Tullahoma, Tennessee
Stan McNabb Chevrolet Buick GMC Cadillac
After almost 40 years in the same building, Stan McNabb Chevrolet needed some updating – and a little more room to maneuver. They wanted a major renovation, but they didn’t want to close down the whole business for several months. Fortunately, Carden Company has a lot experience with just that kind of project.
When the owners of Stan McNabb Chevrolet came to Carden Company to talk about the renovation and expansion of their showroom, offices and service area, they had two major concerns. They wanted the project completed in time to take advantage of some special Chevrolet promotions. And they wanted to be able to continue to operate the business during construction.
They came to the right people. Carden Company has managed construction sites at several other operating businesses, including another car dealership, an elementary school – even a firehouse (see the “Featured Projects” for Thoroughbred Motors, St. Paul Christian Academy and the Lebanon Fire Station).
By utilizing pre-engineered building components from Butler Manufacturing for the renovated and expanded areas, Carden was able to provide high-quality construction, designed to the owners specifications, but at a speed conventional construction couldn’t match. The expanded facility was completed in just 5 1/2 months. Owner Trent McNabb was pleased with how well Carden met the tight timeline. “They accomplished a lot in a short amount of time,” he said.
For this particular project there were three major concerns for maintaining operation during the construction: keeping the service areas open as much as possible, even during their renovation; allowing the sales staff to meet customers conveniently and safely during the expansion and renovation of the showrooms and offices; and finally, maintaining the electricity and computer servers throughout construction.
The service areas needed a new roof and walls, paint, lighting and floor. The Butler roof was designed to attach directly to the old roof, requiring no disruption to the work area below. The service area was able to continue to operate by shifting equipment around the space even during the floor and lighting installation.
The showroom, on the other hand, was a complete rebuild, and the offices were gutted for a complete renovation. Accommodating the operation of the dealership during such a major renovation required careful planning – and on-going management – of the building schedule and the construction zone.
Dealership staff moved to trailers where sales staff were able to meet with customers throughout the construction process. Even the customer lounge for the service area was in a trailer.
Of particular concern for the smooth operation of the business was maintaining the power supply to the trailers – and not disrupting their computer servers. As the computer hub for three dealerships, it was vital the Tullahoma store’s computer servers avoid damage and disruption during demolition and reconstruction.
Owner Trent McNabb was impressed with how Carden Company managed the project and communicated with him throughout the project – from regular meetings every other week to quick responses from the Carden people on-site and at the home office.
Giving special commendation to the job superintendent (Clint Morgan) and project manager (Rad York), he said, “They were great. Clint – anything we asked him to do, it was always, ‘I’ll take care of it.’ Rad was always on top of everything, whether it was getting quotes or setting up something, change orders. I’d say if we ever have another project, we’d definitely want to talk to them about it.”