Category: Municipalities

Soaring to New Heights with a Preconstruction Veteran

Posted on November 5, 2019

In an effort to maximize the company’s effectiveness and efficiency in its preconstruction services, HPM recently hired Del Buck as the Vice President of Preconstruction. In this position, Del is responsible for overseeing the preconstruction services of all HPM program management assignments.

Del has an extensive history of more than 30 years in the AEC industry, including both national and international leadership in preconstruction. His construction experience reaches to Africa, South America, Europe, Nepal, China, South Korea, New Zealand, and the Middle East. As a result of his work experience and attendance at both the American Institute of Estimating and the FMI Leadership Program, Del possesses the expertise to lead HPM in its preconstruction services.

Buck’s extensive history in preconstruction services includes involvement in multiple real estate sectors. In his preconstruction experience, he has managed an annual project bid volume totaling more than $3 billion for assignments in sectors such as retail, higher education, industrial, multifamily, K-12, medical, and government.

“Del’s problem- solving skills, attention to detail, and organizational skills make him a fit leader in HPM’s preconstruction services,” stated Greg Ellis, Vice President of Program Development. Del stated, “The duties of my position match up well with the experience I gained throughout my career as a general contractor, and the ability to leverage that with HPM’s vast database of pricing technology will allow us to offer custom-produced services tailored for each owner’s budget and scheduling requirements.”

One of HPM’s core values is that each team member strives to be good stewards in terms of time, energy, and resources invested in projects. “Del’s breadth of knowledge and experience in the industry allows HPM to continue to strive to meet this goal in order to efficiently serve the company’s clients. His goal of relentless improvement and efficiency in preconstruction services will contribute to the company’s exceptional performance in program management,” stated Greg.

“HPM considers Del to be an asset to the company, in terms of its growth and success. We believe Del’s ability to see through the GC lens combined with the advanced estimating technology and pricing databases at HPM will give us a competitive edge that cannot be replicated anywhere else.”
Mike Lanier, HPM President

Read about our other recent preconstruction expert hires

HPM’s Beginnings: A History Built on Standing in the Gap (Part Two)

Posted on May 15, 2019

By Mike Lanier, President

Welcome back as we turn back time with our founding president reminding us in this two-part series about how HPM was founded and how it continues to grow. You can read Part One of this series posted earlier on our blog.https://hpmleadership.com/hpms-beginnings-a-history-built-on-standing-in-the-gap-part-two/

See Part One Here

In 2013, HPM took to the skies and provided the much-needed boots on the ground in the US for the global aerospace company, Airbus. Our expert staff members embedded themselves within Airbus and became the client’s eyes and ears during the design and construction of their first US manufacturing facility, which has led us to other clients in the aerospace and aviation industry.

Along the time that HPM began making its impression in several industries signaled the time for the company to be organized into its own entity, and HPM was officially structured into an LLC, branded itself apart from the construction company, and offered services separate from industry norms.

A few years ago, HPM represented the City of Birmingham by managing the design and construction of a new minor league baseball stadium right in the middle of downtown which sparked a revitalization of the area. Now, we have lead the building of several new major and minor league baseball stadiums across the Southeast as well as numerous collegiate sports venues across the US.

As a part of our growth strategy, HPM acquired a construction audit and contracting firm which serves an impressive list of clients including Google, Caesar’s Entertainment, Southwest Airlines, Facebook and Landry’s. The team criss-crosses the country involving themselves in clients’ contract negotiations; conducting interim and final audits to determine reimbursable costs, fees, savings and savings allocations; reviewing pay applications; calculating scheduled damages; and managing claims analysis and defense. We like to say that our audit and contract services provide clients with confidence knowing you paid the right price on your construction spend.

Today, HPMers serve global clients across the US from offices and project sites dotted throughout the country. Our clients continue to work with us on new projects because we have created deep, long-lasting relationships, and we continue to attract innovative and passionate talent because our work and our teams are meaningful, interesting and fun!

HPM was founded by leaders for leaders who lead at every level. We strive to be the perfect partner in every way so that our clients’ organizations achieve success.

My talented colleagues come from all walks of life and expertise – engineers, builders, estimators and designers work alongside accountants, business managers, communications professionals and administrative experts. Every role is important in HPM’s success and our clients’ success.

I believe HPM employees are relationship-driven, problem solvers, and good stewards. We strive to have purpose in our lives and do the right things for our clients and our community. My colleagues take the time to truly get to know our clients and their businesses to provide that ultimate form of servant leadership – the trusted advisor.

HPM’s Beginnings: A History Built on Standing in the Gap (Part One)

Posted on May 14, 2019

By Mike Lanier, President

Join us on this look back in time as our founding president reminds us in this two-part series about how HPM was founded and how it continues to grow.

HPM is in the business of leading. Sometimes, that looks like shepherding more than it does signaling a full-scale charge from the front.

