When discussing the government, most people focus their frustrations on our president, Congress, or the Supreme Court. However, closer to home we’re finding an increased government burden in our industry that is quietly costing all of us an exorbitant amount of time and money.

Each municipality, county, school board and college in the state of Florida is responsible for overseeing development and construction within its jurisdiction. Oversight generally consists of plan review to ensure code compliance, issuing permits, inspections during construction, and issuance of a Certificate of Occupancy. There is a statewide building code as well as regulations that are followed by each group. However, the code serves as a minimum statutory requirement and can be customized and added to at their discretion. Some of these groups outsource the oversight of this building to private companies.

Over the decades we have become accustomed to dealing with varied requirements and idiosyncrasies of each municipality. However, since the recession started in 2008 we’ve found the burden of some of these groups to be excessive and overwhelming. Some examples include:

- Since the recession and the subsequent slowdown of some county building departments we regularly have inspectors tell our superintendents to, “call in for four 30 minute concurrent inspections even though I can do everything in one inspection.  I’m afraid if I don’t fill my day I’ll be laid off. I’ll just spend the next two hours on your site.”

- Regardless of how minimal or insignificant, any deviations from the permitted plans must be redrawn, signed, stamped and resubmitted through permitting. Submittals to some municipalities take as long as four weeks to process.

- Many municipalities don’t care what was reviewed and approved during permitting. If the inspector wants it, the inspector will get it!

- Requiring us to prove why an Underwriter’s Laboratory (UL) listed piece of equipment has a UL listing. “It shouldn’t have a UL listing. We have a problem with that.”

- Requiring work they always wanted to have done at that property. On one project in a designated industrial park the local municipality asked us to install windows on a warehouse because they stated they would like the look of it.

- Requiring permits on our temporary construction trailers. This includes requirements to have a handicap ramp for each trailer – even if the trailer is in the middle of the site and a wheelchair would have to traverse acres of sand.

- On a recently completed project the county required over $100,000 in added scope above what they added during their permit review. All of this was required before a Certificate of Occupancy would be issued.

H. J. High has always prided ourselves on our ability to work with building departments and despite the increased burden we’ll continue to lead our industry in this regard. I am the chairman of the Construction Industry Council in Central Florida and we work to have a forum where private companies can have discussions with these groups to try and streamline the process and resolve issues when necessary. It’s not productive to complain about something if you’re not willing to be part of the solution. We’ll continue our work on this issue. It is our hope there are continued efforts among the building departments to standardize requirements and practices to help minimize this problem.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) are once again at the forefront of the debate for new solutions to delivering Florida’s much-needed and underfunded public facilities and infrastructure. The 2012 Florida Legislature debated legislation that would serve to encourage the alternative development, financing and ownership of public facilities and infrastructure only to let the PPP bill die in the final days of the session.

This runs contrary to a national trend to encourage PPP projects through enabling legislation. “There has been a remarkable increase in interest in PPPs with a nearly 30% increase (from 24 to 31 states) in state legislatures passing PPP statutes in just the last two years,” according to Richard Norment, Executive Director, National Council for Public-Private Partnerships.

Florida served as a catalyst for this national trend when Governor Dan McCarty signed legislation creating Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise in 1953, which operated like a private-sector business within the Florida DOT resulting in the Florida State Turnpike Authority.  Florida was also driving the national PPP movement in 1997 when Florida Congressmen, Senator Bob Graham (Democrat) and Representative Clay Shaw (Republican) introduced legislation that would encourage U.S. private investors and developers to construct new school facilities and rent them to public school systems under long-term leases. Although Congress did not enact Graham’s proposal, President George W. Bush delivered on a campaign promise and enacted PPP legislation in the form of the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.

This act led to a national proliferation of PPP legislation at the state level and hundreds of innovative PPP projects across the country. Virginia’s Public-Private Educational Facilities Infrastructure Act (PPEA) has been used extensively by agencies in the Commonwealth to deliver a wide range of projects since its enactment in 2002. The Stafford County Virginia Learning Village was one of the first projects resulting from the new legislation. The PPP solution included an elementary school and a high school, recreational fields, a private senior living development, YMCA/Community Center and a college branch campus. This innovative project involved private development and delivery of public schools, revenue generation from private development and joint use of public facilities.

In Washington, D.C. the James F. Oyster Bilingual Public Elementary School was in danger of closure due to the city’s financial crisis and a crumbling, inadequate building. The District of Columbia lacked the capital funds to renovate the nearly 70 year old building to accommodate the educational needs of the school, meet the recreational needs of the community and comply with modern design standards and building codes. The solution was an innovative PPP – a 48,000 sf building and an adjacent 211-unit apartment building. A PPP was formed between D.C. Public Schools, the District of Columbia and LCOR Incorporated, a national real estate development company.

