Unique Challenges

The pedestrian roof plazas over lower floors experienced leaks from an unknown source and the expansion joints were not visible or readily accessible. This required the team to perform a careful review of the building’s plans, so as to minimize the requisite intrusive testing to determine exact locations.

Initial surveys confirmed that expansion joints at the plazas were improperly constructed with no relief for natural expansion and contraction of the building. Raymond identified a manufacturer whose membrane expansion joint were compatible with the modified bitumen roofing, and then developed details to install an accessible expansion joint cover to meet the manufacturer’s warranty requirements.

Our Value Add

Due to the phased contracting approach, the initial contract award, design work, and construction phase spanned several years. This led to the Raymond team working with three separate VA Project Managers (PM). In each case, our Raymond Program Manager was able to meet with the new PM and review all documentation to bring the PM up to speed rapidly.

Due to the nature of the water intrusions, the original contract solicitation did not provide significant detail on the required work to be completed. Raymond spent additional time at the project site to ensure survey findings were understood by the owner, and the correct direction and requirements were outlined prior to additional work being initiated.

Raymond’s initial cost estimating proved useful when the VA released its contractor solicitation. While the VA preferred contracting with a small business or disadvantaged firm, this would have increased costs by 50% over the initial estimates (due to regional small businesses not possessing the ability to self-perform the required type of work). Raymond was able to identify the issues and worked with the VA to re-scope the solicitation to provide the government with the best option for the requisite services, while optimizing for cost (estimated $1.3 M in savings).