In the second half of 2020, Kelso-Burnett began working on a major project for an agricultural company. The project is a complete gut and remodel of an existing nearly 100,000 square foot facility in the Midwest. Kelso-Burnett is working with ARCO/Murray to complete the transformation of this massive agricultural facility. This project is unique for a variety of reasons including:

• Extensive usage of prefabrication
• Traveling to another state
• Working with a non-FEC member for labor
• Existing building was in very bad shape

One major obstacle Kelso-Burnett and other trades faced on this project was a lack of information about the existing building, coupled with a structure that was built over several phases. This led to a building that was crooked in many places, and slabs that had to be removed in a specific order as to prevent the building from caving in.  To combat this obstacle, Kelso-Burnett had our lead tech onsite for three months to help all parties navigate the jobsite. Without our commitment to using technology to augment traditional means of construction, the final product of the building would not look nearly as clean and professionally installed. 

Another obstacle Kelso-Burnett faced was the location of the project. Because of the specific project location, a trusted FEC member was not available, and Kelso-Burnett had to rely on the services of a local IBEW contractor for help supplying the field labor force. 

What made this project truly unique was the extensive use of prefabrication. Nearly 25% of all labor hours for this project were executed within the safe and clean confines of our Rolling Meadows prefabrication shop. From there, we loaded semi-trailers and shipped our assemblies hundreds of miles to the jobsite.  Typically, our projects average between three and seven percent of total labor hours originating in our prefab shops, which often yields between seven and fifteen percent of all installed materials first being assembled in our prefab shops.   

The project team of Greg Mitchell (General Foreman), Brian Folz (Division Manager), and Dan Poczcalski (Project Engineer) worked closely with Dennis Cook (Prefabrication Coordinator) and Paul Maki (Prefabrication Foreman) to plan and execute this extensive prefabrication operation. For this project, everything other than overhead branch conduit was prefabricated, including (but not limited to):

• Production lighting raceway
• All light fixtures
• All in-wall raceway
• All branch devices
• All low voltage raceway
• MC Cable Home Runs
• Branch Wiring
• Distribution Panels and Wireways

This project has many rooms that require massive amounts of intense lighting. Due to this repetition, this was the perfect opportunity for Kelso-Burnett to showcase the precision, efficiency, and quality of the prefabrication operation. The frequent changes in style and topology made getting the assemblies constructed on time very difficult.  Thankfully, the collective project team was up to the task.  Thorough communication and commitment to a premier level of client service allowed this effort to be as successful as it has been to date.

Due to the extensive preplanning and prefabrication, the project team was able to maintain a more manageable crew size on site, eliminated thousands of hours of risky overhead work, and push the overall project schedule. 

The project will complete in mid-May of 2021. Please view the below photos to better understand the prefabrication work completed for this project.