Communication: The Construction Material You Don’t Hear About
Like a lot of construction companies, we like to talk about our steel, our proprietary fabric and even our new exclusive epoxy coatings. One of the most important elements, however, is communication. Just as our steel holds our structures together, good communication holds our projects together.
Legacy’s Building and Project Design Consultants do the heavy lifting when it comes to communicating, and they keep at it throughout your project--from the initial discussions all the way to the completed building. Because Legacy does all the design, the manufacturing and installation of the structure, our consultants have access to information at every level of your building and every phase of the project.
To Inform
Initially, our consultants will ask questions about what you know about fabric structures and our tension fabric structures in particular. These initial conversations will help begin to shape the scope of the project and let you know the economics and efficiencies of our system. If you are further along in your plan and know things like building usage, budget and timing, that’s a great step forward in the communication journey. Together, you will help create the most logical solution based on our structure’s capabilities.
To Advise
Having expertise in your industry helps our consultants not only communicate information but also suggest solutions. Previous buildings and the solutions that were developed during the project help us suggest ways to make your structure work for you. For example, if you need a building in a mountainous area with a small footprint, we’ve done that. If you need one that will stand up to strong winds, we just finished a building that’s engineered for 195 mph wind assaults. Snow? Let us show you what we did for Fox Creek in northern Alberta. Storing corrosive product? Legacy offers the best frame protection with our Epoxxishield™ paint. Ten years of experience with a wide variety of industries has positioned our consultants with practical knowledge that can aid your project.
For example, Matt Vanscoyoc, a product consultant that works with governmental agencies on salt storage (and more) can help a client determine the width, length, sidewall height and roof slope that will create the most efficient and effective design for their salt storage. He does all of this based on one number: the tonnage of the salt the agency needs to accommodate.
To Monitor
Being advised and informed is one thing, but keeping a project on track is a tangible benefit of communication between you and Legacy. As you know, a building can be a big deal and there are a lot of moving pieces involved in design, fabrication, transportation of the building materials and installation (by Legacy’s trained crews). Knowing you will be informed and communicated with at every step in the process can do a lot to reduce your anxiety and build your confidence.
Our consultants communicate with you, other stakeholders and other contractors from start to finish. Their philosophy is to risk overcommunicating in the interest of keeping the building process on track.
Communication Saves Money
If you’ve ever been on a construction site, you can immediately see how good communication can lead to good logistics. A construction site that operates like a well-oiled machine is a thing of beauty, and communication is the oil that keeps things flowing smoothly. The opposite is also true. A construction site can be crippled by poor communication that result in botched schedules, materials arriving late (or not at all), and crews waiting for answers to vital questions.
Legacy’s product consultants make sure communication keeps flowing and information about your project is readily available to those who need it. It’s a simple formula: good communication saves money, while poor communication is very costly.
Customization
Every building Legacy creates is customized. Getting your building constructed to your specifications and needs requires a bit more back-and-forth than an off-the-rack fabric building. We think the extra communication required by our process is worth it because the result is delivering structures to our customers that are exactly what they want.
Honesty
Just as good communication can save you money on a project, honest communication saves time and costs. Our product consultants will communicate honestly with you, up front and throughout the process. If you want something in your project that we can’t do, we will work with you to design an alternative. If your budget can’t support one of our buildings, we will suggest ways to reduce costs. If your project is falling behind schedule, we will tell you and work with you to get it back on track.
The tangible factors in a building project—such as steel I-beams--are easy to measure, test, and evaluate. Communication is less tangible but just as important. Our product consultants are our communication experts, and they consistently get high marks from customers because they are so forthcoming. Vanscoyoc said it best: “Knowledge is power, and we try to equip our clients with as much relatable information as we can.”