New Store Construction - Circuit City
Retail
New Store Construction
The Project
From July, 2006 through August, 2008 Circuit City engaged QPM to provide
Construction Management services managing both New Construction (ground up
from pad ready sites) and Existing Building Take Over projects in 13 separate
states. A total of (28) new builds and (9) Take Over projects were completed,
during this timeframe.
The QPM Solution
QPM provided construction management services, utilizing one account manager
and up to seven project managers throughout the two-year program to bring
proper oversight and consistency to the construction process.
QPM brought their expertise in managing both the new construction and existing
build sites for Circuit City recommending the 50% and 99% review thresholds
with the architect and the drawings. This process reduced potential change
orders, since issues were determined early into the process, when items could
still be changed. In addition, QPM recommended cost effective design changes
to the drawings.
Each project manager worked closely with the Circuit City architect, real estate
managers, contract administrators, FBO Vendors and contractors on:
- Cost estimating
- Scheduling
- General contractor bidding and review
- Pre-bid meetings
- Store equipment orders and timing
- Lease negotiations
- Pad and property acceptance
The Circuit City Operations teams often requested the project schedules be
shortened due to local market strategies or competition. QPM was able to
efficiently manage these schedule changes and meet the earlier delivery
requested by Operations.
QPM worked closely with the Contract Administrators to reduce costs in the store
equipment area. QPM determined the necessary lead times for ordering
equipment thus eliminating expedited shipping costs and also provided
recommendations to eliminate equipment being ordered automatically by the
corporate office that was not actually needed on site.
The Results
QPM successfully delivered 10% of the sites before the planned date based on
Circuit City Operations concerns over market conditions.
Numerous design changes, based on QPM feedback from managing the overall
process, were implemented into the Circuit City process. Also, Circuit City
reduced their overall cost by also implementing the equipment recommendations
provided by QPM for these projects.
Most notably, the QPM team received an average score of 99% on the Circuit
City Store Turnover Scorecards, which were completed by the Operations Team,
prior to the store opening – the highest average score received by any previous
3rd party vendor.
