HIGHLIGHTS
P3 Great visibility with FLIR
P4 Getting it all squared away
A
P7 Technology calls for proactivity
VOLUME 3 | QTR 4 | 2015
A healthy new relationship
:+: BY AMY JOHNSON
In April 2015, MacDonald-Miller was awarded
an exciting new project with a well-established
general contractor breaking into the Seattle
market. Ryan Companies USA, based out of
Phoenix, Arizona, chose Steve Amann and
the MacMiller team to partner with on their
development and construction of the Group
Health Longacres Business Center shell and
core project.
The new facility in Renton consists of two
buildings that will house Group Health’s
general office space, call center, warehouse,
pharmacy fulfillment, and lab space. Design
OWNER | Group Health
SIZE |
BUILDING A
140,000 SF
BUILDING B
100,000 SF
work for the shell and core, led by the team
of Ben Gezon and Jared Sheeks, began in
April with a scheduled design completion
date of June 2015. The shell and core work
comprises multiple rooftop variable air volume
air conditioning units with duct risers, duct taps
for future tie in, central exhaust, VAVs for freeze
protection, roof drainage, plumbing risers and
core restrooms on each floor.
ARCHITECT | Collins Woerman
DEVELOPER & GENERAL CONTRACTOR | Ryan Companies USA
Ryan Companies broke ground in July with a
scheduled completion date of October 2016.
Plumbing foundation work managed by SPTI
plumbing foreman, Kevin Ruch, started shortly
after and was completed in September. Building
rough in will begin this month, with roof top
units scheduled to be set in December.
Thanks to the performance and dedication of
the project team, Ryan Companies awarded
MacMiller the tenant improvement contract
as well. This scope of work will begin in
December 2015 and will include full build-out
of both buildings, including the extensive lab
space that will contain complex plumbing
and exhaust systems to accommodate the
processing of specimens.
SHOUT OUT!
TO JOHN PAULSON
“We had some critical functional testing
to complete on the project and had an
issue with some of our damper actuators.
John Paulson came in at 2 AM, fixed the
actuators by 4 AM for testing and stayed
until 4 PM to make sure the life safety
testing went smoothly. John went
above and beyond this weekend.”
Greg Siefferman
Sound Transit Owner’s Rep on the Sound
Transit Capitol Hill Light Rail Station project
PAGE 1
Gus Simonds
President
Making giving back more personal
Here at MacDonald-Miller, we believe it’s everyone’s responsibility to build
healthy and viable communities.
The MacMiller Giving Fund exists to help
our employees make a real impact in the
communities they care about.
Wheels and Deals
There’s no greater compliment than someone entrusting
their most valued assets to your care.
Recently, MacDonald-Miller was selected as the
Mechanical Contractor for the Swedish Medical
Center First Hill Transformation Project, joining Sellen
Construction’s team on this massive project. This award is
a testament to the confidence that both the Swedish Team
and Sellen Construction have in our ability to execute and
deliver on our promises. Many years of great service by
Ruben Cañas and his Campus Healthcare Team were a key
component in the decision to bring MacMiller on board.
And this September, MacMiller was awarded the HVAC
contract for The Washington State Convention Center
Expansion as part of the Skanska/Hunt team for this
monumental project. Previous experience with MacMiller
by both Skanska and the developer, Pine Street Group
(Via 6), were critical in our being selected for this job.
Corporately, we give approximately $150,000 every year to a range of
charitable organizations. Some of these include: KCL Literary Lions, American
Heart Association, Safe Crossings, Muscular Dystrophy, and many more. Indeed,
our company will continue to support these great causes, yet at this level our
employees aren’t always involved personally. This giving effort is intended to be
different; our purpose is to support our employees in their specific charitable
work. For that reason, we created a few simple ground rules:
Employees need to have worked here 6 months
Employees must be personally involved in the charity. If they are not already
actively giving back personally to the charity they want support for, then this
fund does not apply.
