If you are conducting a search query for commercial contractors near me, you have come to the right article. We will examine the various construction industry segments and the relevant commercial contractors that service these sectors. Commercial contracting is a vast business with many types of commercial general contractors.
Commercial contractors come in all shapes, sizes and provide many different types of services. Most commercial contractors specialize in a specific type of commercial building construction, while with others, they provide a variety of multiple commercial construction services. Identifying the best commercial general contractor to fit for your construction needs can be a bit challenging if you do not differentiate the various types.
Along with understanding the different types of commercial general contractors, they also support different industry types such as industrial, heavy commercial, institutional residential multi-family, high rise, midrise, retail and office space. These commercial industry segments can help narrow the selection chooses of commercial general contractors.
- Commercial Construction Sectors
- Different Types of Commercial General Contractors
- Construction Management Services
- Commercial Construction Company Services
- Construction Insurance Restoration
- Commercial Building Additions
Commercial Construction Sectors
- Institutional– Institutional construction typically represents educational construction, medical buildings, government buildings. These are often large scale projects that require a solid knowledge of life safety codes and specialty foundation systems. These types of projects are typically awarded to the lowest public bidder. The contracts will normally require performance and payment bonds to be posted by the commercial builder.
- Industrial– Industrial construction is associated with warehouse and manufacturing facilities. Special knowledge of heavy lifting cranes and conveyer systems is needed to utilize the effective services in this industry sector. These projects are awarded through commercial general contractors via low private bid or negotiated with owners. Industrial projects require the commercial general contractor to have a solid safety record and a history of similar project performance.
- Residential Multi-Family– Residential multi-family is far different than most commercial construction. The interior code requirements are very consistent with residential home building. The major difference are the common areas and life safety requirements for large public buildings. It is due to the common area building codes that cause the commercial construction classification.
- High Rise & Mid Rise– This classification addresses offices and multi-family construction. This type of construction requires major steel & concrete structural engineering design to produce the shell from ground up. Midrise buildings can range from 5 to 12 story structures. They require life safety and fire protection building code design features. These are fairly common in metro cities with land density issues.
- Heavy Commercial– Heavy commercial is associated with major civil construction jobs such as bridge & highways, utility infrastructure and railroads. This sector is characterized by the use of heavy equipment and the movement of large amounts of fill dirt. Much of the public sector projects are managed by the state department of transportation. They require public bidding to be awarded these projects.
- Remodeling & Renovation– The commercial remodeling and renovation sectors is often completed by the general contractors specializing in their field. Commercial renovation becomes a very attractive financial alternative to new construction. The difference maker in this construction company sector is that not all commercial contractors can perform remodeling or renovations while a business is operating. To learn more about the qualities of commercial remodeling contractors visit here.
Different Types of Commercial General Contractors
As previously stated, there are many different types of commercial general contractors that provide very different commercial general contractor construction services. The commercial remodeling contractor industry segment is a broad sector and lends itself to different renovation approaches tailored to the various types of building types. We will discuss the different types of commercial remodeling contractors approaches toward the property owner’s needs.
General Construction Contractor
The general construction contractor is just that, a commercial general contractor that performs general remodeling construction services. These commercial contracting services can be implemented by construction company’s employees called self-performing or through the direct hiring of subcontractors. When a commercial general contractor hires subcontractors they are called the prime contractor.
There are some commercial builders that operate as self-performing contractors for certain phases of construction, like the framing or foundation. These commercial contractors will then hire subcontractors to perform the other phases of construction of the building.
A general construction contractor can acquire client’s projects through the bid to build method and the design to build method. Selecting one of these construction delivery methods must be done at the earliest possible pre-design phase of project development. Although these two methods are dissimilar in the design and preconstruction phase, they are very similar in the construction phase.
- Design Build Method– The design build method requires the owner to hire a general contractor early in the preconstruction phase. The general contractor then directly hires the architect to collaborate on the planning of the building design as part of the design team. The benefit to the owner is that the general contractor is fully responsible to the owner for the design and the construction cost.
