A Chicago High-Rise Renovation

In one of the Lake Shore Drive towers designed by Mies van der Rohe, a 2,500-square-foot residence overlooking the lake needed a full gut renovation. With that much work and that much interior detail to bring together, the engagement started with two things: a schedule baseline and a responsibility matrix for every party.

The schedule, finalized with a Level 3 breakdown of every activity, revolved around one critical path: the custom Italian kitchen cabinetry, WBS 4.B, at 158 working days from purchase order to site. Closets and bathrooms from the same suppliers followed the same route but finished production in 90 days, carrying 30 and 32 days of float. The kitchen carried none, and got full attention because its path ran through millwork, then stone, then trim-out.

From that reading came a rhythm the whole team could plan around: a weekly control report, a weekly Owner call, a check-in with the designer every two weeks, and a decision log where every open choice carried a name, a due date and a 48-hour response window. The import chain was tracked against full project float, and site work on a two- to four-week lookahead. Everything that follows was caught by that routine.

The manufacturer quoted 22 weeks door to site at tender, with no mention of the annual Ferragosto closure: three weeks in August when Italian factories shut, falling right inside the production window. Taken as quoted, the kitchen would have arrived about three weeks past its installation date, on the one track with no float.

Coordination with the design team and the factory found a way around the closure: the tall units moved from custom wood veneer to matte lacquer — the finish the designer had already chosen for the island and the closets — with the veneer kept for the lower cabinetry. The design intent was kept consistent, and production came forward two weeks, clearing the closure with a week to spare and a further week of cushion. The January 13 delivery date held through receiving.

The same review caught a 3 mm gap between the Gaggenau refrigerator opening and the millwork panel as drawn. Revising it before the kitchen order went out avoided $3,500 to $5,000 in reorder and field-modification costs in January.

At MEP rough-in, the kitchen soffit could not hold both the HVAC duct and the specified upper cabinets under the ceiling as built. Two remedies went to the Owner with the cost of each: reframe the soffit and pay in schedule, or drop the cabinet line by 8.5 inches and pay in design. The Owner chose the reframe to keep the design, and the decision was logged with a name and a date.

The logged decision paid off in December, when the diffuser was set 40 mm off its agreed position, right where the filler panel closes the upper cabinets against the soffit. A written non-conformance went out with the coordinated drawing and a site survey, and the GC and the HVAC subcontractor settled on a 70/30 share: the trades for the placement, the Owner for the reframe it had chosen. The Owner’s share was $1,950 of $6,500, and the diffuser was moved eleven days before the kitchen arrived.

After five months of steady gains, the schedule index eased to 0.958 in October, still inside every threshold. The variance report went out the same week to put the cause on record. Two changes were behind it: an Owner-requested stone tile upgrade, chosen after the delivered tile was confirmed within specification, and drywall carried over from the September fast track. Both were complete, neither touched the critical path, and cost held exactly on budget. The index recovered the following month.

By January all eight FF&E tracks were received or in final delivery, construction stood at 92 percent, and the readiness report reached the Owner three days before the go/no-go. Two small decisions eased the last stretch. One extra $500 day was authorized for the cabinet installer to coordinate the stone overhang with the fabricator, saving a return visit and two days of fabrication. At delivery, a 4 cm transit scratch on a cabinet door was photographed and countersigned by the delivery crew before acceptance, so the replacement came under warranty and installation stayed on schedule.

Across eleven months, ten change orders came to 13 percent of the construction contract, above its 12 percent limit. After cost sharing, the Owner’s net was 11 percent, inside the limit, with no days added.

The project reached substantial completion on its baseline date. The four cosmetic items from the final walkthrough closed within a week, final lien waivers were in hand, and the GC’s retainage was released on time. The job closed $22,100 under budget, including $17,550 of unused contingency returned to the Owner, and the home was ready for the move-in date set at the very start.