Building a church can be a challenge, but keep the faith

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Leon Williams Contractors offers a design-build solution to Knoxville-area church construction

There are some potential pitfalls and challenges, but Leon Williams Contractors can help ensure construction of a new worship facility goes as smoothly as possible.

Most churches encounter cost-overruns the congregation is unprepared – or unable – to cover. That’s why working with a design-build firmcan ensure your project comes in on time and under budget. At Leon Williams Contractors, we’ve been building houses of worship in the Maryville and Knoxville areasfor years and we subscribe to the design-build process because of its ability to keep costs in check and produce the facility that is right for the needs of your church and congregation.

Here’s a quick look at common challenges associated with church construction:

Planning and design

Make sure your church planning committee has a good idea of what purposes and needs the new church will meet. You should also know your budget constraints and commit to staying within those guidelines. We can help with this process on the front end to help mold the design to meet both the program and budget.

Cost

Churches typically pay for construction costs through money on-hand; capital fundraising; and traditional borrowing. Needless to say, failure to remain within the financing footprint can wreak havoc on an entire ministry and threaten the very future viability of a congregation. Make sure “soft” costs –such as fees, permits, furnishings, audio, video, lighting, signage – beyond the scope of the building contract are kept in mind.

Contracting

This step is key to locking in a cost and reducing financial risk. Your congregation or diocese should make sure you have a qualified representative in place to negotiate and set terms on your behalf. One advantage to a design-build firm is the streamlining of negotiations. At Leon Williams Contractors, we can contract the designer of the project and walk thru the process as your representative. We also have decades of experiences building houses of worship, and understand and can anticipate the needs and challenges that may arise.

Variables

The cost per square foot of church construction hinges on a range of factors, including location, size, style, and volume. The site of the church can have a big impact on cost, depending on the amount of necessary site preparation, including ease of excavation and utility infrastructure needs. Site preparation can be a big determining factor in the ultimate cost of your worship facility. Ensure your budgeting is liberal to avoid potentially devastating cost overruns. Site assessment is a primary part of our pre-construction consultation.

Master plan

Make sure your church has a master plan – and make sure the project falls within the master plan. The plan should entail midrange and long-range visions for your congregation and its mission. It’s important to ensure your ultimate building plans fall within this master plan.

Building a new worship facility – or expanding an existing one – may seem like a daunting proposition, but Leon Williams Contractors, which has built more than a dozen worship facilities in the Knoxville area, can ensure it blossoms.

If you or your congregation is interested in learning more about how design-build construction can more efficiently and effectively manage costs and deadlines for your new church or expansion, give us a call at 865-982-1734 or fill out our contact formtoday.

 

 

 

Straight to dessert: How the design-build method can save new restaurateurs

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More Americans than ever are dining out, and comfort food is a big draw. People want food that harkens back to their childhood, like meat loaf, chicken and dumplings, and pot pie.

Your grandmother made a lot of her best dinners from scratch, but she likely still found ways to cut costs and increase efficiencies without sacrificing flavor or quality.

The same thing can be said of building a restaurant from scratch: A good design-build firm can reduce costs and add value without sacrificing the quality and draw of your new restaurant.

The Leon Williams team has helped design and build multiple restaurantsin Maryville and throughout the Knoxville area, ranging from franchise sites to original casual concepts.

Having a single contractor that handles both the design and actual construction offers numerous – and cost-saving – benefits, so you can focus on achieving your culinary dreams.

Here are five ways the design-buildapproach of the Leon Williams team can cut costs and not quality:

  1. We can leverage our resources to obtain all permits, submit site plans and receive municipal approvals while you can focus on staffing, eventual inventory and furnishings.
  2. We will work with our pre-qualified subcontractors and vendors to provide a high quality job completed on time and on budget.
  3. We can again leverage our contacts to streamline purchase orders, so you can occupy yourself with the menu instead of your restaurant’s mechanics. We can also help prospective restaurateurs with practical, cost-saving advice on elements ranging from flooring types to ceilings.
  4. The time saved using the stream-lined design-build approach means you can open your restaurant or franchise more quickly – leading to faster opening days, which ultimately means more revenue.
  5. We have vast experience in the restaurant construction realm, so we are already familiar with frequent challenges or potential pitfalls that come with building and opening a new eatery.

 

It might seem that leaving both the design and construction in the hands of one project manager might cut you out of the loop, but according to testimonialsfrom our customers, rest assured your concerns will be heard, your ideas will be welcome, and your dream of restaurant ownership will come true.

