About MCS Construction Company
History and Company Philosophy
MAYNARD C. SMITH CONSTRUCTION COMPANY, INC. —
MCS is a locally-owned firm based in Charleston, West Virginia, specializing in commercial general construction and construction management. We were incorporated in 1994 and our management staff has more than 75 years of combined construction experience.
The majority of our business is with repeat clients and includes many owners of the more familiar buildings in the Charleston area. MCS has a strong reputation for completing projects on time and on or under budget, but our reputation extends beyond that.
With MCS, owners know exactly where their project stands during all phases of construction; however, often times the work provided begins long before MCS appears on a job site.
MCS uses the appropriate project delivery system — all the procedures, actions, sequences of events, contractual relations, obligations, interrelations and various forms of agreement — aimed at successful completion of the design and construction of buildings and other structures. There is no best delivery system. All are appropriate in particular circumstances, something MCS has repeatedly successfully performed.
Project Delivery Methods
We are a commercial General Contractor and we are the business entity that performs the project delivery methods described below. Project Delivery Methods are contracting delivery methods that an Owner may use. We use four distinct methods.
1. Construction Management
Construction Management is a project delivery method whereby we, as the construction entity, provide leadership to the construction process through a series of services to the owner, including design review, overall scheduling, cost control, value engineering, constructability, preparation of bid packages and construction coordination. This approach adopts a team relationship with the Owner and Architect and further complements the experience of the general contractor.
2. Design/Bid/Build
Design/Bid/Build is a project delivery method based on the Owner’s completion of contract documents (plans and specifications) that are prepared by the Owner’s Architect. General contracting firms participate by invitation or by responding to newspaper advertisements that announce the project’s bid date and other bid criteria. This method results in competitive pricing of the project and submission of bids to the Owner and Architect by their specified date. The General Contractor for the project is then selected. This relationship is the most prevalent delivery method, but possibly the most adversarial of the four methods.
3. Design/Build
Design/Build is a project delivery method used when the prime design builder is an Architect and/or Contractor. This may be a joint venture agreement or a traditional contractual agreement between the parties designing the facility to be constructed. The advantage of this method is that it provides a single-point of contact or relationship for an Owner. The Owner should be knowledgeable about construction materials and building systems to ensure the quality of the final product.
4. Negotiated
Negotiation is the preferred method for project delivery. The Owner, with his previously selected Architect, can select a General Contractor on the basis of the General Contractor’s experience. The team can define the parameters of building systems, which allows the General Contractor to prepare budgets of cost. Once accepted by all parties, the Budget is the basis of the contract agreement.
Construction Means and Methods — How We Build It
Maynard C. Smith Construction Company, Inc. participates in the Charleston LEAD Drug-Free Workplace Program.