By fulfilling its mission of putting clients first, Dallas-based CM and general contractor Structure Tone Southwest (STSW) stands second to none for an array of regional building owners and developers—including Abbott, Nokia and Oncor, Texas’s largest provider of electrical transmission and distribution. In all, some 80% of STSW’s work involves repeat business, according to Joseph Cribbin, president of the firm.

With 200 employees and revenue topping $519 million last year—up 28% from 2017—STSW, part of the STO Building Group family of companies, continues to cement new partnerships with clients from its Texas offices in Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin. Recent repeat clients include Coppell, Texas-based office furniture supplier Vari, which hired STSW to reposition and renovate a 345,550-sq-ft Dallas-area building for purposes of creating and leasing flexible office space. Based on the results, Vari invited STSW to participate in a second similar venture and will continue to partner with the firm on future projects, says Jeff Lamb, Vari president. A key attribute is “Structure Tone’s ability to scale up with needed in-house expertise, be it structural or M/E/P, at the right time, when it’s needed most,” Lamb says.

“We’re unique,” says Cribbin, who notes that whether STSW is executing projects as modest as a conference room or as big ticket as a multibuilding corporate headquarters, the common denominator is the unyielding emphasis on safety, quality and executive support the firm offers at every turn, from preconstruction through close-out and turnover.

“We recognize that no two projects are the same,” says Tracy McWhorter, director of quality systems with STSW. “You’re not going to succeed unless you treat each project—and each client—independently.”

That philosophy has propelled development of a highly diversified client base, prompting STSW to establish operating units dedicated to interior construction, health care, mission-critical—notably data centers—and ground-up work, says Cribbin. The four units collectively cut across a variety of project types, including offices, manufacturing plants, warehouses, distribution centers, health care facilities, life science laboratories, pharmaceutical centers, hotels and retail space.

Ongoing client partnerships across a variety of sectors have proven key to accelerating growth. Last year alone, STSW engaged in 14.8 million sq ft of construction, including completion of interior fit-out work on a 1.23-million-sq-ft corporate headquarters for American Airlines in Fort Worth. Other recent projects include a 250,000-sq-ft office and lab facility for Nokia in Dallas and new facilities for the South Texas Biomedical Research Institute, a San Antonio-based biomedical research firm engaged in efforts to combat the COVID-19 virus.

目前,大约100 STSW员工在进行操作e Dallas office, with the remainder more or less evenly distributed in Houston, San Antonio and Austin. A vice president assigned to each of the three offices oversees operations and reports to Cribbin. Although employees ostensibly work within one of the firm’s operating units, the reality is more fluid. “If we need to scale up on a certain project, we’ll move some employees from one operating unit to the other,” says Cribbin. “We—and they—benefit from exposure to a variety of building types.”

High-Tech Tools

McWhorter说，理想情况下，项目参与始于构建前阶段，使公司一开始就可以与客户和设计师建立融洽的关系。他说，除了估算成本估计和调度外，该公司还协助确定被忽视的项目和冲突，通常是通过建筑信息建模（BIM），以及Autodesk的Revit作为该平台。克里宾说，前构造计划还促进了系统组件的早期采购以及基于建模的数据创建虚拟练习。两种活动都可以在现场平稳起步。激光扫描是该公司质量保证库中的另一个工具，证明在翻新项目中，在验证尺寸（如导管）中特别有用。18luck官网McWhorter说：“制造的图纸并不总是准确的，尤其是在较旧的建筑物的情况下。”他补充说，激光扫描结果已集成到BIM模型中，并根据需要进行修改。

根据McWhorter的说法，在施工期间，STSW广泛使用软件应用程序Plangrid，该程序可以归对项目图纸，并可以将它们与上载的实际安装照片配对。他补充说，Plangrid可通过iPad或iPhone访问，允许利益相关者标记照片和图纸之间的差异，或将RFI链接到图纸上并实时查看它们。McWhorter说，假设需要修改，STSW可以直接将返工要求导出到分包商以进行审查和寻址，同时监视这样做所需的时间。

STSW also is employing technologies such as OpenSpace, a program that photo captures 360-degree imagery of a site at 30-ft intervals on average via a device secured to hard hats, says McWhorter. After stringing images together, the program creates an email link to them, allowing remote stakeholders to essentially walk the site themselves. The program has proved particularly useful during the COVID-19 pandemic, McWhorter says.

Similarly, STSW developed a process employed through PlanGrid to present digital mock-ups via iPad or iPhone, allowing remote project participants to zoom in on detailing. The mock-ups are most frequently used to evaluate building enclosures, including “anything in the curtain wall that might leak,” McWhorter says.

除了确保质量外，工作场所安全是确保重复业务的关键。“它在客户中的核心价值已经成长，” Safety with Struction Tone副总裁Dan Saddler说。Due to an extensive “field first” approach, including a partnership with a technology provider to develop an app-to-video recording of daily job hazard analyses (JHA), STSW’s experience modification rates and total recordable incident rates remain below industry standards, Saddler says.

Saddler, in collaboration with Pleasanton, Calif.-based FactorLab, developed the JHA video app to track data from planning conversations and engage field staff, who can reference the meetings by uploading the footage on mobile devices and ask questions from anywhere on site in real time. Additionally, safety managers and superintendents use the app to coach and train field leaders, such as subcontractor foremen, to help drive greater participation of field staff during JHAs, Saddler says.

防止COVID-19病毒传播的协议为公司的安全计划增加了另一个维度，该计划通常包括每日演练和完成每周安全检查表的完成，均由院长执行。新的措施包括在办公室和所有项目站点进行的强制性温度检查，办公室和现场的强制性面部覆盖物，社交距离，每日工具和工作站擦拭，安装安装盆地在安装站点上安装洗手盆以及人工降低通过使用Zoom等技术会议。

同时，STSW已将450个N95口罩捐赠给了达拉斯医院和德克萨斯州普莱诺的警察局。一些员工创建了口罩，并将其中250个捐赠给了当地社区。这些活动是正在进行的社区外展计划的一部分 - 从玩具驱动器和慈善机构驱动器到为无家可归的退伍军人建造小房屋的活动。克里宾说：“社区服务已融入我们的文化中。”

On the business front, growth in some sectors, such as mission critical, helps offset declines in others, such as offices. “Demand for data is growing exponentially,” notes Cribbin. Although the COVID-19 virus is prompting some office clients to defer construction, “We continue to consult with them on a non-contractual basis as a trusted adviser, helping them envision the manner in which a post-COVID office environment might operate,” Cribbin says. “We’re happy to help.”