Deep Skillsets and Strong Relationships Behind K-12 Projects’ Success in San Diego

 |  Building, Education, Self-perform

Since its inauguration in 1854, San Diego Unified School District has grown from a small, rented school building to the second-largest school district in California, with 239 educational facilities and over 15,800 employees. As it transitioned to the 21st century, it became vital for the district to update its campuses.

Local voters passed three separate bond measures in 2008, 2012, and 2018: Proposition S, Proposition Z, and Measure YY. Prop. S is a $2.1 billion bond measure approved by 68.71 percent of San Diego voters in 2008. Prop. Z is a $2.8 billion bond measure approved by 61.8 percent of San Diego voters in 2012. Measure YY is a $3.5 billion bond measure approved by 65.08 percent of San Diego voters in 2018.

Sundt’s San Diego office is currently wrapping up its first few major projects for San Diego Unified and has several active projects moving from preconstruction to construction. Looking toward 2023 and beyond, we will continue targeting district work that aligns with our strengths, whether renovating, expanding, or adding new structures. While many skills have been on display in recent projects, a few set us apart as a leading builder in education.

Key Skills for a K-12 Builder

A major challenge in whole site modernization work is planning around active campuses. With students present every week, except for summer and winter break, construction schedules can become challenging as they leave little margin for error. For Preconstruction Project Manager Pam Hermosillo, who has led precon efforts on four San Diego Unified projects thus far, success is a balancing act. Finding the “sweet spot” goes beyond simply keeping schools operational during construction.

At the Ralph Waldo Emerson Elementary Whole Site Modernization, led by Sundt Project Manager Jared Mettee and District Project Manager Mike Clark, Sundt leveled all but one building on campus and added five new, state-of-the-art school buildings, totaling over 30,000 square feet as well as a new outdoor amphitheater.

“These projects can be extremely difficult for a lot of general contractors to make their efforts efficient,” said Pam. “The amount of phasing required to keep these schools operational during construction requires careful planning and coordination with the school. You feel like you’re playing a game of hopscotch as you move from one phase to the next, while protecting the students and staff with the safest and least disruptive learning environment.”

Our Emerson Elementary jobsite recently received the prestigious Cal/OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) designation. Only 16 projects throughout California have ever received VPP status; this is the second time Sundt’s jobsite safety has been recognized for excellence by Cal/OSHA. From left to right: Amanda Garcia, Mike Casey, Jared Mettee, Noah Champlin, Adam Mack, Matt Larsen, Jeff Estabrook (former employee), Zach Dixon (former intern).

With San Diego Unified projects now using the Lease-Leaseback delivery method, contractors are engaged early in the design phase to work with the owner and architect to phase projects more efficiently. “Having our estimating and constructability expertise on board early, we’ve helped the district find a balance between construction efficiencies, which save money, and minimizing disruptions to the campus operations,” said Pam. “Sometimes it involves hard conversations and choices around what to keep or remove from the scope. But that’s where the trust we’ve established with the district comes into play.”

For the Morse High School Whole Site Modernization, Phase II, Sundt renovated three Buildings 100, 800 (pictured), and 1000, including upgrades to 12 modular classrooms and adjacent ADA pathways. Phase III includes a new 12,000-square-foot administration building, a 24,000-square-foot theatre, extensive site improvements and utility upgrades.

Strong Relationships Build Effective Projects

With each structure we build or modernize for the San Diego Unified, the relationships we form with different stakeholders allow us to create better solutions. These come from our collaboration with the district’s project teams and design partners like RNT Architects, and less visible groups such as the district’s plant operations, landscaping, and food service departments.

“At Marston, the only option to renovate the food service building was on summer break. This food service building serves multiple campuses for the district,” said Pam. “The condensed timeline to complete this work during the summer months would have meant overtime, double shifts, and extra costs.”

Project Manager Jared Mettee, who worked closely with Food Service on Emerson, suggested the team engage them in the discussions and explore alternative solutions. Through those discussions, the team found a viable solution to move their food service operations to the high school kitchen facility across the street. According to Pam, “This option gave us more time for construction and inspections, which allowed us to maintain the scope and budget.”

The Marston Middle School project includes a whole site modernization of existing admin., classroom buildings, food service facility, locker rooms, new parking and drop-off area, joint-use field, and gymnasium. Rendering: RNT Architects.

Sundt’s relationships with local trade partners and our knowledge of the market also allow us to make informed and timely decisions. This could involve finding better ways to create a balanced site without importing soil, comparing prefabricated to traditional building methods, or value engineering different materials to maximize our budget—simply put, creating efficiencies wherever possible.

“Sundt was supremely knowledgeable of the work scope and project schedule, yet flexible enough to adapt quickly when inevitable delays, unforeseen conditions, and design changes developed. Several times through the life of the project, changes to work sequencing or phasing plans were implemented—always with expert input from the contractor’s perspective, to minimize impacts to the overall project duration. I can recommend Sundt as a preferred partner—we are taking the whole team down to the Marston Middle School Whole Site Modernization project next.”

– Bob Snipes, Construction Manager, San Diego Unified School District

Most Valuable Prime Award

Sundt was named “Most Valuable Prime” by San Diego Unified this spring for engaging small and diverse business enterprises on the Morse High School Site Modernization Phase II, resulting in $5,562,763 in emerging business enterprise (EBE) contracts. From left to right: Jamie Frye, Kevin Angelini, Martin O’Brien, Mike Casey, Elizabeth Tague, Pamela Hermosillo, DeAnna Andrews (On laptop), Karen Lineham (SDUSD), Ryan Nessen, Tyler Menard, and Lamia Porter.

According to Project Executive Mike Casey, “We create project-specific plans based on the scope, and trade partner demographics. We have found the key to success in these initial plans is communication with those partners, and constant tracking against our established goals. From there, our project teams focus on maintaining and improving on those goals as opportunities arise throughout the life of the project.”