“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair…”

Though written about the French Revolution of the 1700’s, the statement could easily reflect upon the state of the economy and governments around the world today.

The fact is, these are tough economic times and they have reshaped nearly every business model and a lot of businesses are just looking for ways to bridge this current recession.  In addition to overhead cost cutting, some businesses are also cutting prices to bare minimums in order to stay-a-float long enough to see the rising tide of economic change; but at what cost?

There are dangerous tradeoffs in the quality or amount of services that one can afford to give when prices are reduced.  The question arises as to whether it is worth it to provide a lesser quality product and perhaps compromised service just to win a new project.  And, after that project is complete, have you actually gained a loyal client or will they continue shopping for the lowest price when the next project comes along?

Even though businesses have been forced to change their business models, customers are still demanding the same quality and perhaps even better customer service than before.

While NBD is much leaner, like every other firm, we are also much more efficient in terms of productivity.  “Right Sized” is the current term that probably best describes the business model under which we will be living for the foreseeable future.  And although we at NBD have adapted, we still continue to provide our clients with un-compromising quality and service, no matter what the economic conditions.  INTEGRITY at a fair price!

There are probably as many ways to bid a project as there are to design a project. When asking for project proposals from architects, engineers and other design professionals it is important to remember the difference between initial project costs and scope of services.  For instance, at first glance a proposed price may seem lower from one firm compared to another, but does that “lower” price include the entire scope of services needed to permit the project.  It could be, in the case of civil engineering services, that a firm may propose a set price for the bare minimums such as grading and onsite utility designs and then after an initial submittal to permitting agency come back to the client saying that additional services such as a drainage and traffic study, as well as, off-site improvements will be required for the project permit.  These “additional” service designs are then billed the higher hourly rate in the form of a change order.

At NBD, we have been providing civil engineering services in Southern Nevada for nearly 15 years and we know what it takes to receive a permit.  We have also provided “Plans Checking” services for several agencies and are experts on what it takes to develop a permitted and “buildable” (which contrary to belief are not one in the same), set of plans.  So if you have a project that you are developing, I ask you to please, compare our hourly rates with our competitors and then compare our scope of services on an apple’s to apple’s basis.  While I cannot guarantee the lowest initial price, I am willing to bet that when the project is finished, we will not have exceeded our upfront proposal fee, simply because we do not believe in change order bidding.

At Your Service,

Craig A. Ruark, LEED AP ^(BD+C)

Director of Business Development

Instead of buying a new Halloween Costume, try swapping with a friend or neighbor.  According to the group Green Halloween® (bet you didn’t know there was such a group), if half the kids in the U.S. who celebrate Halloween swapped costumes, rather than buying new ones, our nation’s annual landfill waste would be reduced by 6,250 tons. That’s almost the equivalent of the weight of 2,500 mid-size cars.

Saturday, October 8^th is National Costume Swap Day and if you click this link http://www.greenhalloween.org/CostumeSwap/register.html you can register your costume on line to be swapped.  You never know, the costume that you receive just might have those special powers you have been looking for.

From the beginning I have been optimistic about the Las Vegas economy.  Back in September of 2008 I wrote an article for our newsletter entitled Now Is The Time.  In that article I had stated that it was an opportune time to begin the design process for your new projects based upon the fact that construction costs were down and by the time the design was completed and all permits were in hand you would be the first out of the gate when the economy rebounded in 2009.  To back up this story I pulled quotes from Keith Schwer, the director of UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research, The Las Vegas Review-Journal, and Reuters News Agency; all reporting positive trends in the economy and predicting better times by the third or fourth quarter of 2009.  Obviously those predictions were dramatically wrong.

In March of 2009 I wrote a tongue-in-cheek headline entitled This Economy Sucks, for a very positive article where I reported that money had started flowing for various projects.  In fact I had received a flyer from a group out of New York that boasted of $300 m quota for the second quarter 2009 (to be spent in $20 m increments), for projects such as: Medical/ Healthcare, Professional Owner Occupied, Industrial, Security Defense, Multi-family, Education/Universities/Colleges, Green or LEED certified properties and Senior Living.  That article was correct to the extent that money had started to flow to the majority of the U.S., but not Nevada.

Well, here we are, mid 2011, and Nevada is still lagging behind the rest of the country.  A few days ago the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation reported that the unemployment rate in Las Vegas jumped to 13.8 percent in June, compared with 12.4 percent in May.  This was the first rise in the unemployment rate in 2011.  In the mean time, Governor Sandoval is setting up what will become the state’s new “Office of Economic Development” in the next few months with an emphasis on “being able to steer the state away from its heavy reliance on the gaming, tourism and construction.”

