E.E. Reed Construction L.P.

E.E. Reed Construction L.P. (E.E. Reed) is a diverse general contractor that centers its professional construction operations on the values of integrity, reliability and trust. The company, founded in 1976, has used these solid beliefs and an emphasis on client satisfaction, to build on and expand from seven locations across the U.S., which include Herndon, Va.; La Quinta, Calif.; Sacramento, Calif.; San Diego, Calif.; Casa Grande, Ariz.; and Austin, Texas. E.E. Reed’s Houston headquarters, technically located in the town of Sugar Land, Texas, provides an ideal location from which to branch out and offer careful planning, monitoring, and managing of each phase of construction.

Working with clients and consultants as an integrated team, E.E. Reed offers a multitude of services, including preconstruction purchasing, estimating and scheduling services, construction management (CM) at-risk, building information modeling (BIM) and virtual design and construction (VDC). The company also has a variety of contract types to choose from, including lump-sum general contracts, design-build single-source contracts, and guaranteed maximum return/share of savings contracts. The wide assortment of services and contracts help E.E. Reed get the customers exactly what they need for any given project.

Since it’s a diverse company that consistently strives to assure the highest standards of quality, scheduling and cost effectiveness are achieved, E.E. Reed has enjoyed numerous awards and contracts to flesh out its portfolio and backlog. The company’s work on the Houston Museum of Natural Science Sugar Land won two 2010 Landmark Awards in the categories of “Public/Private Partnership” and “Rehabilitation/Renovation,” which the Houston Business Journal presents to recognize “commercial real-estate projects and developments that make significant impressions on the Houston landscape.”

Even more recently, E.E. Reed won several 2011 Associated Builders & Contractors Inc. of Greater Houston Excellence in Construction Awards, was recognized with a Platinum Safety Award for the company’s Safety Training and Evaluation Program (S.T.E.P.), and was named a Silver Shovel winner in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2011 Houston Sandcastle Competition (for which E.E. Reed teamed up with Matrix Spencer Architects, a local Houston architectural firm).

The AmeriPort Project

E.E. Reed has a long lineage of accolades for its construction work, LEED achievements and safety programs. However, one of the company’s greatest achievements was when the Houston Business Journal announced E.E. Reed one of the best places to work in Texas. Brian Owrey has worked for E.E. Reed for nearly a decade, is inclined to agree with this assessment. “From how they treat their employees to the type of work they do and the things they have their project managers do, it’s an all-around better company,” affirms Owrey, a project manager on what is yet another showcase E.E. Reed project.

Owrey’s praise of the company corresponds with E.E. Reed’s exemplary performance on AmeriPort Building II (APBII) located outside of Baytown, Texas. It was designed by Powers Brown Architecture and developed by National Property Holdings L.P. The distinctive 168,480-square foot facility is centered in the master-planned 723-acre industrial park – AmeriPort – close to the port of Houston, and is the first conventional tilt-wall and structural steel building in the logistics park. The AmeriPort industrial park is focused on logistics via rail, ship and trucks in order to improve efficiency among business both local and national.

AmeriPort offers rail service and storage, along with barge terminals and easy interstate access. Exports and imports pass through the facility and park on a daily basis, and AmeriPort has a lot to offer traders and transit officials, including land purchase opportunities. This site encompasses a wide variety of features, including build-to-suit sites and warehouse/distribution and cross-deck buildings for lease. AmeriPort also has equipment storage yards and transloading facilities for the convenience of trucking and shipping companies.

APBII fits into this scheme as a massive rail-served manufacturing facility and distribution center geared toward servicing clients of Baytown; the scope of the project amounted to $6.4 million. E.E. Reed built the building, as well as the site infrastructure, the interior infrastructure, earthwork, site work and landscaping.

Good Management and Great Service

While conducting all these elements E.E. Reed stayed maneuverable to field on-the-job developments as well, since client’s specifications can change over the course of a project. Owrey relates, “In about 70 percent of the building there’s a special foam fire protection system, which was a requirement that was mandated by a tenant of building.” There was also 160,000 square feet of concrete poured and paved around APBII that E.E. Reed had to incorporate with the rail service along the back of the building. The only aspect of construction that E.E. Reed didn’t work on was the rail in essence.

Work began on the APBII in June 2011 and was completed later that same year, according to Owrey. There weren’t many complications during the construction process, with the exception of some extreme weather, which both Owrey and E.E. Reed shrugged off as the nature of the business. “There’s always unforeseen conditions, but as long as you manage your team right, you’re OK,” articulates Owrey. The company’s ability to take what comes and still work with it is an incredible asset to both its clients and its subcontractors.

E.E. Reed self-performed initial concrete layout and engineering, but the rest of the work was handled by the company’s trustworthy network of subcontractors. In Owrey’s opinion, subcontractors E.E. Reed selected conscientiously executed approximately 95 percent of the job. “We choose them based on whether or not we think they can help with the end product,” explains Owrey.

Since E.E. Reed is a relationship-driven company the hard-working staff of 140 knows that the job is completed only when the client is satisfied fully. “Construction is an ever-evolving industry and we try to stay on top of that, but in the end it’s all about customer service,” Owrey observes.

E.E. Reed keeps up with the trends of the trade, but it also recognizes some aspects never age. This includes careful planning, monitoring and managing of each phase of a job’s construction in order to consistently assure its clients the highest standard of quality achievable. The company keeps the schedule on track with its efficient service and cost-effective solutions. E.E. Reed Construction L.P. has the wherewithal to combine its dedication and flexibility to each new project as it looks forward to future growth and development.