 

For more information on how we can assist you with your restaurant construction, contact the team at Leon Williams Contractors today to learn how our knowledge and expertise can be used to your advantage.

 

Building for your patients: medical office construction tips

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Walk into a medical office these days and you may be surprised. The days of hard-backed chairs and flickering fluorescent lights have been replaced with warm, inviting colors and natural sunlight. Building a design around the needs of your patients is important in healthcare. If you are considering renovation, retrofits or building a new medical office, the team at Leon Williams Contractorscan assist you with your requirements.

Although there may be financial or space limitations in place, the design/build, pre-construction consultation and value-engineering services offered by Leon Williams Contractors can work within your requirements for construction of your medical facility in Blount County, Maryville, Knoxville, Lenoir City and elsewhere in East Tennessee.

Utilize these medical office construction tips to maximize your budget and available space:

Understand the needs of your patients

Depending on which aspect of the medical field you work in, planning for the needs of your patients should be your first consideration. The layout of a dental office will be different than the layout for an office that services less ambulatory visitors. The American Society for Healthcare Engineering is studying changes to widthsin some medical settings, which may necessitate changes in certain environments. Understanding the needs of your patients prior to beginning any work will help you stay within budget to meet your individual requirements.

Make your visitors comfortable

In most situations, visitors to a medical office have a sense of anxiety. If they are ill, having tests run or undergoing a dental procedure, a soothing medical space will allow them to be more at ease. Bright waiting areas can make patients nervous; instead, create a warm and open space with comfortable seating that offers a sense of reassurance. Adding artwork and ensuring a quiet setting are becoming more commonplace in medical settings.

Think about traffic flow

Traffic flow in your medical setting should be designed around the idea of serving your visitors and patients in the most efficient way possible. Wide hallways, easy to follow designations for rooms and smooth traffic flow will help the medical staff accomplish rounds easier.

Build for growth

While space restrictions may inhibit your ability to build for growth, being forward-thinking about your future will offer significant benefits. Extra exam rooms can seem like an unnecessary expense now, but if your practice continues to grow, you will be able to save on future expansions or moves.

Leon Williams Contractors have been designing and building for the medical and commercial needs of Knoxville and East Tennessee since 1964. If we can assist you with design/build or value-engineering services for your medical office location, contact the team at Leon Williams Contractorstoday to learn how our knowledge and expertise can be used to your advantage.

 

Leon Williams Contractors March Blog: Three traits of smart retail design

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Leon Williams Contractors March Blog: Three traits of smart retail design

Think about your favorite places to shop and ask yourself what they have in common. Many people would say that there should be plenty of parking spaces, the interior should not be cramped and everything inside the location should be easy to find. While this may seem like common sense, a number of retailers often overlook the human component that makes a retail location successful. If your retail business needs a new look or wants to update an existing space, the team at Leon Williams Contractorscan help you understand the best ways to take advantage of your retail design.

While some franchise retail locations may be limited to what they can do from a design position, the design/build, pre-construction consultation and value engineering services offered by Leon Williams Contractors can work within your requirements to create an amazing retail experience in Blount County, Maryville, Knoxville, Lenoir City and East Tennessee.

What are the traits of smart retail design? Some of the best ideas include:

Analyze your potential traffic

A great retail design might be wasted if potential customers are not able to easily access your location or if the parking lot can’t handle a heavy influx of traffic. The design/build services of Leon Williams Contractorscan help determine ease of access and available parking during your site selection process. From building orientation to parking designs, our teams can help you make the most of your retail site investment so you don’t have to lose customers because of traffic flow and parking issues.

Make your customers comfortable

Having customers linger may not be a good thing for restaurant owners, but for retail, building for comfort can encourage your customers to linger and shop longer. If your retail design is cramped for space, customers may not want to stay as long, minimizing your opportunities for additional sales. Similarly, if you don’t have a checkout design that encourages quick transaction times, customers may decide to skip on a purchase instead of waiting to pay. Having a design that maximizes your current retail space while allowing for a comfortable retail experience can drive higher sales and customer loyalty.

Blend your budget with function

While it may be great to have an unlimited budget to work with, many retail locations need to find a way to manage their budget while still offering an inviting, functional environment for their customers. The value engineering servicesthat are offered by Leon Williams Contractors will help blend the retail design requirements that you have in mind with the budget that you have to work with to create a functional, enduring, affordable design that will hit all of the check boxes that you have for your retail design.

