Marion, MA – Since 1997, South Coast Improvement Co. has provided design/build services to colleges and universities throughout New England. With the increase in work at colleges and universities, as well as private secondary schools or prep schools, the Marion, Mass.-based company recently created a private school division.
In addition to general construction and building services, the new division will provide institutions of higher learning with pre-construction and purchasing services. These services will be tailored to the budget, needs and operations of the school.
“The contact on construction projects at schools and universities and prep schools are typically the grounds or facilities manager and/or the school’s business manager. These professionals mean well but they typically do not have the construction background needed to oversee projects of this nature. Our private school division can work closely with these individuals so we can build a project on time, under budget and with minimal interruption to operations,” said Tom Quinlan, president of South Coast Improvement, Inc.
South Coast Improvement’s division provides private schools with an additional advantage—big time general contractor capabilities that can streamline smaller projects under tight deadlines.
“Many private schools issue smaller projects in August once they have included their major capital improvements. These jobs typically have a turnaround time of two or three weeks and must be done before classes start. Smaller GCs just don’t have the resources—like the preconstruction services and a purchasing agent—to complete a job like that,” said Quinlan. “As a company, we routinely work on six-figure projects, with our highest being a $4 million project for an assisted living facility. We have those systems in place that we can often work on several smaller jobs at a school at once—and that’s how we are able to get a lot of repeat business.”
That repeat business includes projects at Boston College, Boston University, Northeastern University, Mount Ida College and Dean College. Those projects have ranged from a new video room for the Men’s Locker Room at BC’s Conte Forum to conference room and new President’s office at Mount Ida to a server room for the Kostas Homeland Security Research Facility at Northeastern.
Adds Quinlan, “Our new division makes even more sense for a prep school where tuitions can be just as much and the demands to maintain a first-rate are just as great.”
