What Innovation in Construction Looks Like

The accountability equation in construction is straightforward. When one team is responsible for both the design and the construction of your building, there is no gap between what was designed and what gets built. Every decision, trade-off, and call runs through a single point of contact and answers to you directly.

Design-build puts one team in charge of both design and construction from day one. The result is a faster project timeline, a more accurate budget from the start, and a single point of accountability when decisions need to be made quickly.

Architectural design and project plans all have constructability at the forefront when working with a design-build contractor because that the architects are working hand in hand with the project managers. And when the plans are translated on the jobsite, there are less gaps and crews can get started because the construction team has already been coordinating with the project manager from the start.

Rice Companies has operated this way for decades. Our in-house architecture, engineering, preconstruction, and construction teams work on the same project, toward the same goals, and answer to you directly.

One of the less talked-about developments in commercial construction is the renewed value placed on self-perform crews, meaning builders who employ skilled tradespeople and do the trade work themselves across major scopes of a project. When the people doing the work are part of your construction team, coordination is tighter, accountability is clearer, and the feedback loop between the field and the project manager is shorter.

Rice's self-perform crews handle carpentry, concrete, steel erection, and finish work across our projects. Fewer handoffs mean a tighter schedule and a crew that is accountable to Rice, which is accountable to you.

The certainty a pre-engineered metal building system offers is unmatched in the construction industry – especially when it comes to innovation. From predictable material costs during preconstruction to quality-controlled components that are not subject to the same supply chain volatility affecting conventional steel and lumber markets, a pre-engineered building system is designed to add more certainty at every stage of your project.

Butler Manufacturing has spent more than 100 years engineering steel building systems that are fabricated under controlled factory conditions and assembled in the field. The result is a building system where every component is engineered to fit together correctly the first time, reducing the guesswork and adjustments that can slow field assembly down.

Rice Companies is an award-winning Butler Builder, recognized as Outstanding Builder of the Year and Volume Builder of the Year, and has erected Butler systems on projects across Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin.

Design-build, self-performing crews, and pre-engineered metal building systems each make a commercial construction project better on their own. When they work together as part of one integrated team, from design and preconstruction through construction and field services, innovation in construction makes a big impact on a project.

Talk to a Rice Companies expert about your next build: ricecompanies.com/contact