When you buy a plant from your local nursery, you likely don’t give much thought to the plastic pot in which it’s delivered. Well, neither did we. That is, until Nursery Supplies, Inc. (NSI), the largest supplier of plastic pots for the agricultural industry, approached us to expand their operations in Florida. As we discovered, plastic flowerpots are big business and this was a big project.
During a three month period in NSI’s home state of Pennsylvania, we met with the architect and NSI team to define the scope and cost of the project, which, as it turned out, was 15% over budget. H. J. High offered 78 value engineering suggestions to lower the cost to a point that made NSI comfortable. Our part of the project which included the design of the mechanical, electrical, and fire protection components, all proved to be the most complicated.
With a project schedule set at six months, we were allotted approximately 180 days to complete the facility. With a two phase approach — structural and MEP — we had to adhere to a precise schedule to ensure we hit the mark. Of course, the first 90 days were critical. And challenges arose, including a broken crane, heavy rainfall, and some high turnover among subcontractor management.
The second 90 days involved the added challenge of coordinating our work with the owner’s equipment. With multi-million dollar machines arriving on site and requiring mechanical and electrical feeds, we solved these issues through constant communication with NSI engineers as well as aggressive work on the machines once they arrived.
All the obstacles we encountered were addressed as soon as they happened and were critically managed through detailed planning and creative scheduling. Today the beautiful, fully air-conditioned NSI facility is a industrial example of modern efficiency and simplicity. Now, whenever we look at plastic flowerpots, we appreciate all that goes into them.