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The partnership of JE Dunn Construction and Emerick Construction Co. for a massive Oregon State Capitol project started with a phone call.

Emerick worked on seismic upgrades at the capitol following the 1993 Scotts Mills earthquake, and CEO Larry Sitz knew any more work would suit his company. However, it did not have the bonding capacity to take on an approximately $250 million to $300 million project alone. Plus, technical challenges – including use of a base isolation process – loomed.

“I thought, ‘What don’t we have?’ ” Sitz said. “Who has done base isolation? We knew we couldn’t do it ourselves.”

JE Dunn came to mind. It had performed the complicated technique for the Pioneer Courthouse in Portland. Base isolators are installed to absorb the energy of an earthquake.

Sitz in 2012 called David Douthwaite, who then was a vice president with JE Dunn (and now is retired). They had served together on Associated General Contractors’ Oregon-Columbia chapter‘s board of directors, and they trusted each other, Sitz said.

Darin Stegemoller, vice president at JE Dunn, said company executives kept an open mind when they heard about the idea.

“It turned out we had a great cultural fit,” he said. “We asked, ‘Are we stronger with or without Emerick? And we thought that we would be stronger.”

JE Dunn knew that Emerick’s inside knowledge working on the capitol dome would be invaluable. And JE Dunn had previous experience working on state capitol renovations in Kansas and Minnesota.

Plus, the firms placed the same value on building quality projects, said Chip Laizure, vice president of business development at JE Dunn.

“When you have all these factors on the table, we knew we formed a strong team,” he said. “Together, we brought both national and local experience on state capitol projects. It hit all the buttons.”

The interview process for the project allowed JE Dunn and Emerick to bring only five team members, plus one information technology professional, to the meeting with state officials. Rather than suggest that JE Dunn was the sole interest in the project, the partners took a more unified approach.

“It was a decision that we made as a team,” Stegemoller said. “We easily could have said, ‘Larry – stay at home.’ I didn’t go to the interview.”

With its stronger bonding capacity and experience managing similar projects, JE Dunn will assume the lead role as construction manager-general contractor. Emerick signed a separate agreement with JE Dunn. That arrangement assured the state that a single party would be responsible for the project.

As part of the project, Emerick will learn JE Dunn’s project management systems and integrate its technological tools, including its cost accounting system and its Dunn Dashboard paperless management system, Laizure said.

“We have control systems for dealing with large projects, which really involves fitting the right people to the right roles,” he said. “You really want to look like one organization.”

Sitz agreed.

“We’re going to talk the Dunn language,” he said.

Meanwhile, Emerick will teach JE Dunn its means and methods, Stegemoller said. The companies will communicate on the same platforms from the same offices in Salem, he said.

The project’s design team involved a similar kind of partnership between SRG Partnership and Architectural Resources Group, which both have Portland offices. SRG is the prime architect for the project.

Now in the pre-construction design phase, the effort will require an integrated project delivery approach as stated in the request for proposals from the state. The approach will allow for a leaner, more efficient project.

“It’s a really complex project,” Sitz said. “IPD allows the designer, the contractor and all the subs to sit together and make the best choices for the project.”

Stegemoller complimented the state for taking a nontraditional approach in selecting its CM-GC and design team, along with key subcontractors and suppliers, early in the process. The result will be a project designed once and built right the first time, he said.

“Everyone is pointed in the right direction,” he said. “We don’t have everyone pitted against each other. It is a great delivery method.”

The process also allows the owner and the owner’s representative, Portland-based Inici Group Inc., to make more informed and accurate decisions that will save time and money, Laizure said.

The IPD approach, which involves a pre-construction/design phase through June 2015, will help the state secure funding, according to Kevin Hayden, legislative administrator for the state.

The project is being funded in phases. Currently, $34.5 million is allocated for the preconstruction/design phase.

“…By having the full IPD team working together, we will get a guaranteed maximum price that we can take to the Legislature for funding,” Hayden wrote in an email.