By Elizabeth W. Pearce

Commercial construction continues at warp speed throughout Southwest Florida, even as skyrocketing insurance premiums and soaring material costs threaten the viability of future commercial projects. This is prompting some owners and developers either to postpone the start of construction or pare down their projects.

That’s not been the case for clients of Fort Myers-based GCM Contracting Solutions, Inc. (GCM), the area’s premier provider of tilt-up concrete construction. The innovative building method is becoming increasingly popular with Southwest Florida contractors and developers struggling to work within timelines and budgetary constraints.

Robert Brown founded GCM in 1988 to provide concrete block services to residential contractors in the area. Since then, the business has evolved into a one-stop shop for design/build clients, offering a comprehensive line of concrete construction products and services. In addition to tilt-up, slab and block concrete construction, GCM also provides related general contracting services.

In recent years, the company has further expanded its product line and broadened its services to include residential tilt-up construction. Also, last January, GCM opened its own ready-mix facility to augment the concrete product it receives from suppliers. Still, tilt-up commercial construction remains one of the cornerstones of GCM’s business.

According to Brown, not only does the tilt-up building method enable GCM clients to proceed as planned with large, commercial projects, it usually saves them time and money in the process. “Part of the reason for that is because tilt-up construction eliminates the need for scaffolding, masonry and stucco work,” said Brown. On large projects, the savings can easily translate into months of time and million dollars.

For instance, at phase one of the International Design Center in Estero, Brown estimates that GCM saved the developer more than $5 million by using tilt-up construction. The three-story structure, which opened last year, encompasses more than 250,000sf of retail showrooms and offices, as well as a central atrium. In addition to doing the tilt-up and block work, GCM formed and poured a cast-in-place, cantilevered stairway that hangs from two 12-inch-thick concrete walls in the center.

Tilt What?

Although tilt-up (also known as “tilt wall”) construction was first used more than a century ago, many people still are not familiar with the term or the concept. Basically, it involves casting all concrete building materials on site and then lifting (tilting) them into place.

The process begins by pouring a slab floor, which serves as a casting platform for the slab walls. The walls are poured one panel at a time, typically measuring an average of 35 by 25 feet, although some are much larger. (For example, the stair towers at the International Design Center were 65 feet tall.) As the concrete is setting, patterns, textures and other decorative embellishments can be cast to soften the look of an otherwise stark, flat surface.

Once the panels are cast, huge cranes lift and place them. To secure them, the panels are welded to the steel roof frame and secured to the foundation using several different methods. Finally, the exterior is waterproofed and painted with a textured product, eliminating the need for an additional finish. In most cases, further accents are applied after the walls are in place to give the three dimensional look and feel.

Advantages & Applications

Because tilt-up is best suited for buildings exceeding 10,000sf and with wall heights of 15 feet or more, it is most often used to build industrial warehouses, big box retail and other commercial structures requiring abundant, open floor space, towering walls and limited plumbing. That doesn’t mean concrete tilt-up is appropriate only for industrial structures.

“We’ve used the system to construct retail shopping centers, commercial office buildings, churches, multi-family dwellings and single-family homes,” said Brown. While the company’s typical tilt-up project contains approximately 70,000sf, GCM has worked on structures as large as 500,000sf and as small as 10,000sf.

Brown explained that with tilt-up concrete, costs are easier to contain because there are fewer variables and the construction procedures are relatively clear-cut. In addition, material and labor costs tend to be lower than other forms of construction because transportation, manufacturing and other expenses are reduced or eliminated.

Besides its affordability, other advantages of tilt-up concrete construction include:

• Durability. Concrete is built to withstand the test of time, and is naturally resistant to damage from water, rot and rodents, as well as wind and fire. In fact, it provides up to a 4-hour fire rating.

• Insurability. Following the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005, most insurers have stopped writing policies for metal and wood-frame buildings. Concrete is another story. Because it is so durable, concrete commercial buildings usually cost less to insure than other types of construction.

• Versatility. While some tilt-up construction is fairly straightforward – uniform, rectangular panels with few openings – it can get quite complex. GCM has worked on a number of unusual projects involving intricate panel designs with numerous openings and complicated layouts.

• Flexibility. Despite the permanent quality of concrete construction, tilt-up wall panels are surprisingly easy to move in case a building expansion is needed.

Structural integrity, strength and speed of construction are among the many reasons why contractor EMJ Corporation chose tilt-up vs. other types of construction when it built the Gulf Coast Town Center in Estero. GCM’s dependability also played a key role in the contractor’s decision.

“(GCM) is on the cutting edge of several things: Customer relations, innovative methods and means of construction,” said H.J. Smith, EMJ’s general superintendent for the Town Center project. “Take that with the speed that tilt wall creates for the job and compound it with the tight schedules of most projects, and it was an easy choice.”

Smith said that EMJ was especially impressed that Brown had his own concrete plant. “That was unusual and played into EMJ selecting him for the job,” added Smith. “Otherwise, from what we could tell, we were going to have trouble getting concrete to stay on schedule.”

That was never a problem with GCM. The company began work on the mall last January and completed the bulk of it in less than eight months. “They came in on time and on budget,” said Smith, who described GCM as “a huge asset to the project.” What’s more, he said, they’re a rarity in the industry.

“It’s hard to find (a company) that has the whole package, which they do,” Smith said. “They’ve got great office workers and managers, and out in the field (GCM) has qualified people who know their work and how to do it well. We would absolutely work with them again.”

Other Local Projects

Nearly half of GCM’s work is out of town, in fast-growing markets such as Orlando and West Palm Beach, as well as the port cities of Miami and Tampa. Today the majority is in Southwest Florida, where GCM’s numerous tilt-up structures can be seen at some of the area’s most recognizable commercial developments.

In addition to the International Design Center and the Gulf Coast Town Center in Estero, GCM’s high-profile Lee County projects include Chico’s World Headquarters on Metro Parkway and the U.S. Postal Service’s distribution facility off Daniels Parkway. GCM also built a 107,000sf manufacturing facility for Ted’s Sheds (off I-75 between Exits 23 and 24), the award-winning Hope Lutheran Church on Old 41 in Bonita Springs, a 200,000sf warehouse in the Alico Industrial Park and the Super Target at Gulf Coast Town Center for Wright Construction, just to name a few.

Currently, GCM is building the

Lee County Evidence Facility for Bundschu Kraft Construction. When completed, the 20,000± facility will provide secure storage for criminal evidence collected by county law enforcement officers.

Also, the company is in the process of using tilt-up construction to build a 12,000sf home in south Lee County. The completed structure will comprise some 200 site-cast and precast wall panels.

For the last few years, GCM’s residential division has been building as many as 600 homes per year with conventional concrete block and tie beam construction. However, by mid-year it plans to reach a wider audience by offering residential tilt-up construction that includes some concrete block.

Brown says that in the last three years, GCM revenues have risen eight-fold and the staff has doubled to approximately 125 employees. It’s a pattern that Brown predicts will continue for at least the next three years, necessitating a move from its Rockfill Road headquarters.

At press time, GCM was poised to commence construction on the Alico Business Park on Lee Road, off Alico Road in south Lee County. The company is in a development partnership to build the 130,000sf flex/office project, where it plans to relocate its offices into 12,000+sf later this year.

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