Colliers International reports that there is more than 9.4 million square feet of vacant office space, 5.3 million square feet of vacant retail space and some 16 million square feet of vacant industrial space in the Las Vegas Valley.  Obviously not all of that space is in an area that is desirable for leasing but is significant enough that we do not need any more of those types of products on the market.

So where do we go from here?  One of the areas that Southern Nevada has an opportunity to capitalize upon over other areas of the U.S., is our sunshine and low cost of living.  Now you might be thinking about solar energy and that would be a good guess and one that would be ideal based upon the amount of land and sunshine available.  However, I am thinking about something even more renewable than solar and that is…people.  Senior Citizens in particular!

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, persons 65 years or older numbered 39.6 million in 2009 and represented 12.9% of the U.S. population, about one in every eight Americans. That percentage is up from the 12.4% of the population (34.9 million) in the year 2000, and is expected to grow to be 19.6% of the population (72.1 million) by 2030.

Based upon the above figures developers should be looking at care facilities for the ageing population.  Independent living and assisted living facilities will be in high demand beginning in the next few years.  Medical facilities that specialize in elder care will also be in demand and especially successful if they are located near living facilities.

Another area of economic opportunity is the result of Assembly Bill 182 which was passed during this last legislative session and approved by the Governor on May 31^st.  This bill initiates the groundwork for establishing an Inland Port in Southern Nevada that will relive the congestion at the ports in San Diego and Los Angeles.  This type of project will be a short term boom for the design and construction industry but in the long run provide opportunities for thousands of workers who will off-load and load, process, and administer the shipping of millions of tons of merchandise each day.

A third opportunity exists with UNLV and the development of the 122 acre Harry Reid Research and Technology Park located on West Sunset Road.  Public private opportunity exists to develop a premier research and development center for energy technologies.

Isn’t it about time that we stopped thinking about the problems and started thinking about the solutions?  Nevada By Design is the place to start when it comes to engineering these solutions.  Give us a call when you have sometime (perhaps an hour or two), to hear ideas about a fully sustainable campus design for any of the above ideas and together we can move Southern Nevada in the right direction.  If you have ideas of your own, call us and we’ll be happy to listen to you and help make your ideas work.

NOW EVERYONE!

Give me an N…give me an E…give me a V…give me an A…give me a D…give me an A…

However, if you are like most people and no longer let your fingers do the walking and instead use your smart phone or computer to find telephone numbers, addresses, etc.; you have the option of stopping delivery of the printed directory.

Simply log into www.DexKnows.com/Green, put in your zip code and fill out the form.  If you receive phone books from more than one company you can also visit http://www.yellowpagesoptout.com/

What I found interesting is that no matter what the experience level, whether they worked for a corporation or PR Agency, each person asked the same two questions…’What is green?’ and ‘How do we get everyone committed to the process?’

In truth, everyone knows that turning off lights when not in use, using energy efficient light bulbs and appliances, conserving water, and recycling are the right things to do.  Those are the low hanging fruit and easy to do without much of a lifestyle change.  But these people were asking the deeper question about going beyond the basics.

One of the session topics that I attended was titled: Corporations Doing it right, Why are Boeing and others investing heavily in green and sustainability efforts – and what are the strategies in communicating these programs?  The speaker; Christopher Villers, Communications Director at Boeing, told how Bowing, as a corporation, decided that they would become more sustainable.  In fact, Boeing is in the process of building a new manufacturing plant in N. Carolina that is expected to achieve a LEED Gold rating.  At the end of his formal presentation, Mr. Villers asked the audience to help him with a dilemma.  ‘How do you motivate middle managers (whose responsibility it is to make sure that product maintains a high standard of quality, is delivered on time, and within budget, while maintaining profit for his department), to think about being green?

Boeing is a huge company with a huge product and they deal with huge numbers.  Middle managers are not interested in the cost savings of a few light bulbs or the savings from pushing the two sided copying button on the printer.  They don’t even care about manufacturing waste minimization if it means re-training employees or slowing down their production line to achieve efficiency.  Middle managers are paid to perform and get performance out of their employees and that is what they do best.

When the Board of Directors at Boeing decided that they wanted to improve their environmental image, they found that most of the nearly 160,000 employees were eager to contribute ideas as to changes that can make the company greener.  In fact, there was so much enthusiasm and so many ideas that management had to take a step back and say thank you but…we need to work within “these” parameters.

So why is this important to us in the real estate, design, and construction industry?  Simply put, we need to stay on top of where the market is shifting and what is influencing the decisions of the companies that are renting or building real estate products.  Boeing is building a new manufacturing facility in North Carolina and is designing it to meet LEED specifications at the Gold level.