The advantage for the owner is if there is an omission or error in design, the general contractor is responsible. Secondly, the owner remains in full control during both the design and construction phases. This method allows the time line to be shortened over the bid to build method. For a deeper dive into the design build approach visit here.
- Bid to Build Method– The bid to build method is the traditional method of hiring a general contractor. The owner directly hires an architect to design the building. When the construction documents are complete, the owner submits the documents for bid salutation. If the bids come back over budget, the owner must redesign the plans and request the general contractors to rebid the revised plans.
This method is a time-tested process, but requires the architect to have an extensive knowledge about construction cost to avoid preconstruction budget overruns. This process also typically takes much more time to transfer from the preconstruction to the construction phase. To learn more about the architectural design process read.
Construction Management Services
Construction management services are different from general contractor services. Although they both provide leadership project responsibilities, construction management services will typically hire a commercial contractor to execute the project performance directly for profit, while the construction manager represents the owner’s interest.
Construction management will facilitate both pre-construction, construction and post-construction services on behalf of the owner. They will manage the entire design process producing construction documents and the planning & scheduling of a specific project. They will manage the quality control and quality assurance for the general contractor compliance with construction specifications and performance standards throughout the project. Please visit the following article to learn more about construction management.
Commercial Construction Company Services
Commercial construction company’s offer a variety of commercial contracting services. These commercial construction services provided include ground up new construction of the types of structures discussed through the building improvements of commercial renovations and commercial remodeling. The following video features the commercial construction process and the importance of a commercial contractor;
- New Commercial Construction – Commercial contractors that facilitate new commercial construction provide leadership in the building design and commercial contracting of the same project. They offer a full-service approach delivering management and administrative construction services to the project.
- Commercial Build-Outs– It is common for developers to build commercial buildings by just completing the common areas and the building envelope. The common areas are the corridors, lobby, stairways and elevators. Most developers will leave the tenant areas for the lease holder to finish out to their needs. These include both previous built out spaces by past tenants and unfinished spaces for new buildings.
- Commercial Remodeling– Commercial remodeling contractors differ from build-out contractors in a number of ways. First commercial remodeling is often associated with a change of service use with a specific space. This is common for such brick & mortar building such as retail, warehouses, manufacturing facilities. Secondly remodeling typically involves the modification to the existing building profile or floor plan.
- Commercial Renovation–Commercial renovations are normally associated with changes to a commercial building less dynamic than commercial remodeling. These include new flooring, interior painting, upgrade in bathroom finishes and new lighting for the operations space.
Commercial Insurance Restoration
Commercial insurance restoration is the services associated with damage from a covered insurance loss. Events like fire or weather events are justified for insurance claim coverage. The commercial restoration contractor is required to normally work with the insurance adjuster providing material and area quantities for the Xactimate software estimates.
The insurance company will require that the damaged items of the building must be replaced in kind. This work is typically done by specialty commercial contractors that work closely with insurance companies. They bid the work using the same Xactimate software that the insurance companies use. If the property owner wants to upgrade the restoration materials the insurance company will require them to pay the differences.
Commercial Building Additions
Owners often require the building to be expanded rather than to relocate. This has a significate cost advantage than building a new building. There are also far less disruptions to the business operations caused by relocating. Commercial contracting a building addition reduces the time of finding new business location, is a cost-effective solution to new construction and offers the land owner a meaningful solution to expanding to meet the business’s needs.
This is accomplished by designing plans and constructing a building addition. One of the additional advantages of adding a building addition is that it allows the business to continue normal operations without much interruption, while providing the required additional space. The owner will need the available land to pursue this option.
Conclusion
Searching commercial contractors near me allows you to clearly understand the appropriate type of commercial contractors for your project needs. Due to the vast nature of commercial construction, there are many commercial general contractors performing a variety of general contracting services that may or may not fit your needs. Taking the time to research commercial builders websites and read customer reviews will help you narrow your chooses to a short list to interview. For more information on the complete commercial construction process read this.