Technology Enterprise Park (TEP) is a PPP development affiliated with the Georgia Institute of Technology. The project contains more than 600,000 sf of high-performance, life-science research facilities and laboratory space. The genesis of the project was to address a lack of available wet-lab facilities in the City of Atlanta and the State of Georgia and to foster the establishment of a cluster community of wet-lab users, research scientists and commercial biosciences companies.  Gateway Development was engaged by The University Financing Foundation (TUFF) as developer-at-risk to manage all aspects of the design and construction required to deliver a fully functioning facility.

What Florida started 60 years ago has now come back to the forefront as the solution to provide Florida universities, colleges, school boards, counties and municipalities with additional tools to find innovative ways to improve public facilities and infrastructure. Is Florida denying its innovative heritage in PPP projects that has served as a solution for so many other states across the nation? The good news for Floridians is that PPP projects are now being accomplished through a myriad of current laws and creative financial and procurement structures. However, specific PPP legislation is sorely needed to simplify, encourage and broaden the use of PPP.

Mr. Storer is a nationally recognized expert in PPP who has participated in successful legislative initiatives and the finance, development, design, construction and implementation of PPP projects across the country.

For the second straight year the employees of H. J. High went “charity camping” at Quest’s Camp Thunderbird in Apopka. The project this year was designing and building a pavilion on the observation deck overlooking the lake for the camp’s physical and behavioral challenged summer campers. Since 1969 Quest’s Camp Thunderbird has been dedicated to providing a real summer camp experience for people with special needs.

Under the direction of H. J. High’s chief estimator and camper at heart Randy Carroll a plan was designed, materials were purchased and the H. J. High campers cut, hoisted and assembled a beautiful new lakeside observation platform roof structure. For those less crafty, we also helped by adding a new coat of paint to the restroom facilities in one of the many buildings on site and cleaned and organized various areas in need of some TLC. It was a hot spring day, but our team managed to beat the heat and finish our projects with a smile.

Because of the physical and behavioral challenges associated with Down syndrome, autism, mental retardation, cerebral palsy and other developmental disabilities, these children and adults aren’t typically eligible to attend traditional camps. Camp Thunderbird is their chance to learn new skills and focus on the remarkable things they can do, while making new friends and unforgettable memories.

H. J. High encourages our employees to participate in local community organizations and contribute to local charities. H. J. High’s charitable involvement as a company is employee driven: selected, organized, and executed by the employees donating time to worthy organizations while at the same time uniting us behind a good cause. To learn more about Quest, Inc. and Camp Thunderbird in Apopka, please visit:  http://www.questinc.org/

“Energizing the Economy” was the theme as Indian River State College students, faculty and the community dedicated the new Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on April 11, 2012 in Ft. Pierce, Florida.

The College’s first “green” building, the 65,000 sf facility is outfitted with three wind turbines, a 14kW roof mounted thin film solar array, and a 37kW ground mounted solar array, in combination generating nearly 30% of the power consumed by the building while simultaneously being used for the College’s alternative energy technologies education program. The $21.5 million Center was funded through a combination of state funding, private donations to the College’s foundation, and a federal grant. The building was designed to be a LEED Silver certified building, but through the creative and aggressive administration of the LEED process by project architect Florida Architects, LEED consultant Green Building Services, and H. J. High the project is pursuing a LEED Gold certification.

The multi-purpose Center is equipped with various facilities to prepare students for careers in emerging technologies since instruction in alternative energies is at the core of the Center’s program. The H. J. High Construction Sustainable Building Design Lab provides students a lab where they will learn to design and build energy efficient houses and includes a full scale “net zero” house which can be rolled out of the building to be tested under a variety of environmental conditions. A multitude of services and facilities are provided to entrepreneurs at the Center’s Innovation Incubator. The facility includes the highly successful Power Plant Technology Institute where students learn in a simulated environment that is consistent with the protocols and procedures used in nuclear power industry. Students are also able to learn about architectural design, laser and light technologies, or explore nanotechnology, including biomedical and chemistry applications.

Construction of the facility began in March 2008 with demolition of the College’s former maintenance facility (which had been severely damaged in the 2004 hurricanes) and former adult education complex. Vibro-flotation placement of 420 stone columns overcame the site’s poor subsurface conditions before foundations began. The building’s structure is made up of 94 tilt panels 8” or 10” thick with thin brick inlays and intricate reveals, and accented with aluminum composite panel architectural features. The barrel vault standing seam roof is installed over rolled steel joists. The project’s interior finishes are designed to provide a high-tech aesthetic and include aluminum composite panels, laminated resin panels, stainless steel rails and accents, custom sculpted acoustical wall panels, custom designed solid vinyl flooring, a wide variety of ceiling materials and designs, and LED light fixtures.

