Shelby American, Las Vegas: a relocation delivered without a general contractor

What it is

Shelby American is the Las Vegas operation where Shelby performance cars are built. In 2014 it was moving into a new building on an opening date that could not move. The scope was a build-out of an existing structure, not new construction.

The work came from a personal referral that grew into four phases over about four years for two Shelby companies, by Fowler's count about $14 million in all: general contractor for Shelby International, the licensing arm, in Carson; design-builder on the Carroll Shelby International museum and lounge in Los Angeles; and owner's representative and construction manager for Shelby American in Las Vegas. The first job was a mural on the side of one of their buildings, done with the care of a full building because the next job was riding on it.

What Common Ground did

• Fowler read the license before the budget. Tellus was not licensed as a contractor in Nevada, which closed the general contractor seat but not the job.
• He laid out three delivery structures side by side by who holds what: a Nevada general contractor on a lump sum, a pass-through contractor of record, and owner-held trade contracts with Tellus as the owner's construction manager. The pass-through added a layer without moving any risk off the owner, so it fell out.
• He recommended the owner-held structure only after checking three conditions against this job: the trades were known, the scope was a build-out, and the date was real.
• He put the risk transfer to Shelby plainly: overrun exposure and warranty recourse would sit with the owner, in exchange for taking the contractor's layer off the cost and off the calendar. Shelby accepted it with its eyes open.
• Each trade contracted directly with Shelby on its own Nevada license, on scopes and a schedule of values Tellus wrote and ran from the owner's side, so buyout ran at the speed of calling people Tellus already knew.
• Fowler ran the sequence, the cost, every change and the building department directly.

Results

• The facility opened on schedule in March 2015.
• Tellus's own press release the following year put the saving against the general contractor path at upwards of $300,000: the contractor's fee and the part of general conditions Tellus's coordination replaced, net of the fee Shelby paid Tellus to run the job.
• A three-condition test for going without a general contractor: known trades, a build-out rather than new structure, and a date that cannot move. If any one fails, hire the contractor.

External links

• Public data room: Shelby: Gardena hub and Las Vegas plant data room

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