Precast Saves Money

A variety of cost calculations are required on every project to determine what design approaches will generate the most advantages and allow budgets to be allocated most efficiently.  Initial, in-ground costs are the most obvious expenses, but hidden and longer-term costs are becoming more significant as owners and designers study the budget impact of various specification choices.

The key to finding the most efficient design is to realize that every system and decision impacts others.  The goal is to ensure all products and systems work together without creating redundancy or inefficiencies.

Spending more of the budget to add insulation and other energy efficiencies, for instance, may allow the installation of smaller HVAC equipment that will save equipment expenditures.

Because of precast concrete’s tightly controlled and shorter production process, costs can be more accurately estimated earlier in the process.  Parallel effort by precast engineering ensures estimates remain stable, assuring the contractor, owner, and design team that the budget is sound.

Using a design and materials that enclose the building quickly avoids winter slow downs and gets crews inside quicker, bringing the project on-line faster so revenues can be generated quicker.

Maintenance needs throughout the building's life also must be considered.  These expenses come from the operating budget rather than the construction budget, so they sometimes have not been considered when evaluating the building's cost.

Durability, such that a building does not need to have its exterior refurbished or possibly replaced in 20 years, also has become more of a consideration.  The entire life-cycle costs of a project are being determined, and each material choice must justify its value today, tomorrow and many years from now.

~ Information provided courtesy of PCI.

Precast Concrete Reduces Risk

Precasters can be a single-source supplier for the total building solution.  Using an integrated team approach, precasters can work closely with the design team providing engineering and technical support.  The design team can make changes or adapt the design with less risk, fewer coordination issues because of a reduction of trades, while keeping costs to a minimum.

Precast concrete is sometimes viewed as a riskier form of construction by design professionals because it requires an early commitment during the design phase and some architects are unfamiliar with how precast buildings are designed and constructed.  In reality, precast concrete construction is an inherently less risky form of construction for both owners and architects:

Budget and Schedule Compliance
For the owner and design professional, budget risk is one of the most significant factors they face in meeting the building’s program and aesthetic needs.  Because precast is a plant-built product, precast producers can make schedule and cost assessments in the late schematic and preliminary design phases to help design professionals assess budget compliance.  Total precast (where precast concrete components are used for both the structure and enclosure of the facility) can represent the dominant portion of the construction budget.  When the intricacy of the exterior wall panels can be tied down early in the project, precasters can estimate fabrication and erection costs with a high degree of accuracy.

Detailing Risk Reduction
Building façades are often composed of multiple products with varying degrees of expansion and contraction.  Even the best architectural documents can suffer from poor coordination and improper installation in the field, causing the design professional lost time in coordination and problem resolution, as well as potential liability if the products are installed improperly.  Precast concrete allows the creation of multi-part façades without these detailing risks.  Precast can affordably mimic most exterior finishes with a limitless variety of appearances.

Winter Conditions
Precast concrete is plant-produced and trucked to the jobsite when needed.  Unlike poured-in-place concrete, masonry, or exterior insulation systems, the product can be installed in cold (or even freezing) weather, eliminating the cold-weather procedure delays, general conditions claims, and potential change orders associated with other products.

~ Information provided courtesy of PCI.

Precast Saves Time

Precast concrete systems provide a variety of savings to a project schedule that are not always considered when looking at upfront costing versus other materials.  These savings include speed in the design, construction, and finishing processes.

Design
The repetitive nature of precast panels and components allows design work to move more quickly to the shop drawing stage.  Precast components can also aid a fast-track design by completing designs while other design work is still underway.

Design economy through repetition, maximizing piece size and shape and other approaches that limit form requirements.

Flexibility of design that offers inherent aesthetic qualities, as well as the ability to mimic the appearance of materials such as granite, marble, limestone, sandstone, or slate.

Material reduction by designing integrated structural components with architectural finishes and by using hollowcore slabs as combined ceiling/flooring units.

Construction
Precast components can be installed quickly, often cutting weeks or months from the schedule.  This allows construction to get into the dry quicker and allows interior trades to begin work earlier.

Construction efficiency, due to the precaster’s ability to cast and erect throughout the year because precast components are fabricated under factory-controlled conditions in a plant, harsh winter weather does not impact the production schedule or product quality.  This eliminates added time to accommodate unforeseen schedule condition due to delays caused by weather or site requirements.  Factory production also provides tight tolerances, minimizing the need for field adjustments.