But Boeing is not the only one taking this step.  Companies large and small around the world are being pressured by consumers and retailers to look at their environmental impact.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has moved from public relations propaganda to the Board Room and customers are increasingly aligning their own personal values with the brands they buy.  The three P’s of sustainability (People, Planet, Profit) are being scrutinized and referenced on company web sites and in their annual report of earnings, both of which now have large sections devoted to CSR reporting.

Bottom line, we are already seeing companies take advantage of a slack construction market to make tenant improvement upgrades that are greatly more sustainable; even if they don’t opt for a LEED certification.

So back to the conference and the answer to getting total buy-in on Green…

• Balance long term and immediate term benefits with costs.  Develop changes in phases so as not to burden or bog down production in the process.
• Encourage dialog at all levels, make sure goals do not interfere with productivity.
• Measure everything.  A savings at one end may cause increases at the other.
• Value intangible benefits.  Let employee enthusiasm and energy turn into pride in their workplace and in turn reflect in their work product and customer service.
• Be authentic and transparent.  We all realize that “doing good is good business” but don’t just do it for the business.  Be passionate about whatever you do and be open about why you do it.  Customers can see through anterior motivation.

Nevada By Design is proud to have been a part of the design teams and contributed to seven LEED Certified buildings in Las Vegas.  Our proudest contributions include the Vegas PBS/Distance Learning Center; Nevada Cancer Institute Research and Administration buildings, and two Habitats for Humanity homes.  For more details on these projects and other NBD projects, check out our WordPress blog at http://nevadabydesign.wordpress.com and click on the Projects Tab.

Fire Safety: If you are expanding a current building, you may cross a size threshold that will require the installation of a fire sprinkler system or the expansion of the current system.  In either case, it may be that the addition (or upgrade), of your fire service line from the curb to your building will be required.

Parking: Whether you are expanding your current space or moving into another building, parking requirements or capacity could be increased based upon the increased amount of occupants.  Also, depending upon when the building was built, it may not be compliant with current Handicap Parking Requirements.

ADA: If you are expanding your space in a current building, it could be that Tennant Improvement permits would require bringing other aspect of a building up to current code.  One of those aspects is the slope and width of sidewalks and ramps outside of the building to meet Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

If you are looking at Tennant Improvements for your client or own office, call Nevada By Design and we will be happy to review your situation to see if utility, parking or ADA improvements will be needed.

Instead of buying rolls of wrapping paper use pages from a magazine to gift wrap presents.  You can find interesting pictures from magazines you have laying around.  Check out the full page ads for tropical destinations or golf courses.  Perhaps there are photos of cute puppies or cats.  You can even use headlines to spell out special greetings on your paper.

Be creative.  What a way to recycle!

So given the scarcity of projects; how does one market a civil engineering firm?

My approach to marketing Nevada By Design has been to utilize social media as a tool for dispensing useful information that you…our friends and clients…can use in your business and everyday life.  If you have a LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook account, chances are you have seen my face next to almost daily postings.  Believe it or not, those postings and the research that I do to find interesting and relevant information, also help me to become better informed which in turn helps Nevada By Design stay on top of trends that help our clients.

So instead of knocking on your door or making your telephone ring every day to ask if you have a project for us…I give you information that you can use in hopes that when you do have a project you think of Nevada By Design.

So why am I telling you my secret?  Well actually it isn’t much of a secret, it is really marketing 101 and it falls in line with other marketing techniques like listening to the client to see what he needs and then providing the answer to that need.

Part of my marketing is to help my clients improve their business as we all have to help each other if we are going to make it past tomorrow. Occasionally when RFP’s are announced for something that is right for your firm, you might see an e-mail arrive from me, even if there is not any civil engineering involved.

However, helping others is not always appreciated. Case in point, I recently, in response to a RFP e-mail that I sent to a firm, received a rather curt e-mail with a pompous attitude about my marketing techniques in return. I must say that I was quite taken-a-back by the whole attitude. I have never met the person who sent this e-mail, or communicated with them in any fashion. Apparently this person had been forwarded the e-mail, which I had sent to the principal of the firm, giving a heads-up on a project that was soon to be announced and presented our firms experience with that type of project. My guess is that this person was asked to follow up with us on that project, but instead took the liberty of accusing me of unprofessional marketing techniques and Nevada By Design of shopping our services. Needless to say, I had many thoughts in response to these allocations but refrained from reply. Partly because the firm as a whole has been a good client and the principals and other staff members are a good group of people to work with and mostly because I refuse to roll in the mud.

I guess that was a bit of a rant on my part…lesson learned, you cannot make everyone happy no matter how hard you try…even if you’re trying to do someone a favor. 

