Court & Courthouse Construction

Each courthouse is different, but there are usually four or five factors that must be addressed in order to build a successful project.

The first, and perhaps most important, step is building a team, developing a plan, and creating consensus. The team involves all stakeholders in the project, including the owner, the courts, the facilities group, the sheriff, architect, sub-consultants, and often key subcontractors.

Once the team is in place, the initial plan is developed. It is critical to the project's success and relies heavily on Sundt's parametric estimating system. With it, as the architect programs and designs the building, Sundt constructs a three-dimensional model of the design, producing an estimate in real time based on cost information from our past courthouse projects. As the program changes, so do the items within the space, and so does the total cost. This allows Sundt to match the budget to the program and makes it easier to achieve consensus.

Value is critical to virtually every courthouse project because of reduced budgets. It is important to reduce not only the original budget, but also establish affordable life-cycle costs. The latter can be very challenging because of increased costs associated with the security requirements necessary for operating and maintaining a court facility.

The final plan includes a detailed estimate and denotes the level of quality desired for every building system and space. After buy-off by the entire team, Sundt executes the plan. Variances result in correction plans being created to minimize the impact on cost, schedule, and quality.

Courthouses are extremely important to the fabric of a surrounding community, including not only immediate neighbors, but also the public in general, nearby businesses, and even local contractors. These relationships need to be nurtured throughout the pre-construction and construction phases.

Finally, it is critically important that when a courthouse is completed and turned over to the owner it is fully operational. It is too disruptive to do a punch list in a courthouse when the facility is open.

Our responsibility doesn't end with completing the construction. It includes turn over; getting everyone into the building and ready for business, not just saying - "Here's your building." We take very seriously our responsibility for the buildings we build. Our clients are for life.