While virtual project management has allowed us to work anywhere with our clients and teams efficiently, we’ve also learned a few great lessons of being a local resource to our clients and communities. At some point, you might have seen a statistic or statement about the economic benefits of local work for local workers.
This is why OAC focuses on investing in our local offices to support local economies and talent pools. OAC has an office in Everett, WA, that supports projects throughout Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom Counties. As an employee-owned company with staff that resides in Snohomish County, we are your neighbors; we employ your neighbors and help create our community’s unique fabric. We know our customers, develop relationships with our regulars, and find ways to give back. At OAC, we care about and invest in the well-being of our community and its future. We believe that OAC, as a local business, is more accountable to our local communities and can better support our clients.
Being a local team, we understand the contractor market, city and county guidelines, regulations, and permitting better than a remote team. We can help our clients in the following ways.
Market conditions
We understand the local General Contractor and Subcontractor market and know their strengths, weakness, and capabilities. This knowledge can help us with outreach before bidding to get good bid coverage. Our relationships with our General Contractors let’ us canvas their workload, interests, and perceptions of alternative delivery methods. These relationships help us make recommendations to our owners and clients on determining the best delivery method. For their projects from Design-Bid-Build to Job-Order-Contracting, General Contractor/Construction Manager, and Design-Build. Out of state consultants may not understand the nuances of alternative delivery as outlined in our RCWs. We’ve worked on more alternative delivery projects in Washington state than anyone.
Proximity
Our clients benefit from hiring and working with a local team because we can be there for our clients on short notice for in-person meetings and site visits; we do not need to charge for longer commute times.
The minimum number of on-site meetings during construction is once a week. Travel from Seattle to Everett takes an average of 1.5 hours round trip. At an average consultant rate of $180/hour, this is a cost of $14,000 for one staff person per year that our local Snohomish County OAC team can save our clients. Construction projects can have unforeseen conditions. When something unplanned arises, we can be on-site quickly to assess, advise, and help our owners make pivotal decisions. Furthermore, supporting local work for local workers is good for the environment. Our local work strategy for local workers creates a smaller carbon footprint reducing greenhouse gas emissions due to reduced commutes for our employees, allowing for more family and social time.
Authorities having Jurisdiction
We know certain jurisdictions and their permitting processes. This understanding can help determine permitting timelines with more accuracy, which leads to more accurate overall schedules. We can make strategic decisions about phased permitting strategies to improve schedules and save costs.
Communication
Being local impacts communication of a project due to Increased collaboration and fostering a successful team environment with our clients and contractors on site. It is easier to follow up and track progress when we see our clients more frequently and address unscheduled questions on the fly, whether in a meeting or when passing them in the hallway or, yes, chatting with them proverbial watercooler.
Having the local lens helps us all in the end, from every project to every hour of volunteering. One such example of this how OAC used forensic schedule analyses and bi-weekly photographic documentation to save a client approximately $500,000,000 when dealing with differing site conditions. Had we not been on site, we would not have had the evidence to validate the schedule impact’s differing site conditions.
Another great example of using the benefits of knowing local jurisdictions was seen in our proven audit experience reducing an $850,000 claim for sick leave to under $500,000. We achieved this by understanding Washington State and the City of Seattle Law and careful examination of Collective Bargaining Agreements’ and Certified Payroll for on-site workers.
As a local business, we recognize the essential part of the communities local e-commerce has in which people live and work, and realize how we all get to be a part of the impact that makes our region truly exceptional. At OAC, we think about how we can support our local communities by being a partner.
We’d love to hear what you’re working on and share our local perspective. Connect with us today at [email protected].