Recently selected as a Giving Fund recipient, Oleg Stepanyuk took an annual
trip with a team of people to Tijuana, Mexico to build homes for families in dire
need of a place to live. Oleg partners with an organization called Youth with a
Mission (YWAM), and shared these thoughts with us:
“What I've been doing on this trip is buying shoes for kids. Because this area is
impoverished, kids who are running around and playing in the dirt usually wear
less than adequate shoes, most likely worn-out hand me downs,” says Oleg.
“In past years, with the help of friends and family I was able to buy 40-50 pairs
of shoes. And, as the area has no government run schools, YWAM base has a
school style program for kids. Therefore, I've been donating all the shoes to the
staff and they distribute them as needed.”
Meanwhile, we kicked off our new website refresh:
DESIGN – BUILD – OPTIMIZE. Hats off to Nicole Martin and
Meg Landies for their creativity and hard work in bringing
this effort to life. The site truly captures the spirit, mission,
culture and capabilities that make MacMiller the best in
the industry!
As you can see in this issue of Perspective, the wheels of
progress are churning nicely toward 2016 in all of our
departments. I anticipate another record year in 2016 –
much like this year.
Thank you to all MacMillians for entrusting your most
valued asset to our MacMiller team – YOU and your
can-do spirit of excellence!!!
“This time, with MacMiller's help, we were able to
buy 88 pairs of shoes, which is amazing! I want
to thank MacMiller for being a part of this.”
For more information about the giving fund contact
Robert Gibson at [email protected].
Great visibility with FLIR
:+: BY MARK DE WEIRDT
FLIR is the home of warriors, sportsmen and
adventurers. When you step into the FLIR lobby, it’s
like stepping into macho heaven – there you’ll witness
Special Forces using thermal night scopes, sportsmen
on the hunt using FLIR rifle scopes, attack helicopters
with FLIR target imaging gear, fisherman using
Raymarine imagers and, of course, field techs scanning
electrical gear and mechanical equipment. This is
indeed one of the coolest companies on the planet
and a perfect partner for our stable of MacStallions!
Thermal imaging tool tested by MacMiller techs
Years ago after Gus Simonds – now MM president – graduated from
WSU, he sold maintenance agreements with the promise of “infrared
scanning technology that will improve the lifespan of your equipment.”
Well, that technology was scarce, hyper-expensive and remained that
way until FLIR created the C2, a remarkable hand held thermal energy
scanner the size of a cell phone that cost less then $800. FLIR reached
out to us to demo the C2 after they were a client. The C2 allows
infrared service to be in the hands of more service people and they
can be more creative with the things they diagnose with the tool. Not
only is it fun to demo, the C2 is a definite game changer, keeping our
service, chiller and electrical teams ahead of the competition.
FLIR is the world leader in making the unseen seen. Their cutting
edge visual imaging technology enhances our battle heroes’ fighting
capabilities and helps our homeland’s chillers run longer, our motors
run more efficiently and makes our electrical panels much safer.
This Energy Trust of Oregon project was originally envisioned by
Mike Smith. Mike works for Energy 350, an outfit contracted by the
industrial arm of the Energy Trust to ensure utility clients have easy
access to quality energy consulting. Mike introduced the concept of
Catalyst rooftop optimization to FLIR, and that led to the discovery of
additional efficiency measures in the VAV system. The Honeywell DDC
retrofit project provided new energy efficient VAV control sequences
and Catalyst Lite fan speed control for the plant’s constant volume fan
systems. Don Billings, head of facilities for FLIR production plants in the
U.S., was in charge of the project. “Everything is running so smoothly.
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but we are having fewer failures so
it’s like the equipment is running less. Bryan Nix, the PM, and Doug
Harmon were a pleasure to work with.” Later, Don added a significant
maintenance agreement with Sam Watson and now has a cooling tower
project in his sights. “The overall level of attention of all your people
(controls and mechanical) is higher than that of (competitor).”
There are several advantages of MacMiller techs possessing such a tool.
A few include:
Checking sub cooling in a refrigeration circuit at a glance.
Checking for restricted driers and piping in refrigeration systems.
Checking for slugging in a compressor and if compressor is running
excessively hot.
Checking electrical hot spots and contactor-ware.
