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Affiliate Profile
C.W. Driver
Utilizing appropriate and flexible construction delivery methods, C.W. Driver has developed a partnering philosophy that works cohesively with owners, architects and project team members. The company also brings an understanding of its client’s needs to bear on each project. These two elements set C.W. Driver apart from the rank-and-file of contractors who employ an inflexible approach to project needs. Commanding a dominant presence in Orange County, the venerable company – the oldest active licensed builder headquartered in Southern California – is changing the way the built environment gets built. With more efficient delivery methods, an expert, tenured team and a strong commitment to fulfilling the needs and dreams of its clients, Driver has redefined the role of the contractor to advocate and implement design solutions at the embryonic stage.
Statewide, C.W. Driver has consistently displayed its expertise in healthcare, education, entertainment and retail. In Orange County, Driver has exploded onto the stages of theme parks and education. The builder is currently engaged in operations with every community college district in the county. In addition, two major theme parks have enlisted Driver in some of their largest ventures to date. Within these vastly different cultures, C.W. Driver maintains a tailor-made sensitivity well beyond standard contracting practices.
C.W. Driver has worked with major theme parks for over twenty years and is currently engaged on one of the most challenging and complex themed attractions envisioned to date. According to John Thornton, Vice President of Operations in Irvine, “We gave our client a different delivery method because it suited the needs of the project and the client. They were used to the lump sum bid process.” The delivery method – CM/GC – initiated on a recent major theme park project, was implemented by Driver, a twenty-year veteran in the parks. This delivery method was similar to the CM Multi-Prime one used in Driver’s work in the county’s school districts, where the builder prepared bid packages, including detailed scope of work, and publicly bid the work in open competition. Taking the reigns for one theme park, a thirty-month schedule was cut in half. The collaborative process of Design Assist was required to get the job on line. Design was ongoing, which forged a close relationship with designers and trades. The steel drawings, for instance, were in “various stages of being complete,” said Thornton. “Drawings went out to bid at 60% of completion. Things not elaborated in the drawings had to be anticipated.” Driver’s task was to provide “what the architect has not filled in on paper yet.” Driver developed very tight bid packages by trade. “You’re dealing ultimately with the person who is putting the work in place, and this creates the efficiencies as well as cost control for the project,” said Thornton.
Ongoing projects in education include the expansion of Fullerton College, with multiple architectural firms. The 30 new construction and renovation projects feature a new library and learning resource center, parking structure, office building, renovation of 18 buildings and classrooms, a childcare center in addition to seismic and electrical upgrades. At Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Driver is working with LPA, Inc. on a three-story structure that will house health science teaching laboratories, administrative offices, District offices and classrooms. With Hill Partnership, Inc., Driver is in the process of renovating the former Watson Library at Orange Coast College into new classroom and office space. Additionally, Rancho Santiago Community College District is the newest of C.W. Driver’s community college clients.
This upsurge in education is partly the result of the passage of recent bond measures, which allowed C.W. Driver to step in with their unique CM approach. According to Steve Pellegren, Vice President of PreConstruction in Pasadena, “community colleges needed to have companies to represent them that could orchestrate the construction process. This is the role the CM fulfills: working with the architect and representing the owner through bidding, planning and construction.” The close collaboration C.W. Driver brings to the table eschews the traditional adversarial role of builder pitted against designer. As Pellegren observed, “It is relatively unique that a builder has such strong relations with a designer and fosters architects and engineers as partners.”
C.W. Driver has ever sought to attract the best and the brightest in its employees. Its tenured employees take great pride in the work they do. Pellegren muses about working with theme parks: “It’s fun to build rides, to take your kids to the park, be the first ones to ride a new attraction and say, ‘I built that.’” Thornton is equally proud. For an addition to the Mission Hospital for Pediatrics in Mission Viejo, Thornton is looking towards a timely completion, noting that his wife will be delivering triplets there in May.
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