Bath Fitter

Summarize the project's program, features and achievements.

Bath Fitter is a 41,628 square foot, two-story building located in Washington, Utah. It is comprised of 12 individual 2,700 square feet (roughly) units that feature an additional 880 square foot mezzanines. The well-crafted integrally colored and sandblasted tilt-up walls create variation, texture and dimension. In addition, the wall panels were over-lapped and staggered at different heights to add further architectural interest. This highly visible project just off of I-15 generates appeal for other companies to use exposed architectural tilt-up as it will last many years and require little maintenance. Due to the small site and surrounding slopes, retaining walls were constructed before the building to create enough swing space for the crane to erect the wall panels. The project was completed both on time and on budget despite times of such uncertainty. The entire project team constantly reviewed the work to ensure it exceeded client expectations. Open communications with all parties in weekly coordination meetings, the use of technology, and regular walk-throughs helped keep all levels of workers on a high standard of quality. Bath Fitter will benefit for years to come with very little maintenance costs and high energy efficiency with this building.

What obstacles were overcome related to the schedule, budget, program, specification, site, etc. on this project?

Hughes General Contractors takes great pride in making sure that our clients are happy with their building. Bath Fitter was no exception as we worked diligently with the client to ensure the color and sandblasting choices for the tilt-up panels were the exact style they were searching for. Hughes' in-house design team creates our own tilt-up shop drawings to provide crews with accurate and verified details & dimensions. Using these accurate shop drawings to construct panels allows our concrete workers to pour and lift panels to exact specifications for a near-flawless result. The drawings also ensure panels are lifted correctly as to prevent cracking. Hughes faced a great challenge of keeping the project on budget due to the cost of materials escalating. To combat the issue, tilt-up concrete was used as the least volatile method of construction as well as providing a beautiful, durable and cost efficient structure.

What is the potential for this project's impact on the community and/or environment?

Because of the great visibility of the site, this concrete tilt up project has and will continue to generate interest for other companies to use tilt up as a means of construction that that will last many years and require little maintenance.