While others in our industry focus on getting plans on paper or aim at the best ways to compile bricks, concrete, and steel, we focus on what’s most important to our clients at any given moment. HPM serves as a trusted advisor who stands in as the owner’s advocate in a capital building program.

And that can look like a lot of different ways to lead and serve.

A Little History

Our unique story of this servant-leadership style began in 1940 when Friend Reed (F.R.) Hoar founded the F.R. Hoar Construction Company in Birmingham, Alabama. Over the decades, the company has grown across the US with new projects, new clients, and new colleagues.

I began my career with Hoar Construction in the mid-1990s doing pre-construction work in the retail industry, and very quickly, I noticed many of our clients needed help beyond that of traditional contractors. I happily provided them the guidance they needed simply because it was the right thing to do.

Rob Burton, CEO of Hoar Holdings (which owns HPM and Hoar Construction), served as the Executive Vice President of Hoar Construction at the time I joined the company. He and I recognized the market needed someone that could help clients reach success by managing all the intricacies of their construction projects – from planning, design, and construction through to owner occupancy.

After a serendipitous lunch with his daughter at her school where a construction project was in disarray, putting students at risk, Rob met with the District Superintendent and offered our services. This led us to pre-construction work for school districts and municipalities who struggled to proceed with projects because they constantly seemed to stay overbudget, behind schedule, and/or beyond their capabilities.

In 1997, Hoar Program Management (HPM) was founded as a division of Hoar Construction to serve as advocates for our clients. During this time, we guided Hoover City School District during all phases of their construction projects which put us on the map in Alabama for K12 and which has now expanded to include school districts throughout the country.

HPM team members now shepherd school superintendents and school boards through the planning, funding and site selection phases of capital bond programs through design and into construction and move-in.

In 2003, we graduated into the corporate world with our partnership with Regions Bank. Regions utilized our program management services to help stay on budget and on schedule while they rolled out new bank branches across their multi-state footprint. More than 15 years later, we still partner with Regions Bank and have expanded our services into interiors planning and move management.

In 2004, HPM made the leap into higher education when a large university in our home state hired us to provide program management support for six different simultaneous construction projects on campus. And, we’re still there today due to our deep relationships with the staff and leadership team and a successful 15-year track record. Since 2004, we have completed more than $2 billion in capital building projects to facilitate the university’s rapid growth.

And that was just the beginning…

Part Two

Realizing the Value of Preconstruction Services

Posted on April 11, 2019

James Goree, Regional Director of Preconstruction

With a decade-long career at HPM, I have learned to appreciate that highly successful projects are the ones that do a good job of balancing budget, schedule, and quality, so it only makes sense that focusing on these areas as early in the project as possible would prove valuable. In fact, that is the idea behind preconstruction services – early analysis of the effects that project circumstances and components will have on schedule and cost. Oddly enough, many owners miss the mark by not employing these services on their projects.

Preconstruction typically includes the evaluation of construction methods, project pricing, value engineering, constructability reviews and bid and award process management. At HPM, we have seen this type of in-depth analysis pave the way to a clearer path for the project, in many cases resolving challenges before they arise and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in schedule and cost overruns. Essentially, employing these services helps map out a plan early in design and way before shovels even go in the ground, putting teams in a better position to manage change and proactively communicate. We can all see the benefits in that rationale, right?

I am a firm believer that preconstruction sets a solid foundation for every project, no matter the size of the project or the market it represents. Time and time again, experts publish articles on the benefits of preconstruction. At HPM, we have seen first-hand the impact on our projects and have captured those stories in our portfolio of case studies. When teams collaborate early to identify meaningful solutions or take the time to build a project virtually through the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) owners reap the benefits. A program manager who understands the value of preconstruction and can walk-the-talk with their clients is in the best position to guide projects to success.

Simply put, our role in preconstruction is to offer a path that allows our clients to accomplish their goals while remaining on budget. As preconstruction experts, we are attuned to market conditions and are able to paint a holistic picture of the project. From budget to sequencing, we can guide decision-making from design to start of construction. Using our expertise, we should be expected to right size the bid packages for optimal performance, resulting in maximized ROI – all along the way providing regular updates and maintaining deadlines to keep the project on-track. And at the end of the day, that is our goal – to keep you informed and help you achieve success, whatever your definition may be.

Curious what preconstruction can do for you? Contact me at jgoree@hpmleadership.com.

About the author:

James Goree serves as Regional Director of Preconstruction at HPM. An experienced preconstruction and VDC Manager, his expertise has been employed on projects across the Southeast such as Pelham City Schools, Auburn University, and Wallace State Community College. Skilled in project estimation, value engineering BIM, CPM scheduling, and software implementation, he builds a project in his mind before building a budget on paper. Working alongside other team members, his approach has saved our owners countless hours of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars. With a Masters of Building Construction focused in Real Estate Development and Construction Technology from Auburn University, James is well-equipped to help owners achieve the best ROI possible on their projects.