Elimination of hidden costs, by reducing the time to carry financial bonds, lowering contractor overhead costs and risks, eliminating the expense of nonprecast-related equipment, and reducing subcontractor costs.

Interior Completion
Precast concrete insulated sandwich wall panels provide a finished interior wall that avoids the time and cost of furring and dry-walling while offering energy efficiency.  Electrical conduit can be embedded in the panels.  The entire wall assembly can be constructed with one trade, versus the six or seven for a typical wall assembly.  Using hollowcore planking to combine ceiling and flooring units can speed construction even further.

~ Information provided courtesy of PCI.

Empowering Students to Succeed

Mid-States Vice President of Construction Jaron Combs is empowering the next great business minds through his participation in Junior Achievement of Wisconsin.

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to inspiring and preparing young people to succeed in a global economy.  Through a dedicated volunteer network, made up of people like Combs, Junior Achievement provides in-school and after-school programs for students which focus on three key content areas: entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and work readiness.  The goal is to teach concepts through experiential learning, allowing young people to put their knowledge and skills into practice.

Combs began volunteering with Junior Achievement in the Beloit School District in 2015.  During that school year, he worked with a fourth-grade class.  In both 2016 and 2017, he has worked in a third-grade class.

“I love coaching, so it’s similar to coaching just in the classroom,” Combs said.

Combs visits the classroom once each week for five weeks, with each visit lasting about an hour.  The classrooms he has volunteered in range from 25-30 kids.

Junior Achievement provides all volunteers with lesson plans and outlines for each session and volunteers can tailor it as they get to know their classroom.  Combs likes to get the kids up and moving, for example.

During a recent lesson, Combs had the class lay out a city based on zoning districts: business, industrial, multi-purpose, agricultural and residential.  Lessons also include discussions and activities surrounding credit cards, savings accounts, debit cards and paying bills.  Kids even learn how to write out a check.

“A credit card doesn’t mean you can get whatever you want,” Combs offered as an example of things he teaches.

His goal is that the kids have a better understanding of what’s to come.  He tries to instill the importance of a good work ethic and that things in life are earned, not just given.  Plenty of the kids have shoveled a driveway, had a lemonade stand, mowed a lawn or gone to a garage sale, so they have at least some understanding of how to earn money.

“I love watching kids grow and learn,” Combs said.

Last school year, Combs even got to teach Junior Achievement to the son of one of our quality control teammates.  Mid-States own Ryan Bach’s son was in Combs’ class.

Because the program also focuses on job readiness, Combs also talks with the kids about what kind of job they might want to have, and what it takes to get there, like schooling and training.

He also likes to share about his job here at Mid-States Concrete, and if he is working in a school that has Mid-States materials in it, he shows them.  In his first year, he was at Cunningham School which features hollowcore, wall panels and stair and landing pieces from Mid-States.  This year and last, Combs has been at Converse School, which has hollowcore and wall panels from Mid-States.

Junior Achievement is always looking for more volunteers.  If you are interested in volunteering with Junior Achievement of Wisconsin, learn more here.

The PCI Difference

When you work with Mid-States Concrete, you are working with a PCI Certified Plant and PCI Certified Erector.

Why is this important?  PCI Certification is more than audits and documentation.  It is based on comprehensive expertise.  For more than 50 years, PCI has set the standards and developed the knowledge for the design and construction of precast concrete structures, according to PCI.

PCI's Plant Certification Program ensures that the plant has developed and documented in-depth, in-house quality systems based on time-tested, national industry standards.  Once a year, the plant undergoes two unannounced audits, in accordance with the standards published in PCI's quality-control manuals.

PCI's Certified Erector program complements the Plant Certification program.  It calls for precast components to be erected to the exacting standards expected by owners, developers, architects, and contractors.  Each crew of a PCI Certified Erector is audited twice each year.

The PCI Certification program was developed and is updated by a team representing all industry stakeholders.  It is backed by PCI's network of committees, research and development, education, codes and standard initiatives, and integrated programs and relations throughout the industry, according to PCI.

Contact Mid-States early in the design phase, and we can provide input on architectural options, efficient sizes and shapes, value-engineering options, connection systems and more - all achieve with quality precast concrete.  Plus, using quality products leads to more efficient field operations, which can prevent schedule delays.  Quality control ensures that pieces are properly identified and delivered and fit together properly.

By maintaining our PCI Certification, we ensure that our precast concrete components are manufactured and installed according to stringent industry standards.