Your building supports your business.

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The impact of your building extends far beyond project completion. Thoughtful planning leads to overall project success. Northstar has developed an initial planning process to provide accurate and reliable information early in the process and ensure holistic planning of your facility needs before a significant monetary investment is made. We’ll lead you through our functional programming process, a critical thinking exercise that we conduct as a first step to identify the major planning criteria for all facility projects.

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Many owners do not realize that contractors and architects rely on the owner’s staff to assume several key roles for the project, including overall project management, cost accounting (review/pay/track all invoices) and active participation in the development and approval of project scope. In addition, detailed project needs such as surveys, interactions with various governmental bodies and the purchase and installation of all furniture, fixtures and equipment are also typically provided by the owner’s staff. When you engage Northstar, we become an extension of your leadership team and can assume these roles as needed in combination with existing staff or as a single resource. A core element to Northstar’s success is the insight and knowledge we have gained from completing more than 1,000 projects worth over $5 billion. We will guide you through every step of the complex process of planning, design, construction and occupancy.

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All project resources are not created equal. To navigate all the variables specific to your project needs, Northstar uses a rigorous process to identify potential team members and obtain qualifications. We have developed an evaluation tool to help you select the best team based on your specific needs, including an architect, construction manager, general contractor and specialty consultants. Once your project team is assembled, we will establish clear lines of authority and facilitate efficient and effective decision making to keep your project moving forward.

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The decisions you make today about your new building will impact your future operations. Northstar will conduct a review and analysis of your project objectives and implement routine meetings with key team members to bring constant focus to your business and operational needs. We will help you make decisions about important factors, such as staff productivity and utilization, to protect not only your current project budget but also your future operating costs.

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No owner likes getting surprised by unknown or additional cost items. Northstar develops budgetary information based on our extensive experience estimating a variety of projects. We help you stay ahead of unknowns by utilizing an extensive cost database to quickly review and validate all budgetary information. We consider all project cost elements required to complete the scope of work — not just construction costs — and track all budgets, commitments, invoices and costs.

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The key to avoiding a busted budget is to take the time to develop, and constantly confirm, reliable scope-of-work assumptions (quality, quantities, etc.). To ensure that a realistic budget is created and maintained, Northstar developed an exercise called the Cost Opinion Value Analysis (COVA) process. This is an integrated team exercise that reviews all project planning criteria and key assumptions related to major building components. The outcome allows the team to select base scope options and value alternatives to form the basis of the cost estimate. We facilitate this exercise at each major process milestone (schematic design, design development, etc.) to ensure budget compliance as the project develops. In addition, to facilitate informed and timely decisions throughout the project development process, we utilize our owner’s project contingency log to capture all potential scope changes and their impact on the overall budget and schedule.

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A well-planned project must have a defined scope and objectives that are communicated and understood by the entire project team. Northstar develops and continuously communicates an overall master schedule that is informed and updated using project team detailed schedule information. We list tasks by phase and give each task a projected start date, duration and estimated completion date. The result is an accurate projected timeline that provides an easy, at-a-glance status of activities.

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Upholding the highest standards of quality isn’t optional. Not understanding requirements and codes can have costly implications today and down the road and can risk the safety of your team and even your staff. Northstar will conduct a review and analysis of all phases of the project and implement routine meetings with key team members to bring constant focus to quality issues. Our up-to-date action item log ensures issues are being addressed and informed decisions are made.

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It’s exciting to move into a new facility, but the thought of moving in can also be overwhelming. Northstar routinely facilitates the planning and activation process by establishing a Transitional Operational Planning (TOP) team. We will engage key stakeholders, determine who should be involved in the transition process, bring appropriate resources to the table and clearly phase the move-in process, continuously communicating to all involved.

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Medical equipment brings an added level of complexity to health care construction projects. An equipment planner is needed when there is a critical amount of equipment that is vital to your organization’s operations. Northstar’s Medical Equipment Specialists will facilitate an equipment management plan, incorporating an inventory evaluation, room-by-room list with budget and an analysis of wants vs. needs based on functional operations. We will then integrate this information with the overall project schedule to determine what is needed and when.