RC: How did you become involved in the Florida Rock project?

Harrell:We initially were invited to bid on the project by several of the three competitors. The two that we bid with were not successful. We asked Florida Rock who the successful bidder was and made an appointment with them. We explained what we could do for them and how we could make the project work better and be more cost effective. We basically sold them on our ability. At that point they brought us into the project with a letter of intent because we couldn't give any prices. The majority of the project had yet to be designed. Once they saw what our capabilities were, they brought us into their team.

RC: How were the specifications for the project determined?

Harrell: Initially, the specifications for the project were produced by Stone & Webster; a joint-venture partner in the project along with the Polysius Corp. and the Hardaway Corp., who is the general contractor. We reviewed the performance specs with Hardaway and Stone & Webster and made recommendations to them on ways they could economize on the project through design. We began to analyze some of the loading requirements-the dead load requirements for certain aspects of the job plus the live load requirements for conveyors. We began to really isolate what those loads were so that we could fine-tune our preliminary designs and go through the project to develop the final working drawings.

Conveyor system in ceiling of Raw Material Storage Bldg.

Coal Storage Building

RC:What portions of the specifications did Harrell Construction design?

Harrell: We designed the primary supports, the secondary girts and purlins, and the sheeting and trim. In our design we incorporated the loading and the supports for the conveyors that are suspended in the rafters of the building.

We are still doing design work as well as the fieldwork. The first phase of the design work began in March 1997. At that point we established a working design for all the areas of the project we were involved in, set pricing for them, and established a contract value for our part of the work. Since then we've been refining the designs for the various buildings and doing the production drawings and producing the steel and erecting it.

RC:What software do you use for design work and how does it operate?

Harrell:The system we use is proprietary to Varco Pruden, and it's called "VP Command." It's a system that allows the dealer for Varco Pruden to do their own design and pricing at the same time. It is basically the same system the engineers use in the plants to do the drawings for fabrication. We use the same system they do.

All the work that we do is done on our computers, and we print our own drawings and use them for design purposes to integrate our system with other pans of the building. With this system we can design a structure, and we can control virtually every element of the design. Every building code in the United States is available to us through the system, so we can design for all of the coderequirements, all of the snow loads and earthquake seismic zones.

Once we have that information, we can design the specific deflection requirements that we need. If we exceed our level of design skill, we can send the specs via modem to our engineers who can complete them. They send the document back to us via the modem, and we go from there. There were many occasions during the project when we had to rely on our team at the plant in North Carolina to help us with elements of the design.

Basically the system will design the building and price it at the same time, so we know what it's going to cost. We can experiment with different designs and offer the most competitive product that meets the design criteria. We can come up with a very effective price that way.

Raw Material Storage Building 114,800 Sq.Ft. w/ 250,000 Sq.Ft. of roof 145 Ft. wide x 803 Ft. long 20 Ft. eave ht. 98 Ft. ridge ht. Completed Summer of 1998

RC:How long did the project take?

Harrell:We had nine guys working at various times on the roof, and it took us about two and a half weeks to roof the raw materials storage building. After the roof was initially installed, our employees put in all the stitch screws. When we first installed the roof, we didn't completely stitch off the roof sheets. We put the sheets on and tacked them down, and we came back later to stitch everything off 100 percent.

The small building took nine workers one week. It was completed in February, and the raw materials storage building was completed in August.

RC:Why is Florida Rock building this facility?

Harrell:Florida Rock is a major force in the southeast for ready-mix construction products. As a major force, it is one of the few companies that do not manufacture its own cement. This is, to my knowledge, its first venture into a cement manufacturing plant. The plant will be a tremendous advantage for the company since it will allow Florida Rock to produce all of the components it uses in the production of its ready-mix products.

We all understand how important the project is to the owner. It is also very important to us that we give them the best product we can for the money.

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