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.

 

Leon Williams Contractors Blog: Go Build Tennessee

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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. As a Tennessee based contractor and construction firm, we are well aware that our state depends on the skilled tradesmen that call our area home and we are extremely excited about the new opportunity related to a state initiative, Go Build Tennessee.

This new program is designed to encourage young people to become interested in the construction and contracting industry to help drive growth in the state of Tennessee for skilled tradesmen. According to the GoBuildTennesseewebsite, the following statistics offer detailed information about the current state of Tennessee’s trade industries:

Tennessee’s Construction Industry is getting older and the talent pool is growing smaller:

Thousands of men and women leave the trades every year, and there aren’t enough young workers to replace them. For Tennessee to continue to prosper, we have to start from the ground up.

  • The average age of a construction tradesman today is 50 years old.
  • For every five people who leave the trades, only one replacement is supplied by apprenticeship programs.

New Workers are needed in Tennessee to maintain the growth of the construction industry:

  • 6 million Americans are employed by a construction trade annually.
  • The construction industry is projected to grow by 22% through 2022.

Students interested in the trades don’t need a four year degree to make a great living:

Thousands of new jobs open up every year, and with training programs throughout the state, you can start earning a competitive salary with increasing benefits right away without worrying about student loans.

  • It will take 39% of college graduates 10+ years to pay off their student loans.
  • 87% of apprentices find jobs when they’re finished.
  • Qualified skilled tradesmen make an average of $50,000 annually.
  • Commercial construction tradesmen are paid on average 33% more per week than the rest of Americans.

Two and Four year degrees do offer opportunities:

While you don’t need a degree to get started in the trades, having a two year or four year degree does offer some advantages.

  • For those students who may want to further their careers and may be interested in architecture, the requirementsinclude a four year degree and to pass the Architect Registration Examination.
  • Individuals who have an associates or bachelor’s degree can make more moneyin the long run.
  • Workers with college degrees generally have lower unemployment ratesand earn more money than those with a high school diploma.

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 growth of the trades in Tennessee and are looking for students who are interested in learning more about the opportunities that the Go Build Tennessee projectwill mean for our state.

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.

 

Leon Williams Contractors Blog: Maryville Dog Park at Pistol Creek

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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. Recently, the Leon Williams Contractors, LLC team was a part of the team that created the new Maryville Dog Park at Pistol Creek

The Location:

Located in Maryville, Leon Williams Contractors, LLC worked as a part of a joint effort between the city of Maryville, the Maryville-Alcoa-Blount County Parks and Recreation Commission and community leadership in Blount County.

The Specifications:

The Maryville Dog Park at Pistol Creek is located adjacent to the McCammon Avenue and McGhee Street greenbelt entrance in Maryville. Open from dawn to dusk, the area includes one acre for large dogs and a separate half-acre for smaller dogs.

The spaces in the Maryville Dog Park are fenced and feature entry corrals that are double-gated, which allows dogs to be taken off leashes before entering the park. Also included within the space are a pavilion, benches, animal waste stations and water fountains exclusively for dogs.

The Results:

In an interview with the Daily Times, Jordan Blankenship, supervisor and project and construction manager at Leon Williams Contractors, said the project took about two-and-a-half months and the biggest challenge was the weather.

“It was fun talking to the public and hearing what they wanted to see in the park,” he said. “One lady asked when Maryville was getting a cat park.”

The park was made possible by a grant from Radio Systems Corporation and was offered through the Legacy Parks Foundation. For more information about the Maryville Dog Park at Pistol Creek, including rules of use, visit http://www.parksrec.comor call 865-983-9244.

As a proud member of the Blount County community, Leon Williams, LLC has worked with clients on a wide range of retail and commercial construction projects, including banks, medical facilities, commercial offices, residential projects, restaurants,and retail locations.

To learn more about the advantages that Leon Williams Contractors, LLC can offer your retail or commercial construction project, please contact us todayto learn how we can assist you to drive greater value for your retail and commercial construction needs.

