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The last several months have given JE Dunn Construction Co. much cause for celebration, including the success of its paperless system on the South Waterfront’s Collaborative Life Sciences Building project and its participation in the State Capitol renovation, among other recent high-profile projects.

Vice President Darin Stegemoller said the company’s decision to implement the Bluebeam software on the OHSU/OUS Collaborative Life Sciences Building stemmed from success on a Colorado project using the technology.

“It’s really just the right thing to do,” he said. “It’s a huge savings in cost, it’s much more efficient and, from a delivery method, in collaboration with the client design team and all of our contractors and vendors, it’s a much better process than the old process.”

Chip Laizure, vice president and director of business development, said the unique project involved starting the foundations while programming was being done for the towers.

“Without using that kind of technology integrated into our project, we wouldn’t be able to go at the speed we did,” he said.

The paperless system saved JE Dunn about $10 million – $1.5 million from not printing paper drawings and $8.5 million from reduced labor. The system also allows the project team to access up-to-date information from on-site kiosks.

Another cause for celebration at JE Dunn is its involvement in the upgrade and remodel of the Oregon State Capitol. The firm is tackling the project through a construction manager-general contractor partnership with Portland’s Emerick Construction Co.

“We were well suited for that project because this will be the third state capitol project that JE Dunn has renovated,” Stegemoller said. “We’re now doing all of our jobs with a collaborative project delivery, which is a very lean, efficient process. We’re working together as a team not only with our owners and design teams, but with our key contractors.”

He noted that while the recession was difficult, the horizon looks promising for JE Dunn Construction Co.

“We’re really excited about our future in the Northwest now that the market has changed,” he said. “It’s been a really tough three or four years, and when you look at what we’ve been able to accomplish during that time, it’s nice to see it in the rearview mirror. Our future has never looked brighter.”