Slow Recovery Translates to Smarter Projects in Several Markets

Jeff Perelman

The current economic recovery has been slower and longer than expected, and it differs from previous recoveries in an important way. Even though many owners and developers have ample financial resources, they’ve been reluctant to invest in new projects. While it may sound counter-intuitive, this scenario has actually created an opportunity for Sundt to help its clients.

In order for clients to “build smarter,” says Jeff Perelman, Sundt’s Chief Growth Strategist and Business Development Officer, they need a contractor that knows local markets, is able to get involved early in the process, and that has unique expertise and innovative tools (such as parametric estimating) that allow the contactor to help the owner design and build to target market needs. Sundt has been able to provide this expertise throughout the slow recovery.

“What we’re finding is that clients want to determine what the real cost implications are much earlier than before,” Jeff explains. “Developers want to build to a targeted price that they know the market will bear, while still delivering a differentiated real estate solution. Rather than starting the process with an architect to see how far they can go, they start with a contractor to find out how far they should go based on real building and operating costs per square foot. We are especially seeing this trend in commercial, university and healthcare construction markets.”