Miles-McClellan Turns Buildings into Art for Franklin Park Conservatory

mmcrebuildstg on December 30, 2021

If you’ve been to Franklin Park Conservatory in Columbus, Ohio, you have seen firsthand how nature meets art through their displays of beautiful flowers, plants and organic landscapes, enhanced with real pieces of art. But did you notice how the buildings themselves fit into those landscapes and how, through lighting and innovative architectural design, they have become an art exhibit of their own?

With the Conservatory’s vision to restore the vitality, grandeur and beauty of Franklin Park while retaining its original charm and character, Miles-McClellan Construction has managed a variety of projects for The Conservatory, including the expansion of the John F. Wolfe Palm House, a registered Historical Place. As part of a four-phase, two-year expansion campaign, Miles-McClellan completed the expansion of The Palm House by building two 5,000 square foot additions that flank the building’s existing corridor, one designed for special events and the other for administrative offices. The versatility and creativity of the design added 10,000 square feet of flexible space for open air gardens, water features and elegant gatherings, while conquering the roadblocks that come with historical renovations.

In addition to the expansion of The Palm House, Miles-McClellan oversaw the construction of the Bride’s Garden, community gardens with education pavilion, and LIGHT RAMIENT II, an inspiring light display which illuminates The Palm House and was designed by internationally renowned, award-winning artist James Turrell.

Franklin Park Conservatory before and after

In 2015, as classes, programs and community outreach increased for the Conservatory, a new space was needed, so the organization relocated an historic barn’s timber frame, which was set to be dismantled, from northern Ohio to its campus. Miles-McClellan took on the transformation of the Wells Barn, which is not only a piece of history, but a construction marvel filled with engineering innovation, including a basement with classroom space, an elevator, a large event space, a commercial kitchen, and a bar.

“The project was completed on time and on budget, which is critical for a non-profit organization, in large part due to Miles-McClellan’s commitment to problem solving, open communication and outstanding project planning and budgeting.”

Garry Clarke, Vice President of Planning
Franklin Park Conservatory and Botanical Gardens

Building Excellence takes teamwork and Miles-McClellan would like to thank its architecture, engineering and landscape partners, and the Franklin Park Conservatory, for helping to create these amazing spaces.

Relationship Lessons Learned – How to Develop Lifelong Clients in the Construction Industry

mmcrebuildstg on November 12, 2021

With over 43 years of experience in the construction industry, Miles-McClellan Construction has learned valuable lessons about building lasting relationships with partners and clients. Our focusing on building strong relationships has resulted in many positive outcomes:

  • 85% repeat clients by volume
  • $71 million average annual sales volume
  • 10-year average employee tenure
  • Long-lasting success, even through difficult times

Our success in building trust with those we work with is no accident. It’s part of who we are and who we have always intended to be. So, what exactly do we do to cultivate trusting relationships?

How Miles-McClellan Cultivates Trusting Client Relationships

Focus on Positivity When Working With Clients and Partners

Negativity often seems to dominate the news headlines, social media chatter, and public discourse. Many people experience negativity seeping into their workplace, family life or social life. Negativity is pervasive – so why not stand out by being a source of positivity?

By focusing on the good, it’s far easier to stand out to your clients and partners. That’s not to say that negative things never happen or that they should be swept under the rug. Being candid and open is important but staying stuck on the negative is counterproductive. By actively focusing on genuine and positive interactions, we notice that we build better and more productive relationships.

Don’t Forget to Show Gratitude.
One important aspect of positivity we try to practice is showing gratitude, which can easily be taken for granted when busy. This includes gratitude to our clients and our colleagues and can be accomplished with small and simple ways of saying thanks, like emails, hand-written notes, small gifts or favors, highlighting the individual or organization’s accomplishments, or by sharing time over lunch.

Always Act with High Integrity
Integrity is one of our core values—and it contributes greatly to our ability to provide excellent customer service. When we communicate proactively, tell the truth, keep our word, act fairly and take responsibility for our actions, our clients see those behaviors as representing integrity. Practicing integrity isn’t always easy, but it always pays off in the long run.

The most important reason integrity is so critical to building long-lasting relationships is that it forms the foundation of trust. By showing clients and partners that we act with integrity through our day-to-day actions, we cultivate the type of trust needed to build repeat, long-lasting client relationships.

At Miles-McClellan, we practice integrity by focusing on:

  • Being true to our word — always
  • Being intensely loyal to our colleagues, clients and partners
  • Being honest and straightforward
  • Taking personal responsibility for the successes of our projects
  • Not taking shortcuts when it comes to problem solving
  • Taking pride in the quality of our work

Focus on Long-Term Sustainability Instead of Shortsighted Goals
So many organizations these days focus heavily on short-term goals. A lot of being long-term focused comes down to not forgetting about the bigger things that matter amidst day-to-day work. By not being exclusively short-term focused, we can once again stand out from other organizations while laying the groundwork that ensures our success down the road.

