Value Engineering
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Aside from aesthetic features, the practice of value engineering can impact the long term costs to the building owner. "We’re very concerned with how a building is going to perform years down the road – and there are many considerations that effect a building’s longevity," says Corcoran.

One example of value engineering offering significant future savings is in the structural soundness of a building.  Builders can determine from soils reports if there is the potential for movement to the buildings floor slabs.  Providing for vertical and horizontal movement in the partition systems upfront, through a value engineering approach, can be half the cost of fixing cracks in drywall later.  Such proactive measures can also save on disruptions to the building's users.

"Value engineering can usually come up with an alternative that doesn’t sacrifice quality or function," says Corcoran who cites as an example a recent project where the cost of an ambitious roof system was significantly reduced by using a prefab metal truss system (rather than building the trusses onsite). "We saved the builder $15,000 after he adopted the prefab option we proposed."

"Value engineering ultimately saves much more in terms of performance and costs."

             Kevin Corcoran, President
             The Corcoran Company

A similar cost-saving measure on a design feature was a recent office building project where The Corcoran Company joined forces with a masonry company to build brick facades on preformed panels at the latter company's yard. The brickwork was laid over the steel and drywall panels, which were then shipped to the building site and installed via a crane. Because the brickwork was performed over the metal stud prefab panels in a controlled environment savings were seen by minimizing the effects of inclement weather, increased productivity, the elimination of site-erected scaffolding, and a two-week reduction in the schedule.

For value engineering to work all parties involved, from designers and general contractors to the specialty contractors and building owners, must buy into the process.  "It might seem like an additional expense at the time when you’re taking proactive measures like installing vertical and horizontal slip clips and control joints.  But that type of value engineering ultimately saves much more in terms of the long term performance of our products, and costs associated with rework due to movement cracks," says Corcoran.

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