Motor and bearing heat can also be detected at a glance, saving
technicians time, saving the company money, and ultimately
elevating customer satisfaction.
CATALYST LITE + ENERGY EFFICIENCY SEQUENCES = SMOOTH OPERATION
PAGE 3
Photo by Tom Booth
DB LSE
NEW CONSTRUCTION | DESIGN-BUILD
BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON
Getting it all squared away | Lincoln Square Expansion Update
:+: BY JASON SCHAAT
The new 1.5 million square feet
mixed-use development in the heart of
downtown Bellevue will provide visitors
Class A offices, including 6 floors of
well-designed underground parking,
luxury residences, new hotel, upscale
retail-driven restaurants and 16 cinemas.
The Lincoln Square project has a unique and
demanding deliverable – design the project in
REVIT, at the highest level of detail LOD-500,
while enabling our goals of fabrication and
estimating from the same model to be met.
This may be the first project ever performed
under these multiple objective requirements.
“The Lincoln Square Expansion is a substantial
BIM project for MacDonald-Miller. The sheer
size of the project demands a great deal
of computing power which we’ve been
able to meet and exceed. The project has
nearly 25 linked trade models totaling
approximately 3.56 GB of file size,” says
Jason Schaat, BIM Manager.
Throughout the project we’ve been able
to export out MAJ file formats of the pipe,
duct and fittings along with equipment
and accessories to give to our Estimating
department. This has allowed us to create a
more accurate estimate related to our design
and shorten the estimating duration. We’ve
also harnessed these design models in our
Detailing department to help with initial
constructability and installation drawings.
The goal of the final deliverable is to be
LOD (Level of Development) 500 ready. This
requires a great deal of effort that could
only be achieved using REVIT. We foresee
fewer as-built modifications and have had
substantially fewer RFI’s as compared to other
projects of the same size. This can be attributed
to the advantages of utilizing 3D during
the Design Development Phase and into the
Construction Document Phase.
Leading the way on our construction side is a
dedicated team of project managers and general
foremen, including three of our most experienced
field supervisors – Michael Wiley, Joel Pearson
and Mike Kunkel. To date we've used:
28,278 Engineering hours
225,000 Field labor hours
44,000 Shop hours
At the height of our construction activities,
we’ll have more than 130 employees working
across the entire campus!
FACeS OF
SuCCeSS
It takes people from a wide range of professional skills to make MacDonald-Miller the industry
leader that it is today. It’s the diverse personalities and backgrounds that seamlessly come
together to create smart, successful project teams here at MacMiller. That’s why in each issue of
Perspective we take the time to highlight three members of MacMiller who’ve made invaluable
contributions. It’s a way to give you a little more insight
into those that proudly represent us, and a way to
further illustrate how three different individuals
can make one team greatly successful.
MEMORABLE
POWERFUL
COMMITTED
Jon Sigmund
Joe Kuhr
Mike Kunkel
ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
DETAILING SUPERINTENDENT
PLUMBING SUPERINTENDENT
Years with MacMiller:
19.5 years (on the official payroll)
Years with MacMiller:
5 years
Years with MacMiller:
Almost 15 years
My team is tops:
The current LSE team I work with is 110%
committed to making sure every customer is
completely satisfied with our performance and
end product. This trait in my team members
will make this project one of the best and most
memorable projects for everyone involved
(inside and out of the company). I’m
honored to be a part of this great team.
My source of pride:
I am very proud of the detailing team. With
34 people in the detailing department, we
are larger and more powerful than any other
contractor around – we honestly have the best
of the best. I am honored to be the Detailing
Superintendent to such an amazing and
talented group of individuals.
I’ll never forget:
One of my most memorable days at MacMiller
was the Nisqually earthquake. My wife and
I purchased our first house the night before
the earthquake. That day I was working as
an apprentice for Kevin Vincent at the Civica
project in Bellevue. I was working on a ladder
in the parking garage when I felt the garage
moving and saw everyone running outside.
I went to the rally point looking for my
foreman. After looking for a few minutes,
I saw he was waving and smiling at me from
one of the upper floors. My wife and I carried
earthquake insurance on that house until we
recently sold it. Just in case.