H. J. High’s project team includes Ken Tucker, senior project superintendent (structure, finishes, site completion), Dave Long, project superintendent (site preparation, structure), Darrell McClellan, assistant project superintendent, Michael Lyell, project manager, Jessica Fratrik, project assistant, Shauna Bowling, accounting manager, and Robin Perri, accounting clerk. H. J. High is proud to have been selected to build this ground breaking facility for Indian River State College and thankful for our 20 year history of successful projects with this outstanding client.

Over the past month the H. J. High team has worked closely with the Volusia County School District in preparation for relocating the remaining school staff into their new buildings. Our team met with school and district employees to ensure all of the warehousing, furnishings, IT, internet and phones are ready to be moved. Packing materials are being distributed to the teachers for the classroom belongings and as soon as the school year ends, H. J. High will assist in relocating the classroom furnishings to the new buildings.

Additionally, H. J. High has met with the Building Official in an effort to plan and coordinate the sequence of moves that must occur to ensure the entire project is ready for student occupancy when students return next fall. Since separate areas of this final phase will be brought “on-line” before work in adjacent areas can commence, the Building Official’s involvement in the closeout of the project will ensure Temporary Certificates of Occupancy will be issued prior to commencement of demolition of the last buildings and final construction of the remaining site items.

Career Education Building:

The building exterior is complete with a few minor exceptions. Sidewalks and stoops are being prepared in anticipation of the walkway covers starting next month. Ceramic tile and VCT flooring are being placed as the millwork installations have begun. The interior of the building has begun its final finishes stage.

The upcoming month will include the start-up of electrical and mechanical systems, final inspections, and the installation of the furnishings, fixtures, and equipment. The building will be ready for move in by June 2012.

Classroom/Lab Building:

The first floor walls are painted and the ceiling grid system is complete. All mechanical and electrical systems are complete and the ceramic tile and VCT floor finishes are ready to start. The second floor metal framing continues as drywall is being installed. Utility rough-ins in the walls are typically complete. On the building exterior the architectural metal roof panels are complete and the parking lot is being graded. Windows, curtain wall and the brick masonry work is being completed. Roofing work including the gutters and downspouts are complete.

The upcoming month will include the completion of the sidewalks and parking lots and the walkway covers will begin soon thereafter. The second floor will progress from drywall hanging to the completion of the HVAC and other above ceiling rough-in utilities. Final wall and floor finishes along with millwork will commence soon thereafter.

I often think about many of H. J. High’s past projects and how we acquired them – over the years there have been some rather unusual circumstances surrounding certain project awards.

One project that comes to light is the Titusville Astronaut High School we constructed in 1989 for the School Board of Brevard County. We were a small company at that time with only three employees – our vice president and estimator Paul Gips, a bookkeeper and myself. The new high school was designed by Lemmon and Megginson, Architects from Titusville, Florida. The project was delivered as a hard dollar bid project as most projects were back in those days, long before design-build and construction management were commonplace in the market.

We bid the job at the usual 2:00 p.m. school board deadline and were the apparent low bidder. Hard to imagine with today’s prices but the bid for this 100,000 sf building was an astounding $4 million (yes, $40/sf). We were happy to be low and looked forward to beginning work because we really needed the job.

Well, it turned out not to be. Our price was over the budget, so the school board rejected all bids and told the architect he had to redesign the project to bring it into budget. We assembled our plans and sent them back to the architect to collect our deposit, not knowing when it would rebid.

Thirty days went by and we heard nothing. One morning while I was on another job I received a call from the architect. He said they were meeting with the school board that afternoon and would award the job to us if we would guarantee the same price and still meet the original completion schedule. We thought it was difficult to build without already losing the thirty days.

We said what any enterprising general contractor says, “Sure we can do it!” We don’t say anything about not having a superintendent to put on the job or that the contract time would start from the award that day. What a fix!

Luckily several days later we interviewed Alfred ‘Fritz’ Myrtle and hired him for the job. What a blessing. We built the new high school and completed it on time. Fritz was a tremendously skilled superintendent and ended up being with H. J. High for over 15 years. Abe Collingsworth was the principal of the school and had a son Chris who later played ball at UF. Chris is now a well known football announcer for network television.

It’s funny how things work out – we thought we would have to rebid the job not knowing if we would be low the second time around, as one usually is not. We were lucky and blessed to be able to complete the school on time and have such capable employees to help us in the process.

The new addition will feature a zero-degree freezer, new 40-degree cold dock, vestibule, receiving office and two state-of-the-art large live lobster float tanks in a separate holding room. Construction will include a continuous concrete foundation, concrete stem wall, slab on grade and pre-engineered metal building structure with insulated wall panels and standing seam roof. The design-build project, designed by Orlando Architect Anthony L. Lepore, will also include four new dock pits/levelers with insulated doors. Sitework includes 41 parking spaces, trucking area with heavy-duty concrete and asphalt pavement and new site lighting. Bar Harbor Seafood will remain operational during the entire course of construction, which is expected to take six months to complete.