Brentwood, Tennessee
Tennessee Society of CPAs
The Tennessee Society of Certified Public Accountants wanted to expand and upgrade their facility with high-tech training rooms and enhanced meeting spaces – and they wanted to be able to continue regular office operations during construction.
The headquarters for Tennessee’s CPAs was in need of a renovation: the Society needed more space for meetings and training sessions – and technical upgrades that could never have been envisioned when Carden Company built their original structure. They also had a deadline, with a goal of being able to hold their fall training sessions in the new space.
Happy with their building, Brad Floyd, the Director of the Society, went back to the original builder for the renovation. And Carden Company was able to bring in the original architect, John Tettleton of Centric Architecture.
But familiarity with the building didn’t mean completely smooth sailing. Some complex engineering was required to maintain the structure’s integrity during the renovation, with the roofline needing reinforcement. “There were some complications there,” said Architect Tettleton. “We knew about them going in, but even with knowing about them, once Carden began to do some demolition and exposed things up in the roof structure, we had to make some adjustments in the field.”
Though he wanted his office to operate during the renovation, Director Floyd had some reservations about how that could be accomplished with a staff of 18-20 working full-time in the building during the construction. The result surprised him: “At the end of the project the individual who served as the on-site supervisor was beloved by my staff,” said Floyd. “They wanted to keep him around; they were sad to see him go, actually. That pleased him – he worked very hard to make sure they were not disturbed.”
Other aspects of the management of the project also impressed him. With regular weekly or bi-weekly meetings, Carden Company’s team kept him abreast of developments – and gave him valuable advice in a timely fashion: “They all had a very personal involvement in ensuring we stayed on cost,” said Floyd. “They even offered suggestions that didn’t occur to me on ways to trim some costs that were unnecessary.”
“When we originally built this building we had some fairly competitive bidding going on and it was an arduous process,” said Floyd.“But when the time came to add on, we didn’t hesitate to ask them. We knew Carden Company had done such a great job in building it and was familiar with the structure – but they still exceeded our expectations. If you came in today, you’d have no idea it was an add-on there.”