A star was born:
Some people may not know
that my music video debut was
made in the “MacMiller Style” video.
FUN FACT
My name, really:
When my name is said quickly, it sounds like
“Joker.” My debit card was once refused at a
local restaurant because, as the waitress put it,
“No one would legally name their child ‘Joker’
– that is just silly.” The
woman was convinced
I was using a fake card and
nearly called the police.
Only after showing her
multiple pieces of ID did
she believe me.
Ready, aim, clean:
Something that my co-workers do not know
about me is that I have a love-hate relationship
with guns after serving in the Marine Corps.
Every weapon that we shot had to be cleaned
endlessly. As much as I love shooting,
I hate cleaning guns.
The three MacMiller folks
featured above work
together on the Lincoln
Square Expansion project,
detailed in the article
on the left.
PAGE 5
Getting into space
:+: BY ROB PAINTER
Project type: This project is an upgrade
to B/E Aerospace’s newly built facility, which serves
to accommodate the move of their FSI Group to their existing
facility (completed in 2013) at Commando Road in Everett.
Scope: Design-Build partnership to provide HVAC, plumbing and
pipe fitting required to relocate FSI group from their location in
Marysville to Everett.
This project is being awarded as a negotiated, design-build teaming
opportunity. The space at Commando was originally design-built by a
competitor, and was completed in 2013. During the closeout phase and
pricing of service, the client voiced significant disappointment with their
mechanical contractor and proceeded to award MacDonald-Miller the
maintenance scope.
“We have been performing strongly here in service, and completed
significant project work to date as well,” says Rob Painter. “They have
always treated us like a team member and decided to bring us to the
table as a design partner on this new opportunity.”
Challenges associated with this new opportunity include a very tight
design and construction schedule. We were released for engineering
at the start of September and must have all construction activities in their
occupied space in Everett completed and equipped to relocate their FSI
group between Christmas and New Year’s. Once the project is complete it
will house 600+ personnel.
We highly value this partnership, as B/E Aerospace is the world’s leading
manufacturer of aircraft cabin interior products. The company designs,
develops and manufactures a broad range of products for both commercial
aircraft and business jets.
RECENT MAJOR PROJECT AWARDS
Raytheon Missile Systems ICONICS Smart Building Deployment, Tucson AZ | 3.8 Million SF campus will encompass
over 4,200 major pieces of equipment that will be enabled with
fault detection
Capital Medical Surgery Expansion, Olympia | Design-Build,
26,000 SF, includes 12,000 SF new and 14,000 SF renovation,
7 new Operating Rooms, Surgery Support area, and New Central
Sterile area, BNBuilders
Swedish Medical Center First Hill Transformation, Seattle
Design-Assist, new 940,000 SF tower housing new emergency
services, cafeteria, operating suites, critical care, support services,
underground parking, and new 817,000 SF medical office space with
laboratory, café and underground parking, Sellen Construction
Swedish, Reid Family TI, Seattle | Design-Assist, 21,000 SF TI
space plus infrastructure for Swedish Cancer Institute: Innovative
Therapeutics and Research Unit, Sellen Construction
First Hill Surgery Center, Seattle | Design-Build, 34,000 SF
ambulatory surgery center, includes 12 operating rooms and
support areas, Sellen Construction
Paccar ITD, Renton | Design-Build, complete retrofit of
existing data center, owner direct
King 5 TV Tenant Improvement at Home Plate, Seattle
Shell & Core TI for King 5 TV headquarters, 11,000 SF Data/Studio,
38,000 SF office build-out, Turner Construction
Seattle Genetics, Bothell | Design-Build, 5,000 SF Vivarium
Expansion, Lease Crutcher Lewis
Woodland Plaza Renovation, Lacey | Plumbing and
HVAC Design-Build upgrade to the shell/core systems, MJR
Development & Korsmo Construction
Bellevue Square, South Common Shops, Zara TI, Bellevue
Plan-spec, 24,303 SF retail TI, Lydig Construction
Group Health TI, Longacres Business Park, Renton
Rendering by Perkins+Will
Design-Build TI for Group Health’s new corporate office,
HVAC & Plumbing, 240,000 SF including administrative offices,
pharmacy fulfillment, call center and lab, Ryan Companies
Microsoft WPA Flrs 21 & 22, Lincoln Square, Bellevue
Design-Build TI, 36,000 SF; Engineering: OAC,
Construction: GLY Construction
SHOUT OUT!
