Long Term Partners
EEA has helped Chase Bank renovate and build new branch offices since 2004. Our partnership began when we helped them design and build over one hundred and thirty new branches during their major expansion into the Texas market. Because each branch was a site adapted version of the same plan, EEA learned a great deal about bringing the techniques of mass production to MEP design. This resulted in lower design fees and fewer errors and omissions. To this day, EEA incorporates these lessons in all our projects. We employ a tool bin forged over nearly forty years of diverse MEP design to assemble our client’s construction documents quickly and efficiently.
The Lessons of Repetition (or Learning Through Repetition)
As the number of Chase Bank branch offices EEA helped build climbed into double digits, we began to notice patterns in the construction issues that arose. The use of local contractors for each branch gave us the opportunity to see how different personalities interpreted our plans. We found that certain language in a keyed note would occasionally confuse a contractor. And so we rewrote the offending notes. If a critical detail was missed because it was not given a high enough level of visibility on the plan, we revised our layout to make it more prominent. With each bad installation, our details and specifications became more clear, more idiot proof. We revised our documents again and again until the Chase Bank construction issues disappeared completely.
But we did not stop with Chase Bank. EEA took this lesson and created a data base of clear concise notes, details, schedules, and specifications that have been purged of the flaws that cause construction issues and delays. We continue to expand this tool bin of design elements, and EEA’s knowledge base has grown to encompass nearly every major market sector. The result of this commitment to refined, clear design documents is that EEA now provides high quality design solutions at some of the lowest cost on the market to fifteen of American biggest retail chains.