New Construction Update 321 Plaza West Maryville, Tennessee

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Recently, the Leon Williams Contractors, LLCteam recently completed work on a new office space location at the 321 Plaza in Maryville, Tennessee.

The Location:

Located at 1776 W. Lamar Alexander Parkway in Maryville, Leon Williams Contractors, LLC worked with Andes Group Tennessee to create a new office and retail space in Blount County.

The Specifications:

An addition of 2,736 square feet was constructed by the team at Leon Williams Contractors, LLC. The client request was to match the previous part of the structure seamlessly with the new addition, as well as updating the façade of the existing building. The existing building was matched to comply with city ordinances and setbacks that required the matching to existing parameters.

The Results:

In an interview with the Daily Times, Hal Brown, a representative of Andes Group Tennessee, remarked that “The new building requirements would not allow us to build anything even closely resembling what was already there. It was a challenge to put an addition on an old building and make it look like it was one building, built all together, and I think we achieved that.”

In regards to working with Leon Williams Contractors, Mr. Brown stated “I know this is probably a small project for them, just a blip on the map of what they can do, but even so they put your concerns and your project at the forefront. They made me feel like this was the only project they had and that all their assets were just direct toward my project. You would have thought I was building a mall, or the Taj Mahal.”

Leon Williams, LLC has worked with clients on a wide range of retail and commercial construction projects, including banks, medical facilities, commercial offices, residential projects, restaurants,and retail locations. To learn more about the advantages that Leon Williams Contractors, LLC can offer your retail or commercial construction project, please contact us todayto learn how we can assist you to drive greater value for your retail and commercial construction needs.

Leon Williams Contractors February Blog: A beginner’s guide to office renovation

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For many businesses, the idea of renovating an office space offers excitement about the possibilities that can be accomplished. From expanding an existing space to prepare for new employees to renovating a new location to meet the demands for products and services, the team at Leon Williams Contractorshave worked with business owners to design and manage office renovations that have helped drive growth for our clients.

A company that is looking for an office renovation partner may be beginners when it comes to planning out the extent of changes for their office designs. The design/build, pre-construction consultation and value engineering services offered by Leon Williams Contractorscan help ensure success for your office renovation in Blount County, Maryville, Knoxville, Lenoir City and East Tennessee.

Before you get started on an office renovation product, there are a number of factors that you need to keep in mind to help drive success for your renovation, including:

Plan Ahead

Before starting on your office renovation project, the best advice is to plan ahead for what your business is trying to accomplish. Are you designing the renovations to add staff, to offer more products and services or are you simply tired of the way that your interior looks? Planning ahead for the future of your business in one year, three years and even ten years in the future can help you determine the best plans for your office renovations. The design/build services of Leon Williams Contractorscan be incorporated into your planning to help decide the best use of your office space to meet the future demands of your business.

Assess your current property

If your current business property is older, having the team at Leon Williams Contractors engage in a site assessmentcan help save you money in the long run. Your existing building may not be up to code, which will necessitate updating of your plans for your office renovation prior to the beginning of work. In addition, while using existing systems might save you money in your upfront costs during a renovation, your business may be better served by updating to new systems to lower long term operating costs in your renovated office space.

Determine your budget

While it may be exciting to think about all of the changes that you could implement during your office renovation, determining your budget for your office renovation can help you prevent over-extending what you want to accomplish for your business in the long term. Extensive renovations to your office space need to be prepared with your future business goals in mind, especially if you determine that growth in your business means that you move to a larger space in the future. Decide if the renovations that you are making will make your building more likely to sell if you decide to expand your business operations and incorporate value engineering servicesfrom Leon Williams Contractors to find the best use of your office renovation budget.

Leon Williams Contractors have been designing and building for the commercial needs of Knoxville and East Tennessee since 1964. When your business has determined that the time is right for an office renovation, leverage the experience and knowledge of our teams to help you prepare your business for your future needs. For more information on how we can assist you with your office renovation requirements, contact the team at Leon Williams Contractorstoday to learn how our knowledge and expertise can be used to your advantage.