building a quality environment for our clients.
Cost Considerations
Because of the type of projects we build and the clients we work with, DPR is often hired early in the design stage of a project. This allows us to influence the design, ULs and materials so the client is paying for the most efficient product. When we are hired early, we frequently enter into collaborative agreements (IPDs or GMPs) that incentivize returning construction savings to our customers.
In addition to using self-perform work to help control a project’s safety, schedule, quality and cost, we also use current technologies to constantly focus on improving production and quality. Most of our regions have drywall specific building information modeling detailers comprised of craftsmen who have transitioned to the office to construct the buildings virtually. Our BIM detailers work on clash detection with other trades as well as create spool sheets (elevation views) for the field craftsmen to build from. We assist with early stage LEED/sustainability planning. Many of our foremen and lead men use iPads or other electronic tablets to increase the speed and accuracy of communication and documentation. Where beneficial to the overall project, we prefabricate (on site or offsite) wall panels for faster installation.
DPR Construction has been self-performing work from its inception, and it is an integral part of how we deliver the best value to our customers.
Eric Cusick, LEED AP, manages the DPR Self Performed Interiors group in San Diego. Skip Miyamoto manages the DPR Self Performed Interiors group for Northern California. Both are 18 year veterans of DPR.
DPR Construction is a national commercial building contractor and construction management firm with a passion for delivering great results on technical projects. DPR is consistently ranked as one of the top general contractors in the country by Engineering News-Record and one of the top companies to work for by Fortune magazine. Founded in 1990 by Doug Woods, Peter Nosler and Ron Davidowski, three veterans of the construction business, the company cultivates an entrepreneurial, open-office environment based on a well-defined purpose, “We Exist to Build Great Things,” and four core values, “integrity, enjoyment, uniqueness, ever forward.” A privately held, employee-owned company, DPR is strategically positioned to handle projects that vary widely in cost and complexity; DPR’s project experience ranges from $5,000 to more than $1 billion.
