May 11, 2018

Commercial Construction
less than $5 million

Photo from ABC of Western Washington

Rafn unexpectedly had to remove five underground fuel tanks.

HomeStreet Bank Tacoma
Rafn Co.

Architect: MG2

Rafn Co. built this 8,800-square-foot HomeStreet Bank in Tacoma with structural steel, engineered metal I joists, wood and metal stud framing, Allura fiber cement siding, stone masonry, accent steel and aluminum sunshades.

While construction took about 8.5 months to complete, the scope of work involved about seven months of preconstruction services that included estimation of building sizes and configuration, and value-engineering to reduce cost. The foreman’s proactive scheduling approach of looking for opportunities to move ahead when possible, and taking advantage of limited good weather days, allowed Rafn to complete the project nearly four weeks ahead of schedule.

Rafn encountered a few challenges during its work. First, it was discovered that the site required extensive cleanup, such as removal of five underground fuel tanks and surrounding contaminated soil, even though the site was given a Department of Ecology “no further action” required letter before excavation had begun.

The site also had no utility services, which meant that Rafn had to bring in stormwater and communications lines, as well as gas service.

Complex and highly inflexible construction components made tolerances extremely tight, making this project unforgiving when it came to adjustments. Double- and triple-checking dimensions was a must. This also made fitting duct work through the RedBuilt wood bar ceiling posts difficult.

Of the 7,107.5 hours worked on this project, there were zero OSHA-recordable cases of injury that required days away from work, nor were there any instances that required job transfer or restriction.

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