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In today’s fast-paced economy, businesses must remain nimble to address the needs of their clients and consumers. Whether firms require more flexible, open office environments to boost productivity and accommodate accelerated growth, or they need specialty spaces like laboratories to meet market demands, having a trustworthy builder who intimately understands how to meet a corporate firm’s needs remains key to project success.

As a national leader in construction services, ������� is uniquely structured and qualified to provide consistent, programmatic service on a nationwide scale with our National Accounts team (previously known as Corporate Services). This specialized model provides a single point of contact and a program tailored to each client. The result is seamless communication between parties across all geographic regions, as well as efficient internal knowledge-sharing within ������� and its partners to ensure our teams deliver consistently no matter the location, size, or complexity of the project.

Benefits of the National Accounts Framework

National Accounts aims to streamline project delivery while increasing impact. Each client is assigned a National Accounts Executive, a single point of contact whose primary goal is to understand the client’s preferences, needs, and design standards, and communicate those to local project teams through client-specific playbooks and build programs. As executives continue to build relationships with clients, they identify new needs and adapt their means and methods to continually ensure cost effectiveness, efficiency, and consistency in the project delivery process.

“What fuels the National Accounts team’s success is our ability to comprehend our clients’ standard needs and preferences, and build a robust project delivery framework to train our local teams so that our clients don’t have to,” says Derek Jaschke, National Accounts Executive. “This lessens the burden on our clients and eliminates the learning curve that contractors typically undergo when working on a new project. When our teams know what standards to expect, they can better focus on the details that are unique to the project to ensure a successful delivery.”

Where National Accounts Began

The National Accounts model first took shape in 2004, when ������� was awarded multiple programmatic projects for a national financial institution. The project team quickly realized the value in an organized, consistent approach and developed a playbook to tackle the client’s multi-location needs. As the project delivery model matured, the team began to explore how to scale it to other, similar clients with specific project needs.

Today, �������’s network of national partnerships includes over 50 clients, 40 of whom are Fortune 100 companies. The group has proudly built a $10 billion portfolio of projects spanning a range of sectors, including aerospace, finance, hospitality, industrial manufacturing, large-scale and luxury retail, science and technology, and corporate workplaces.

The Client-Centric Model in Action

�������’s current relationship with a well-known technology company serves as testament to the National Accounts team’s ability to provide consistent project delivery across multiple projects—with a deep understanding of what matters most to the client’s operations.

One of �������’s early projects for this client was a new office project that spanned three floors and 89,500 square feet. The team facilitated the build-out of the client’s new prototype design standards that incorporated open office and collaboration workspaces across all three levels, including two technology laboratories, conference rooms, and restroom upgrades.

Throughout this first project, the local project team and National Account Executive closely tracked what was important to the client, noting preferences, culture, and design-standard drivers. Then, the National Account Executive worked to refine the estimate forms, contract documents, and project administration documents—including closeout records—to better suit these preferences and to ensure the space met the client’s requirements. Lastly, at the close of the project, the National Account Executive developed a program manual that outlined the lessons learned, favored documents, and specific design standards, leveraging it as a training tool for future projects.

Among the client’s most critical needs is security, which ������� has addressed with tailor-made procurement and installation strategies that prioritize a clear, secure path of travel from the front entrance of the building to the IT room. These strategies are included in the client-specific playbook, ensuring such a crucial concern is met prior to the onset of any project. This implementation of client-centered training has led to �������’s successful delivery of over 40 additional major projects nationwide for this client over the last 14 years.

“The National Accounts model provides invaluable efficiencies to a very unique set of clients,” says Chris Chany, Vice President and Director of National Accounts. “For those clients, it’s a great way to elevate the relationship beyond merely that of client and contractor. It opens up the opportunity for a mutually beneficial, long-lasting business partnership.”

Driving the Future with National Partnerships

The National Accounts model has also led to �������’s success in the technology market, where complex owner-specific workstreams often drive project schedules.

Though these specialized scopes do not often fall on the general contractor to directly perform, ������� understands that these critical workstreams directly affect overall project success. Additionally, many of these workstreams are not industry standard, but specific to each owner. National Account Executives provide key support to ensure complex and specialized workstreams are properly managed and coordinated to each owner’s specific standards.

Acting as a single point of contact, the account executive communicates directly with the owner or owner’s representative to understand how the pieces need to fall into place to guarantee project success. The account executive then communicates these to the project team and works alongside them to devise strategies, ensuring that everyone—from owner-selected consultants to specialized trade partners—understands their role in achieving the client’s vision, thus reducing risk of scope gaps, miscommunication, and delays.

Leveraging National Accounts Executives who have intimate knowledge and familiarity with specific client standards allows �������’s project teams to be more “hands on” in coordination, and can also introduce efficiencies that otherwise may not have been identified by contractors less familiar with the owner’s product type and standards.

For example, ������� has worked on several projects for a Fortune-100 technology firm. One of these projects, a seven-level, 332,000 square foot tenant improvement in Texas, had an accelerated timetable. The project was in preconstruction for ten months, during which ������� planned a 38-week construction schedule to incredible detail. This site was also one of just two projects nationwide that remained operational during the COVID-19 pandemic, due to its importance to the client’s business.

Given the project’s unique circumstances, ������� implemented several strategies for the project’s box walks, which are detailed inspections that identify issues or discrepancies in critical electrical, plumbing, HVAC, and mechanical systems that must be addressed before construction can move forward. Box walks are also crucial to ensure quality standards are consistently met throughout the construction process.

To streamline the box walk process, maintain the project schedule, and also ensure the health and safety of the project team, ������� implemented a color-coding system throughout the project that clearly defined each trade’s scope of responsibilities. During the box walk, the color coding allowed each trade to identify issues and discrepancies more quickly, allowing the project team to complete the process for all seven floors in just four hours. Additionally, ������� leveraged in-house Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) technology to laser scan each floor throughout the project—allowing the client’s key stakeholders to remotely track the project’s progress and verify the project’s quality.

“Having the flexibility to meet unique client needs and quickly train teams is critical,” says Andy Roscoe, Eastern Regional President at PMA, the representative for the Fortune-100 technology firm. “�������’s success in this area comes down to a foundation of culture and training well-rounded people who can deliver complex projects with a great attitude.”

Client Success Is Our Success

The National Accounts framework demonstrates �������’s commitment to client success and satisfaction. We are dedicated to continually refining our framework for all of our clients, both new and legacy, because we fundamentally believe that our work is about our clients’ needs, not ours. Only when our clients are reaching their full potential are we truly successful ourselves.