Completed in December of 1999, the Kerman Telephone Company’s new facility is a two-story, 18,000-square-foot building with a basement. The 900-square-foot switch room on the first floor required humidity control, high-level filtration, a continuous room temperature of 68°F, several smoke control systems and a redundant HVAC system.

The owners had a huge financial incentive to complete and occupy the building on or before December 31, 1999 but did not commit to the project until after January 1999. This put extreme pressure on both the design and construction teams. However, the schedule was easily met because the architect, design/build contractors and the general contractor had already completed many other successful projects together. The project made heavy use of e-mail to provide updated CAD drawings so that architectural changes could be incorporated quickly and all of the trades could coordinate effectively.

Although the project scope changed many times during design and construction, the HVAC was completed below the original budget estimate and with no change orders.