Credit: New York Focus LLC - Turner Construction’s Miami office is focused on becoming partners with clients on their projects, such as Florida International University.

Leaders in the construction industry often say that construction is a business that is all about relationships. The partnerships formed between a contractor and subcontractors, or between a contractor and a client, are often just as important to the success of a project as the materials and plans. In South Florida, national powerhouse Turner Construction is taking this to heart and refocusing on successful relationships with repeat customers. Vice President Jay Fraser says successful projects such as the Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall Law Center at Florida International University (FIU) is just one example of the strength of Turner's long-term client relationships in its region, and demonstrates the company's commitment to them.

"I've often heard our president say that the feedback he gets from clients is that it's sometimes difficult to distinguish whether the Turner person on the project is working for Turner or the client," Fraser says. "Our recipe for the past 105 years has been commitment and focus on the project and specifically to the client."

Fraser, who has been with Turner for 21 years, came to the company's Miami office from the Northeast three years ago. When he arrived, he helped steer the division into taking a harder look at its vision and strategy. The decision the company came to was to stop focusing on being the volume leader and instead focus on specific prestige projects, markets and clients.

"We had been a major player in the high-rise residential market in the late '90s, and we made a strategic decision to more closely parallel the markets we serve across the nation," Fraser says. These markets include education, healthcare and commercial.

A Fruitful Partnership
FIU has been a client and partner of Turner for more than a decade, Fraser says, as Turner has built 11 projects for the public university in the past 10 years. The Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall Law Center was the culmination of the school's efforts to establish a public law school in Miami, and Turner overcame some intense challenges to bring the project to completion successfully.

"It is a great example of the client-Turner relationship that we have prided ourselves on for 105 years," Fraser says. FIU opened its College of Law in 2002 after years of struggling to sell the Florida legislature on the idea. The 200,000-square-foot building is named after the grandfather of then-State Senator Mario Diaz-Balart, who was instrumental in getting state approval for the law school. "It was a marquee project," Fraser says. "It was their first law school building." Preconstruction began in late 2003, and the school moved in on schedule in August 2006.

Leonard Strickman, dean of the FIU School of Law, sat on the committee that chose Turner for the project, and says the company's prior relationship with the university helped make the decision. "One of the things in their favor ... was that they had done a fair amount of work previously for the university," he says.

"It is a beautiful building that I know had some challenges for the contractors," Strickman continues. Construction work began in 2005, placing the project right in the path of the most active Atlantic hurricane season on record. A series of storms, including Hurricane Katrina, battered the Gulf Coast and made completing the Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall Law Center project difficult. Partially constructed walls collapsed, and one in particular created a very awkward situation for Turner. "One of our walls didn't come down all the way; it was worse than that," Strickman says. "It came down sort of like a bow over some of our interior staircases. It took Turner a couple of days to figure out how to bring the wall down without damaging the staircases."

Along with actual structural damage, the storms also disrupted labor and the supply chain throughout the region. Fraser says Turner met this challenge by partnering with local subcontractors and suppliers who were better equipped to recover quickly from the hurricanes. "We made sure that we were bringing people to the project who had strong local presence and strong local knowledge so that in the face of adverse weather conditions, they would be prepared to respond to the needs of the project," Fraser says.

Despite the adverse conditions, Turner was able to rebound from the storms and complete the project in time for the law school to move in on schedule. Fraser says Turner's employees - including many FIU alumni - were dedicated to making it work. "We were impacted, there's no question, through both those hurricane seasons ... but we managed through it successfully," he says.

Prestige Project
Strickman describes the design of the building, a joint venture of Robert A.M. Stein and Harper Partners, as "modern," with elements of traditional legal architecture. "The front of it looks much like a federal courthouse," he says. Composite stone simulates the look of marble on the building's façade, and ample glass allows natural light to enter. It contains two mock courtrooms with seating for students and a high-tech A/V system including flat-panel monitors for students to view evidence.

A law library, 11 classrooms, a 6,000 -square-foot reading room with 40-foot ceilings and a 299-seat auditorium are also features of the building. "We are pleased with the results," Strickman says.

The company implemented a number of time- and money-saving techniques on the job site to help bring the project closer to completion. For example, Turner says, it used just one crane, where other contractors might have used two. The crane was first positioned in the north courtyard of the building and then moved outside the building to complete it. This idea alone saved the university a substantial amount of money, the company says.

Turner also pre-fabricated many of the building's components, including millwork and structural steel, which were transported to the site and installed. Conditions in subcontractors' shops were carefully monitored, Turner says, and millwork was stored in an air-conditioned warehouse before installation.

Easy Being Green
While not a LEED-certified building, the Rafael Diaz-Balart Hall Law Center includes a number of green features, such as large windows to take advantage of natural light. But it's not the only project in which Turner has put green principles to use in South Florida. In fact, Fraser says, the company has been spreading the word about green construction for at least 10 years.

Nationally, Turner has completed nearly 200 projects using green features and it has built a total of 33 LEED-certified projects, including three platinum-certified buildings. Turner's South Florida office also has the most LEED-accredited professionals of any construction manager in the country, Fraser says.

Marketing Manager Joy Harris says the company approaches each project with a green building checklist that shows project managers areas in which those principles can be applied. In many cases, she says, Turner and its subcontractors use practices that are already considered green, but just need some paperwork filled out for certification points to be awarded.

For example, subcontractors already recycle certain materials because it saves them money, but it also satisfies a qualification for LEED certification. Harris says that green is "not necessarily a technology; it's a strategy."

Fraser says convincing clients that strategy is a worthwhile endeavor often requires a little more than showing them the benefits to the environment. "Maybe the biggest component is the health and well-being of the employees who will be occupying those buildings," he says. Natural light and improved air quality are two factors contributing to that, he adds.

"Anything new is always a challenge for some people," Fraser says of the reaction many clients still have to green techniques. "Immediately, there's a belief that there's going to be a serious cost implication with green building.

"The important thing that we try to impress on clients is that there are various degrees of LEED certification, and it's important to look at the entire menu of options," Fraser continues. "Our message to folks out there is to at least review it and understand the varying levels of certification and the options that you have."

Power of People
The slowdown in the residential market has had a profound impact on the construction industry, even in a market as hot as South Florida, Fraser says. High-rise condo projects were the biggest driver of the market in recent years, but the slowdown has meant a drop-off in the demand for labor in the region. However, that's not necessarily a bad thing, Fraser says.

"It's a good thing because I think there were times here when there were unqualified people in the work force," Fraser says. The booming housing market drew thousands of workers, but not all of them were the right people for the jobs. As the market slows down to "catch its breath," Fraser says, Turner is focusing on finding and developing the next generation of construction professionals.

"Turner's a very big part of the national ACE mentoring program," Fraser says. ACE pairs high school freshmen and sophomores with mentors in the architecture, construction and engineering industries to expose them to opportunities in the fields. "That doesn't put people to work as a part of our staff in a year or two, but over time, we hope to enhance the reputation of our industry and the desire of young people to become involved in it," Fraser adds.

Passing the Crossroads
Since he came to South Florida, Fraser says, Turner has invigorated itself through focusing on specific markets and clients. "Three years ago, we were at a crossroads and we knew we had to take a new look at what we were doing," he says.

Even though the construction industry sometimes receives a reputation for taking advantage of clients, Fraser says "the image of our industry can always be enhanced and improved, and the best way to do that is to operate with integrity and honor. "I think that we all need to continue to focus on our customers," Fraser adds.