Leon Williams Contractors have been designing and building for the retail and commercial needs of Knoxville and East Tennessee since 1964. If you need assistance with creating the perfect retail location or redesigning an existing retail space to meet your needs, contact the team at Leon Williams Contractorstoday to learn how our knowledge and expertise can be used to your retail advantage.

 

Leon Williams Contractors January Blog: How to get the most out of your construction budget in 2017

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Leon Williams Contractors January Blog: How to get the most out of your construction budget in 2017

After a strong 2016 for commercial construction, the American Institute of Architects is anticipating an equally strong 2017, with forecasted growth of 5.6 percent anticipated. While national figures can often be different from the forecasts for Blount County, Knoxville, Lenoir City and Maryville, the team at Leon Williams Contractors is anticipating growth in commercial construction throughout our area this year.

However, an anticipated rise in the commercial construction doesn’t mean that you should not maximize the opportunities related to your construction budget for 2017. Commercial construction projects often run on tight schedules and even tighter budget constraints, so ensuring that you get the most out of your construction budget can help keep your projects financially responsible throughout the duration of your project.

Some of the ways to get the most out of your construction budget in 2017:

  1. Utilize Design/Build Services

You can simplify your commercial construction building process by utilizing design/build services from Leon Williams Contractors. Used correctly, design-build servicescombines skill sets more effectively to make the most out of your construction budget. In addition, design/build allows you to reduce project delivery time, offer fewer changes and claims, offer continuity between designers and contractors and make the construction project run more efficiently. The benefits of working with a design/build partner like Leon Williams Contractorscan help offer the most value for your construction budget in 2017.

  1. Consultation and Site Assessments

Having access to a site assessment prior to beginning a commercial construction project can help minimize unforeseen expenses related to your project. From determining if your site is acceptable for the type of commercial project that you are creating or assessing concerns as they relate to road accessibility, including a site assessment programas a part of your commercial construction planning can help to pre-plan for potential issues before beginning commercial construction.

  1. Value Engineering

To offer the most value for your commercial construction projects in East Tennessee, Knoxville, Blount County, Maryville and Lenoir City, the incorporation of value engineering into commercial construction planning and implementation can capitalize on your construction investment. Value engineering services from Leon Williams Contractors can deliver evaluation, construction quality and anticipated project life expectancy of your commercial construction project.

At Leon Williams Contractors, our principals have been designing and building for the commercial needs of Knoxville and East Tennessee since 1964. With high growth expectations for commercial construction in 2017 in Blount County, Knoxville, Lenoir City and Maryville, finding ways to make the most of your commercial construction budget can help keep your project on time and within scope. For more information on how we can assist you, contact the team at Leon Williams Contractorstoday to learn about our variety of commercial construction services available.

 

Leon Williams Contractors December Blog: Building for the future: 2017 Southeast Construction Trends

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Commercial construction has a healthy outlook for 2017, with a rise expected at a rate of 5.6 percent in 2017 after a growth of 5.8 percent in 2016. While recent changes may cause these numbers to show slight variations throughout the year, the team at Leon Williams Contractorsteam believes that commercial construction in Blount County, Knoxville, Lenoir City and Maryville should meet or exceed expectations in the coming year.

At Leon Williams Contractors, our principals have been designing and building for both the residential community and for the commercial needs of Knoxville and East Tennessee since 1964. A family business for generations, Leon Williams Contractors has worked with commercial clients throughout our area on a wide variety of projects. While we have seen a number of trends in residential construction come and go throughout the years, we believe that these commercial predictions will be a part of construction trends in the Southeast for 2017:

  1. Green Building

As more and more attention is paid to the benefits of green building, businesses are beginning to inquire with their builders about incorporating green building into their project designs. For commercial properties, LEED buildings report almost 20 percent lowermaintenance costs than typical commercial buildings, while retrofit green buildings typically decrease operation costs by nearly 10 percent in one year.

  1. Solar Power

According to the Solar Energy Industries Association, the U.S. solar market was expected to increase by 119 percent from last year’s numbers. With 74 percent of this growth coming from commercial construction installation businesses that take advantage of solar power installations can reduce their energy costs and may be eligible for government rebates.

