Rock Commercial teams with many of the Washington DC Metro’s premiere architectural and engineering firms to take your concept and turn it into reality. We start with a design agreement to take your rough concept and create test-fit drawings for you to review based upon all of the requirements you communicate to us and the design team. Once the design drawings are approved, we move into producing plans suitable for code review and permitting by the building and permit departments in the jurisdiction where the project will be built or built-out. You will typically be presented with fifty, seventy and ninety percent complete drawings as the process evolves on paper. Upon reaching seventy percent, Rock Commercial will be able to provide a realistic budget cost and upon one hundred percent complete drawings we will be able to complete a firm fixed price proposal for building your project.

When the drawings are done…..You have choices….. After receiving the price proposal from Rock Commercial you can decide to enter into an agreement with us for the build portion. Should you not like or agree with Rock Commercial’s pricing, you can take your completed plans and bid them to other contractors of your choice. You are never stuck with using Rock Commercial at just any cost!

Rock Commercial has on many occasions negotiated price as the sole source contractor with clients who are an extremely tight schedule and cannot take the time to go through the bidding process with multiple contractors. This is an agreement based on trust between Owner and contractor that Rock Commercial will provide the “Best Value”. We pride ourselves on building that trust!

Based on industry standards, Rock Commercial provides competitive bidding on the majority of projects. These are projects where the Owner or occupant have secured their own architectural and engineering firms and prepared plans and specifications for contractors to bid on. Rock Commercial is not always the lowest bidder, but we try very hard to be competitive. We would only ask that the decision makers scrutinize the bids and buy “Best Value”. Just as bigger isn’t always better, cheapest isn’t always best value. In the final analysis, many clients have confided in us that they should have gone with Rock Commercial because the low bidder change ordered them at every opportunity. Looking back they realized that Rock Commercial had it all in there to begin with.

This is a fine way to do business. It is fair to all parties. We would agree on a fixed percentage of fee/profit for Rock Commercial after all project costs. Normally, we would solicit at least three bids from each major trade and “open the book” with the client to make subcontractor recommendations/selections to build the project. Rock Commercial provides agreed upon hourly rates for all of Rock Commercial’s personnel in the field and for office support and the costs are reviewed with the client on a pre-determined time frame, i.e., weekly or bi-weekly or monthly. The end result is the client pays no more than they should for the project and the contractor eliminates risk of losing money on the job. It is a win/win for both parties. There are no built-in contingencies in the cost on the contractor’s part.

Rock Commercial prides itself on providing top notch project management. We bring more that forty-five years of construction management experience to the table. Rock Commercial’s three Owners/partners are fully involved with the day to day operations. Quality assurance, scheduling, on-site supervision, and project sequencing are all kept under watchful eyes to give you the best possible outcome for your construction project. Fast track, high quality construction is what we do.

Upon completion of the project we will provide you with close-out documents consisting of notice of substantial completion, the original permit set of plans, all inspection records, and red-lined as-built drawings showing all deviations or field changes, OEM manuals, and all warranties.

Virtually all proposals are accompanied with a written project narrative. For each line item of cost shown on the schedule of values break-down, we provide a detailed description of what is and what is not included. After reading the narrative, there should be no doubt in your mind about whether we have captured the intent of the project plans and specifications. This information lets you know if there are any “holes” (A&E errors and omissions) in the plans that we have seen. Very often, especially in competitive bidding, we will provide alternate costs for these errors and omissions that will alleviate the need for change orders during the course of the project.

Very often, especially in today’s economy, projects are put out to bid that are over the end users budget. When given to opportunity to do so, Rock Commercial will provide value engineering to find suitable alternate materials and or equipment to meet the needs of the client yet provide overall reduction of the bottom line.

Rock Commercial will develop a graphical schedule of events in Microsoft Project ™ that will provide trade sequencing to keep the project running as smooth as possible while meeting today’s fast-track building requirement. These schedules are reviewed daily in the field and weekly with the client during construction progress meetings. We feel that progress meetings keep everyone informed and the project on track. Meetings can be held on site, at the clients place of choice or via Rock Commercials private tele-conferencing center.

Rock Commercial’s project management team review all shop drawings and material/equipment submittals for compliance with the contract documents before forwarding to the client or the client’s architectural and engineering administrators. This process assures all parties that the material and equipment meet or exceed the expectations of the project designers

Subcontractor management is more than just scheduling. Rock Commercial reviews all subcontractor proposals and scopes of work and contracts only with pre-qualified companies that we feel are the right pick for the job. That is another reason why Rock Commercial may not always be the lowest bidder. We will not go with the low trade bidder just to get the job. We know how that ends up with problems on the job. We track all certificates of insurance and assure that safety is paramount on our projects.

All of the employees and Owners at Rock Commercial have received OSHA training and CPR. Our site superintendants are the cops on the job to make sure that safety regulations and procedures are followed at all times. Each day on each project we perform a daily safety checklist that is turned in to the office to assure that nothing is forgotten or overlooked.

We can do it all for you. From design to completion and everything you need from general construction, management, modular furniture, phone and data, fiber optics, audio/visual, security systems, furnishings, equipment, appliances, right down to the coffee maker if you so desire. When we say turn-key, we mean you literally only need to turn the key to enter your new space.

Rock Commercial offers conceptual pricing to help you determine budget projections to see if your anticipated project is viable. We will assist in providing best value concepts to get the most for the least expense. As always, our estimates are free.