Why the Alabama Bid Law Matters

Posted on March 21, 2017

At HPM, we’re accustomed to quizzical looks from clients when we explain the difference in services, advantages and price we provide as opposed to lifting a hammer to actually build a facility — like that of a general contractor.

In fact, it almost sounds too good to be true. (Watch the video below to see how true it is.)

We hear, “Do you mean that your professional advice and management of my project(s) are not a contingent percentage of the price?”

That’s right. Our services are billed to clients on a mutually agreed-upon, lump-sum amount or at an hourly or monthly rate.

Clients say, “You manage my project(s) with design and construction experience and expertise, but you don’t actually design or build my facility?”

Correct. In fact, that would be a conflict of interest if we did.

That’s how and why we got started as a program management firm — separate and apart from our founding company, Hoar Construction. HPM operates as its own business entity — a limited liability company (LLC) — in order to provide clients with design and construction advice and management from the owner’s perspective — without a conflict of interest or selfish bias.

But it’s not only our business practice or simply a good policy, it’s the law in Alabama — where we got our start:

Alabama Code Title 39. Public Works. § 39-2-2

“(d) Excluded from the operation of this title shall be contracts with persons who shall perform only architectural, engineering, construction management, program management or project management services in support of the public works and who shall not engage in actual construction, repair, renovation, or maintenance of the public works with their own forces, by contract, subcontract, purchase order, lease, or otherwise.”

So, before you engage a professional to oversee your capital building program or project, make sure that (1) the firm is experienced in representing you and your interests as the owner or stakeholders; and (2) also holds no other interests or contracts associated with the program or project, too.

Caring for the Smallest Client

Posted on December 1, 2015

When it comes to construction projects, little surprises may pop up along the way. Yet no one thought one of those little surprises would come in the form of honey bees. During the demolition phase of the downtown Birmingham intermodal facility in 2015, workers were surprised to find a large hive of 50,000 honeybees which had taken residence in a masonry cavity in the old CSX office.

The tiny honey bee plays a huge role in producing the fruits and vegetables that we consume every year. According to the Honey Bee Conservancy, honey bee pollination in the United States agricultural industry has a value of $14.6 billion. Unfortunately, bees are dying in mass. Approximately 40% of bee colonies in the United States were lost between 2017 and 2018. With bees in danger of disappearing from our environment, the HPM team knew that saving the honey bee colony was the right thing to do.

Bonds Mike — Mike Bonds , HPM Senior Field Coordinator

“I knew from everything I’ve read, honey bees aren’t considered endangered yet, but their populations are declining rapidly. So we knew we had to make some special plans for them,” said Mike Bonds, HPM Senior Field Coordinator, who coordinated the construction project.

HPM has always sought to act as true advocates to its clients, including the smallest ones. HPM employees live by the company’s core values, which includes the Golden Rule — treat others as you’d like to be treated.

Instead of demolishing the beehive, HPM called in bee expert, Adam Hickman of Foxhound Bee Co. to relocate the hive to a safer location 11 miles away in the Community Garden at EcoFarm. Standing on a ladder, it took Hickman four hours to remove the colony with a special Shop-Vac. The entire colony, including the Queen and the precious honeycomb, were saved. It only cost Hickman one sting to the hand.

Headquartered in Birmingham, HPM has been a true partner from the start with the City of Birmingham on many construction projects over the company’s history. “The City of Birmingham does not have the construction expertise on our staff to oversee the various projects with the care and attention to detail as HPM has. For a city, our projects are varied – from ballparks to city parks, from museums to transportation hubs,” says Jarvis Patton, former Chief of Staff at the Birmingham Mayor’s Office.

HPM was hired by the City of Birmingham to build the new intermodal center to unite the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority’s MAX buses, Amtrak, and intercity bus services at one downtown station. As a company dedicated to managing all of the intricacies of a construction project, HPM provided the City with complete program management services, including phasing recommendations based on available funding and priorities of stakeholders, bid review and analysis, utility relocation and infrastructure planning, and much more.

“We have to rely on the experts with multi-industry experience to guide us through the process and count on them to report what we need to know when we need to know it in order to make timely decisions and spend only the funds we have allocated,” says Patton.

As client-centric servant leaders committed to doing what’s best for its clients and their projects, not only did HPM provide the City of Birmingham with the services they needed to complete the intermodal center project, but they provided relocation services for its smallest client – the honey bee.

HPM is in the business of leading. For some clients, this may mean managing an already-established, multi-million dollar capital building program. For others, it could mean overseeing a single project from site selection through owner occupancy. No matter the scope of our involvement or at what point you find yourself in the building process, HPM exists to lead our clients to success and provide value in everything we do.

We offer services such as:

Capital Bond Program Management
Preconstruction Services
Construction Contract Negotiations
Program Management
Project Management
Integrated Project Delivery
Master Planning
Site Selection
Construction Auditing
Captital Expenditure Management
Design Team Procurement
Owner’s Representative

Category: Municipalities

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