Services
Planning/Pre-Construction
Recognized as top tier general contractors, developers, design builders and construction managers in Wisconsin, VJS is committed to acting as an extension of our clients, emphasizing professional service and personal attention. As a leading general contractor in the Milwaukee, Waukesha and Madison markets, we bring the highest level of professionalism to every phase of a project, from pre-construction to construction administration to project closeout.
Our attitude is reflected in the belief that “Anything Less Than Exceptional Is Unacceptable.” This approach permeates throughout our culture and guides each and every project.
Master Planning
Building owners with multiple facilities and multiple sites increasingly require a master plan to maximize their investment in their facilities. VJS leads an integrated approach with you, the architect, engineers, and other consultants.
Our master plans provide a comprehensive analysis of your existing facilities and vision for the future. In collaboration with the architect, we will provide the following:
- Conduct and/or assist the architect with extensive existing facility surveys
- Provide assessment and analysis of the facility survey information
- Develop options to meet the vision of the client
- Provide in depth life cycle cost analysis of options
- Prepare detailed cost analysis of options
- Categorize recommended improvements to optimize capital improvements investments
- Develop short and long term sequencing strategies to minimize disruption to a facilities activities and maximize investment
Estimating
VJS Construction Services is known for bringing projects in under budget due to our experience in cost estimating. We control and closely monitor construction costs through a series of estimates, one at each phase of the project for owner review and approval. Our vast experience working in different markets ensures our estimates are accurate and provide you with a continuing check as the project progresses.
Constructability Reviews
Our goal during constructability reviews is to improve the quality of documents and reduce changes that impact the budget and schedule. We look for the following:
- Missing or incomplete details
- Construction efficiency – a better way to build
- Impact on schedule
- Bidding/procurement clarifications
- Weather related installations
- Past lessons learned to implement on the next project
Digging into the details to understand and review the drawings in depth so when construction commences no one misses a beat. Our process will increase efficiencies, provide “real time” communication, reduce rework, minimize change orders, reduce punchlist items, and ensure schedule completion.
Review &
Analyze All
Systems
Target Value Design Approach
The Target Value Design (TVD) approach re-thinks traditional, event-based design and pre-construction methods. TVD offers the opportunity for the construction team to engage in the design conversation concurrently providing cost, schedule, risk management, and constructability advice, thus avoiding costly rework, budget overruns, and schedule delays.
The TVD process focuses on the following elements:
- Engage with Owner and Design Team to Establish Target Value
– Work closely with owner and design team to understand and implement project goals throughout the design process - Learn and Innovate
– Develop a culture of innovation into the project plan as programming and design evolve, allowing for new ideas throughout the entire process - Design and Estimate Concurrently
– Work contemporaneously with the design effort
– Provide real time cost data to enable confident decision-making throughout the design process - Continuously Plan and Re-Plan
– Improve the project value and schedule wherever possible during the preconstruction phase as the greatest influence can be realized in this phase - Design and Detail in Accordance with Project Flow
- Create and Maintain a Detailed Project Plan and Schedule
- Ensure the Design and Construction Effort are Sequenced for Work Flow
- Engage with Owner and Design Team to Establish Target Value
– Work closely with owner and design team to understand and implement project goals throughout the design process - Learn and Innovate
– Develop a culture of innovation into the project plan as programming and design evolve, allowing for new ideas throughout the entire process - Design and Estimate Concurrently
– Work contemporaneously with the design effort
– Provide real time cost data to enable confident decision-making throughout the design process - Continuously Plan and Re-Plan
– Improve the project value and schedule wherever possible during the preconstruction phase as the greatest influence can be realized in this phase - Design and Detail in Accordance with Project Flow
- Create and Maintain a Detailed Project Plan and Schedule
- Ensure the Design and Construction Effort are Sequenced for Work Flow
The value analysis process identifies opportunities to remove unnecessary costs while assuring that quality, reliability, performance and other critical factors will meet or exceed expectations.
Virtual Design and Construction
Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) has transformed the construction industry. The ability to create a virtual model of the building improves our ability to interpret and communicate the design with the owner, architect, engineers, subcontractors, suppliers and building officials. From preliminary design through project close-out, VJS uses VDC strategies that impact cost, quality and duration of the project.
Benefits of VDC:
- Facilitates the visualization of the entire building
- Increases the design collaboration and communication between the members’ teams
- Construction planning and management by combination of design and construction
- Ease in producing high quality, accurate, and precise construction documents
- Conflict detection between various design elements before the start of the construction phase
- Accurate extraction of material quantities etc. helps in elimination of waste which results not only in cost saving but speeds the construction process
- Improves quality and accuracy of the entire project
- Acts as a digital database in which change in one view is automatically reflected throughout the drawing in entire project
- Site staging
- Change order and schedule control – 4D visual scheduling
- 5D estimating / using the 3D model to develop estimates
Stakeholder Engagement
VJS provides stakeholder engagement and communication support services to numerous public and private clients. We collaborate in many different ways to assist our clients in developing solid strategies for stakeholder engagement and public information campaigns including option development, pricing, and phasing.
This includes providing assistance in communicating project related information to important stakeholders through strategy, newsletters, postcards, fact sheets, Q&A, coordination of public meetings and community workshops, assistance in development of PowerPoints, creation of content rich visual boards, social media strategies, videos, and materials for websites.
“Public trust is a big thing for us, and I know that VJS shares that with us. I know they’re going to carry it out in the best way in making sure that our public is going to continue to trust our process.”