  1. Technology

For commercial construction, incorporating technology demands that will be used by employees and customers on-site during business necessitates easy access to Wi-Fi and other related technology requirements, meaning that construction firms need to be aware of any barriers to technology access in the projects that they are creating. In addition, the trend of addingBuilding Information Modeling (BIM)to the commercial construction design process for contractors and designs means that technology associated with commercial construction will continue to grow to provide consistency and accuracy to commercial construction in 2017.

If you are looking for commercial construction or design build services in Blount County, Knoxville, Lenoir City or Maryville, contact the team at Leon Williams Contractorsto help you utilize these construction trends for 2017 in your next project.

 

Finding the right space for your restaurant is key

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Leon Williams Contractors, a commercial and residential design/build company, has developed many commercial, residential and retail buildings in Blount County, Maryville, Knoxville, Lenoir City and East Tennessee, in addition to building and renovating existing spaces for many of the restaurants throughout our area. If you are thinking of starting your own restaurant or other food and drink-based establishment, the design-build experts at Leon Williams Contractors can help you find the best location for your needs.

We provide a full range of construction services, pre-construction consultation and site assessment, construction management, value engineering, and construction management. We can also help you obtain an existing structure and remodel it if that approach makes more sense to your budget and design plans. The main considerations in Maryville, Blount County and East Tennessee to consider for your restaurant planninginclude:

1-Location

You can’t beat a good location. Our familiarity with Maryville, Blount County and East Tennessee can be leveraged to help you find a high traffic location with access to utilities and other amenities to help maximize your opportunity in the restaurant space. The team at Leon Williams Contractors is experienced in finding the right place for the right business throughout our area and can leverage our experience on your behalf.

2-Space

Our wide ranging capabilities related to existing space renovation will allow our team to adapt nearly any space to accommodate your restaurant plans. If we deem the existing spaces aren’t useable, we will design and build your space to appeal to you and your potential customers to help create the best possible result for your restaurant location.

3-Infrastucture

Is parking nearby? Is the restaurant easy to get to? Are there attractive sidewalks and scenery? Are other restaurants and businesses nearby that attract strolling and walk-by foot traffic? We’ll find out if the building codes in Maryville, Blount County and Knoxville will allow a restaurant space to be created and to ensure that there is adequate water, sewer, electrical and even internet connectivity to accommodate your restaurant design plans.

We know that starting a restaurant is tough, but when you work with Leon Williams Contractors, we can offer expert restaurant constructionand build out advice, assist with planning your space for success and we will can design, build or renovate your new restaurant in your chosen location to help you attain your business ownership dreams.

Is your business expanding? The pros and cons of building for growth

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The team at Leon Williams Contractors, LLC,offers complete general contractor services, including a full range of construction services, pre-construction consultation and site assessment, construction management, value engineering, and construction management. Regardless of the size and scope of the project, the team at Leon Williams Contractors delivers outstanding, on-time and on-budget results.

As many businesses are looking to expand their operations to meet the demands of their customers, one question that we often discuss with clients is understanding the pros and cons of building a new space for expected expansion versus expanding the build of an existing location to meet anticipated needs. This question can also be considered for worship centers as well; a recent project that our teams worked on for Foothills Churchshows the importance of determining the best choices for expansion for your organization.

Understanding Expansion Planning with existing locations

Regardless of the business that you are in, expansion of your reach is a process that will involve a large number of moving parts before you make the move to expand. From a practical standpoint, taking stock of your current building location to see if you have additional space to grow should be one of the first steps in the process of expansion.

For industrialand manufacturing clients, engaging with a design/build firm to determine if your existing space will support an expansion of your current footprint can offer excellent insight in the creation of an expansion plan with the resources that you have in place.Retailand restaurantclients may have specific restrictions in their existing space, which may necessitate a move to a new, larger location that would help your business expand your retail or dining space to better serve a larger volume of customers at this new location.

Building for Growth

No matter the type of business that you are looking to expand, planning for growth should include planning for the future of your business. From a strategic standpoint, while you may be thinking about this next step of expansion, consider what the next step will be afterthis step. If your business continues to grow, ask yourself how you would want to proceed when you decide to grow your business again. Having a partner like Leon Williams Contractors, LLC, will allow you to use ourdesign/build, pre-construction consultation and site assessment, as well as our value engineering services, to not only plan your initial expansion, but to determine the best ways to help your business grow to meet the demands of your clients over time.

To learn more about Leon Williams Contractors and how we can provide the services to help your business expand on a schedule that makes sense for your individual business needs, please contact us todayto find out how we can assist you with your next project.

