The City of Chino Police Department

R.I.C. Construction Company Inc. (RIC) has set a high bar for quality construction over the past three decades. The California-based contracting company specializes in completing highly technical construction projects in both public and private sectors with an uncompromising commitment to delivering projects on time, under budget and without overlooking the safety of its highly valued employees. As a result, RIC has been called out to locations across the country to lend clients a hand and build a legacy of quality construction one project at a time.

The company operates from headquarters in Hesperia, Calif., where roughly 50 professionals coordinate to ensure projects progress smoothly. RIC clients run the gamut of telecommunications, defense, banking, education and aerospace whose projects are united by complex and technically challenging conditions. Luckily, RIC has the capabilities and experience to oversee the construction of highly technical spaces like clean rooms, data centers and anechoic.

RIC’s secret is building a work environment based on mutual success, and the company proudly invests in the professional development of its staff, which leads RIC to attract and retain some of the most talented construction professionals in the industry. Safety training and professional mentoring opportunities compliment RIC’s family feel, where employees lead the client through every step of the construction process. The company provides engineering design expertise in addition to commercial general contracting services to refine projects for maximum cost-efficiency.

Above all, though, RIC prides itself on delivering on its promises and never promising what it can’t deliver. The company’s resources are many, but RIC understands that managing client expectations with clear and concise communication is half the battle. RIC staffs all of its construction sites with a full-time superintendent that RIC guarantees will remain on site throughout the duration of all construction activities. In turn the company ensures that clients can rest easy in the knowledge that their concerns will be effectively addressed and accurately represented to the entire project team.

A Team Effort

RIC maintains enough tradesmen of its own to oversee some of the smaller construction components, including demolition, some concrete items and various odds and ends that might otherwise fall through the cracks. When the company does call in outside help, though, competitive pricing is only a jumping off point. “Especially when we’re bidding public-sector work pricing is a major factor, but we’re also looking at the experience, reputation and bonding capacity of every subcontractor,” expands Darrin Dalton, senior project manager at RIC.

The company was tapped to oversee the construction of a brand new police department headquarters for Chino, Calif., in May 2011. As luck would have it, RIC was able to bring on a mix of tried-and-true regulars and some newcomers when putting together the subcontracting lineup. “It’s a challenging project because we’re basically converting a 102,000-square foot Home Depot into a critical facility for the community,” adds Dalton.

The City of Chino purchased the property in 2008 and began design work shortly thereafter. When completed the new police building will provide enough space to host the entire police department, comfortably. To give a little perspective to the project, the police department fields an average of 8,000 phone calls every month while still managing to coordinate all communications, patrolling and traffic enforcement services in addition to running full teams for investigations, crime analysis, crime prevention, S.W.A.T. team work, mounted law enforcement and staffing the two local high schools with School Resource Officers.

The city also opted to allocate part of the space for a Chino Police Museum as a show of thanks for all of its hardworking officers. The city plans on filling the museum with police memorabilia, vehicles, uniforms and other interactive displays as a celebration of Chino’s history.

Excellence in Energy Efficiency

Additionally, the building will built to LEED Silver certification standards. Crews installed a number of skylights to illuminate the former big-box retail store, as well as adding expansive double-height windows and a parallel portico along the façade, as a nod to California’s Mission Revival architecture. The building’s layout surrounds a central courtyard, which further illuminates indoor spaces with natural daylight. The building has been outfitted with a high-efficiency air conditioning system that exceeds energy-efficiency standards set by California’s Title 24, which sets energy-efficiency benchmarks for both commercial and residential buildings.

The building is equal parts sustainable and high-performance, given the nature of its use. Consolidating a whopping 19 departments under one roof makes it easier to facilitate interdepartmental coordination on projects. Therefore the new building’s design provides plenty of shared meeting spaces in addition to an eight-lane firing range, a fitness center and six detention cells. The building provides a full-service break room, workshop room and community room equipped with folding accordion doors. The doors open to grant the city access to an extended usable area for the dedicated Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the event of a disaster.

Perhaps the building’s biggest contribution, however, will be the placement of a new statute honoring Officer Russ Miller. Miller is the first officer to die in the line of duty, and was sadly struck and killed by a drunk driver in 2000 after stopping another motorist for a traffic violation. The statue will be relocated from the existing police department headquarters to be erected in front of the new facility in his honor.

“We had some unexpected challenges along the way, but we still managed to deliver the project on time,” admits Dalton. RIC shifted gears in response to market changes in recent years to focus on remodeling and rehabilitation projects, but the company has seen some signs of a recovery in the new construction market as well. In the coming years, the team at RIC will solidify the company’s place as a leading commercial general contractor by leveraging extensive expertise to deliver complex projects without a hitch, the RIC Construction Company Inc. way.