Technology calls for proactivity
:+: BY BRADD BUSICK
At MacDonald-Miller, we have over 600 mobile devices that help run our business.
These tools maintain features that expedite certain tasks throughout the day. Yet, as
much as technological progress has enhanced how we do business, these innovations
present us with new challenges. Challenges of integration, of compatibility, and of
“keeping up to speed.” To overcome these challenges, MacMiller IT is establishing and
promoting business management standards and practices that amplify our business.
Enhanced Mobility: IT is striving to provide staff with the ability to seamlessly access
any document, anytime, anywhere. This only occurs through a robust, intentionally
constructed infrastructure that runs according to business needs.
Relevant ‘Big Data’: IT is enabling the business to leverage deeper data analysis,
making it easier to access, aggregate and create models that can be easily consumed.
Increased Agility: MacMiller can enhance its agility when processes and rules can
be changed, added and removed. IT will become more of a broker as we evaluate key
capabilities throughout the organization and identify opportunities for system and
process refinement.
The following demonstrates our shift in strategic mindset:
If we have a shared Strategy, IT has a greater probability of ensuring our investments are
allocated in way that maximizes our contribution to impact.
MACMILLER IT = STRATEGIC ENABLER
Given our company’s incredible reliance on technology, the realm of IT is moving from
being an ‘order taker’ to a business partner. Hence, MacMiller IT is moving towards
becoming a strategic enabler, as we begin to refine our process and technology in the
following spaces:
TO SEATTLE GENETICS B1
LAB RENOVATION TEAM
“I just wanted to extend my sincerest thanks
to everyone on our team for making this
weekend successful and productive. The
professionalism and teamwork I witnessed
today was second to none, and I was
genuinely proud to be a part of it. We all
worked together to formulate a strong
plan, and we executed it flawlessly.”
Drew Carlson, Superintendent
Lease Crutcher Lewis
The Seattle Genetics B1 Lab
Team off loads the old air
handling unit to make
room for the new.
If we strengthen our Portfolio Management and Architecture processes and tools, we
will have greater probability of ensuring that our investments are ‘sound’ and positioned
to return desired value.
If we improve our engagement models, and optimize our Service Delivery & Operations
processes, tools, and skill-sets, we will improve our predictability, velocity, and quality
and reduce costs of our services.
If we focus on outcome investing, and implement processes and rigor to measure our
Performance and Value we will be positioned to make predictive/smart investments
and demonstrate IT’s contribution to impact.
The last few months have been incredibly enjoyable, and I’m grateful
for the warm reception and level of optimism. I look forward
to measuring our progress as we continue to introduce
new technologies and processes that
elevate our business.
SHOUT OUT!
TO DOUG BERTSON,
CHRISTINA MORELAND
AND TINA SCHULTZ
“Thank you for taking care of our Morrison
branch so quickly. You sent the work order
on Thursday afternoon, answered my
questions Friday morning, ordered parts
and had the job done on Monday. We
really appreciate the speed with which
you resolved our cooling problem.”
Rex Fox
Northwest Community Credit Union
PAGE 7
PRSRT FIRST-CLASS
US POSTAGE
IN THIS ISSUE
P1
PA I D
A healthy new relationship
P2 Making giving back more personal
P3 Great visibility with FLIR
P4 Getting it all squared away
P5 Faces of success
P6 Getting into space
P6 Recent major project awards
P7 Technology calls for proactivity
macmiller.com
SEATTLE
TACOMA
EUGENE
EVERETT
1-800-962-5979
BELLEVUE
PORTLAND
BEND
VOLUME 3 | QTR 4 | 2015
Lauren Kono, Sheet Metal Apprentice
PO Box 47983
Seattle, WA 98146
SEATTLE, WA
PERMIT #1578