Jimmy Buffett wrote a song entitled…”If the phone doesn’t ring it’s me.”  So if your phone does not ring, it will be me and one less sales call you have to answer each day.  However, I do hope that you gain some useful knowledge form the information that I pass along through this newsletter, as well as, the social media sites and will remember Nevada By Design as the economy starts to pick up.

At Nevada By Design we take pride in the fact that we are honest with our clients.  The success of NBD is due to Kent Anderson, PE/Owner of the firm and Clayton Neilesen, Dir. of Civil Engineering.  The fact is…they are very good at what they do. 

Both Kent and Clayton take the time to thoroughly understand a project and provide customized engineering solutions that take into consideration the time and expense to the client, as well as, sustainable plans that will be approved by the governing agency.  NBD provides quality engineering and that is widely known throughout the community.  We rely on that quality, not price, to sell our services.

Till next time…

I’ll be “At Your Service!”

Craig

This two story project located on eight acres at the corner of McLeod Drive and Flamingo Road, will house the new television studios for the local PBS affiliate and the computer hub for the “Distant Learning Center”.  This facility is designed to meet a Gold Level certification under the USGBC LEED program.

Nevada By Design (NBD) is responsible for the civil engineering design of this project, including grading design, off-site utility coordination, street and sidewalk improvements, on-site utilities and surface improvements.  However, the challenges for this project are many: 

In its current state, there is a twenty-foot fall from the west to the east side of the property.  The stormwater system currently in place beneath McLeod Drive is currently at its capacity and therefore alternative stormwater discharge routes are being designed.  In order to conform to LEED specifications, NBD has designed a system that will capture and treat all stormwater that fall upon the property before discharging off site.  This system will be located beneath the parking area at the low end of the property.

In order to reduce the “heat island effect” and gain further LEED points, NBD has designed the onsite parking to be constructed of concrete.  Due to the slope of the property, NBD is also designing all exterior access points to and from the parking areas, to be compatible with Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations.

Facility Details

• 147,000 Sq ft
• 4 School Studios
• 2 PBS Production Studios
• Homeland Security Critical Node
• LEED Gold Design
• Construction Period – 400 days
• General Contractor Martin Harris
• Architect – JMA

Sustainability

• Recycled carpet
• Construction materials recycling
• Regional materials selection
• Recycled Steel
• Solar Tubes
• Lighting Controls
• Thermal Controls
• Ground Source Heat Pumps (400 wells at 400 feet)
• Daylighting
• Thermal Glazing
• Efficient Landscaping & Irrigation
• Solar Power Array (18%)
• Sustainable Fursiture

Nevada Cancer Institute (NVCI), an independent, nonprofit treatment and research facility, designated as the official cancer institute for the state opened its first facility, a multi-purpose 142,000-square-foot facility, in September 2005. The facility is home to groundbreaking biomedical research, education and technologically advanced, multi-disciplinary, sub-specialized patient care. This center is a hub where Nevadans and those from surrounding states can learn about cancer prevention, detection and treatment options.

This flagship facility is located in Summerlin at the intersection of Interstate 215 and Town Center Road, and is uniquely designed to foster scientific research and discovery while maintaining the comfort of cancer patients and their families. The $52 million, four-story facility is outfitted with cutting-edge technology for researching, diagnosing and treating cancer.

In January 2009, a second facility, the 100,000-square-foot Support Services Building housing administrative departments such as Communications, Development, Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology was completed to bring all NVCI offices onto one central campus. The project is LEED Certified Silver and also includes a three-story, 500 space parking structure.

A third building, the Ralph and Betty Engelstad Cancer Research Building, a facility dedicated entirely to cancer research, which will ultimately house 40 biosafety level (BSL)-2 laboratories was opened in October 2009, adding a third building to the campus and a USGBC Certification at the Certified Level. Two floors of the three-story building and a full basement have been finished and will be occupied by NVCI research faculty.

The Support Services Building and the Ralph and Betty Engelstad Cancer Research buildings are owned by the American Nevada Corporation.  The Korte Company and its design arm of TKC Architecture was responsible for the design and construction of the two buildings.  Nevada By Design was the civil engineer on the project.  All three of the firms are members of the Southern Nevada Chapter of NAIOP.

In order to meet USGBC certification standards, the two buildings were carefully designed and engineered to take advantage of the latest technology in energy saving lighting, heating and cooling, and outer envelope.  Water efficiency is gained through the use of low flow fixtures and drought tolerant landscaping.  Points were also given for the establishment of an in-house recycling program, preferred parking for fuel efficient and ride-share vehicles, and community connectivity.