By taking a step back and focusing on the longer term, we allow ourselves to cultivate relationships, develop new capabilities and strengths and be proactive in managing risks, both on the job site and in the office. Our long-term approach allows us to:

  • Be actively involved in our community Invest in our own workforce and cultivate a culture of taking care of each other
  • Stay up to date on trends and new opportunities to proactively stay ahead of our peers
  • Actively build relationships with everyone we work with, even if there is no immediate reward or benefit
  • Focus on integrity, quality and service at all times

These strategies improve the quality of our work and relationships and help to ensure high continuity within our workforce. This leads to less client turnover, less disruption and higher overall satisfaction.

Focus on Beating Expectations in Client Service
Finally, beating client expectations in service is one of our founding principles. Our founders walked away from large international construction companies because they believed there was a better way to deliver construction services. There was a key component missing in the construction industry – customer service.

By building Miles-McClellan from the ground up with customer service at our core, we’ve separated ourselves from most other construction companies in the best way possible. This not only enables better relationships with our customers, but by aligning our model around our IMMPact Approach, we reduce bureaucracy, decrease miscommunication and improve the overall quality of the work we provide our long-term clients.

By building long-term relationships we are building excellence. Contact us today to learn more about our capabilities.

Construction Momentum and Development Remains Hot Going Into the 4th Quarter of 2021

mmcrebuildstg on August 23, 2021

Every economic indicator for construction tracked by Miles-McClellan indicates strong growth in the most recent quarter, and a strong likelihood of continued growth heading into the 4th quarter of 2021.

To get a read on commercial and industrial construction, Miles-McClellan looks at:

  • ABC Construction Backlog: Amount of commercial construction to be performed in coming months.
  • AIA Architectural Billing Index: The Architecture Billings Index is an economic indicator for nonresidential construction activity, with a lead time of approximately 9–12 months.
  • FMI Non-Residential Construction Index: This index is an indicator that provides a leading look into construction projects.
  • Dodge Momentum Index: A unique 12-month leading indicator of construction spending for nonresidential building.

Accelerating Growth and Demand in Construction
From the above publications, not only are all the indicators quite far into “growth” territory, they have all been accelerating on a quarterly basis. The Architectural Billing Index and Dodge Momentum Index decreased slightly in June but are still very far into growth territory.

Construction Outlook for Q4 2021 Going into 2022
Based on the reports, we believe that barring any unforeseen shock to the economy, construction demand will remain very strong in the coming quarters. Lowered costs of financing have allowed many projects that were previously delayed to get started, and many of the COVID-19 oriented constraints have started to ease.

As a result, overall growth remains strong, and the previous issues of bottlenecks have become less of a burden to the construction industry. The largest constraint to the construction industry continues to be labor shortages and escalated pricing.

Are We at Peak Construction Growth?
One question some may be asking is whether we have hit peak construction growth. Many of the indicators tracked within this report have hit highs not seen since before the 2008 financial crisis. Keep in mind, peak growth does not mean that a decline in the growth rate entails contraction, just that the rate of growth is not accelerating beyond the current pace.

Questions over peak growth stem from lingering COVID-19 bottlenecks, reduction in consumer confidence due to many of the consumer stimulus programs winding down, and anticipation of rising interest rates in the future as the economy recovers and government / central bank policies become less accommodative.

While we don’t know whether we’ve hit peak growth yet, the indicators we watch have a long lead time, and provide a lot of confidence that the environment should be in “growth” mode for some time to come. With that said, we may see growth level off or moderate a bit, which may not be a bad thing as we work through labor and material bottlenecks.

Technical Excellence – It’s the Small Details

mmcrebuildstg on August 4, 2017

In the orchestra of construction, progress is systematic and purposeful, but with the many moving parts sometimes the little details are overlooked. But it’s the small details that demonstrate the professionalism and passion your project team has for their trade. Here are three fine details not to miss.

  • Fit & finish to be as flawless as possible – Demonstrates knowledge of how pieces fit together and the watchful eye of your construction partner. Are the corners straight and true? Are the trim and details clean? Are the paint lines crisp? Is everything installed to the standards? All these little items measure how meticulous the construction team paid attention to the easily overlooked details during crunch time at the end of the project. Interiors take only a couple of weeks to complete yet this is what you and clients will see every day. There is no perfect job which makes it even more important never to lose sight of quality. Have you looked lately at your building’s fine details?
  • Clean job site & trailer – A clean job site and trailer improve efficiency and safety. Organization means no lost time looking for tools and materials. A clean job site mitigates accidents that not only injury a worker but possibly one of your staff members. An injury might also cause lost time affecting your project schedule. A clean job site and trailer leaves an impression of organization, better quality, and safety – is your contractor leaving you with a good impression?
  • Consistency in customer service & communication – No matter if your project is $10,000 or $10 million you should be treated as if you are their only client. Consistency in customer service and communication is every team member knowing exactly what is going on with the project at all times, showing respect not only to you as the client but the subcontractors and suppliers, and professional daily interactions in addressing challenges and working toward a solution. Do you have an active relationship, appreciation, and camaraderie with your construction partner?

“Technical excellence can only be achieved through a full-team effort —everyone paying attention to details while keeping their clients’ best interests at the top of their mind.”– David McIntosh, Vice President