 

East Tennessee Project Profile: Foothills Church

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The team at Leon Williams Contractors, LLC,offers complete general contractor services, including a full range of construction services, pre-construction consultation and site assessment, construction management, value engineering, and construction management. Regardless of the size and scope of the project, the team at Leon Williams Contractors delivers outstanding, on-time and on-budget results.

For September, we wanted to share information about a project that we are working on for Foothills Church, a beautiful ministry center located in East Tennessee that we are honored to create for the worship team at Foothills Church.

Foothills Church

The team at Leon Williams Contractors has previously worked with Foothills Churchin the conversion of a 38,000 square foot family fun center previously known as Thunder World to a new church facility that includes exterior painting and a three phase design that included construction of  classrooms, a children’s worship space, meeting rooms, as well as an 8,000 square foot sanctuary space and  restroom remodeling for the Foothills Church facility.

On July 31, 2016, we were blessed to be a part of a new auditorium groundbreaking ceremonyfor the next phase of construction for Foothills Church. This groundbreaking was  more exciting than a traditional groundbreaking in the fact that  the church elected to tear down  an existing building in lieu of putting shovels in the ground to begin the construction project. We encourage you to review the slide show below to see images of the entire process and what the next steps in this project will be.

SLIDE SHOW OF PHOTOS FROM PROJECT

We will continue to add information about the process of this new space for Foothills Church as construction of the new facility progresses. Leon Williams Contractors has worked with East Tennessee clients on a wide range of retail and commercial construction projects, as well as partnering with a number of churchesthroughout our area for their design/build and contracting needs.

To learn more about Leon Williams Contractors, the projects that we work on in Tennessee and the services that we provide, please contact us todayto find out how we can assist you with your next project.

Leon Williams Contractors August Blog: East Tennessee Project Profiles

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The team at Leon Williams Contractors, LLC,offers complete general contractor services, including a full range of construction services, pre-construction consultation and site assessment, construction management, value engineering, and construction management. Regardless of the size and scope of the project, the team at Leon Williams Contractors delivers outstanding, on-time and on-budget results.

For this month’s blog, we are sharing information about two projects that we had the honor to work on for non-profit organizations in East Tennessee.

Haley Farm

Nestled in the foothills of the Tennessee mountains near Knoxville, the Haley Farmconnects young leaders together and is where policymakers and community builders come to connect, recharge their spiritual and physical batteries and brainstorm strategies.

The grounds of CDF Haley Farm include a main meeting lodge, modernized guest cottages, the Langston Hughes Library and the Riggio-Lynch Chapel. The ark-shaped chapel symbolizes the safe haven every child deserves. This beautiful, simple, functional and inspiring space is alive with great music and great preaching, prayer and worship, discussion and debate.

For the farm, the team at Leon Williams Contractors completely rebuilt a barn that is located on the property. This vintage cantilevered barn was carefully taken down to preserve the original wood, taken apart equally carefully by the team to save the natural beauty of the original design and then painstakingly rebuilt by Leon Williams Contractors to ensure that the fully restored barn captured the majesty of the original work that was created for this piece of East Tennessee history.

Women’s Suffrage Statue

Located in the historic Market Square area of downtown Knoxville, the Tennessee Woman’s Suffrage Memorialwas designed to honor the past and create a legacy for the future.

The Suffrage Coalition was founded to create a lasting memorial to the suffragists of Tennessee. The suffragist’s efforts focused a nation as the last campaign was fought successfully to change the constitution to grant voting rights to women. These rights were guaranteed with the state of Tennessee’s ratification being the final vote to add the 19thAmendmentto the United States Constitution.

With the design assistance of Jimmy Williams of Leon Williams Contractors, the Suffrage Coalition erected a life-size, bronze statue featuring three Tennessee suffragists: Lizzie Crozier French of Knoxville, Anne Dallas Dudley of Nashville, and Elizabeth Avery Meriwether of Memphis.

Leon Williams Contractors has worked with East Tennessee clients on a wide range of retail and commercial construction projects, including banks, medical facilities, commercial offices, residential projects, restaurants,and retail locations. Our team is committed to the preservation and history of the state of Tennessee and are honored to be able to work with these projects in the Knoxville, Maryville and East Tennessee communities.

To learn more about Leon Williams Contractors, the projects that we work on in Tennessee and the services that we provide, please contact us todayto learn how we can assist you with your next project.