FMI Corp research is clear: preconstruction is the #1 differentiator when clients select a general contractor. Not the build. Not the closeout. The work that happens before a shovel touches dirt.
Makes sense when you think about what buyers are actually buying. They’re not buying a building. They’re buying a plan to build a building — executed by people they hope will solve the problems the plan doesn’t anticipate. The quality of that plan, and the credibility of the people behind it, is where certainty is either built or borrowed.
ANDRES builds it.
28
Years — Jeff Kempf at ANDRES
$950M
Adaptive Reuse Portfolio
20+
Avg. Leadership Tenure (Years)
Every ANDRES project starts here.
PM and superintendent walk the site — or the existing building — and identify 3 to 5 specific conditions they expect to encounter during construction. Not a risk register in a binder. Not a boilerplate matrix. A conversation on the site, pointing at real conditions, with the people who will actually manage them.
Here’s what they brought to the Cabana walkthrough: the column tolerance cascade — how a half-inch offset in the existing structural grid compounds through framing, drywall, and corridors. The pool deck structural condition — corroded rebar expanding inside the concrete, blowing out the slab from within. The asbestos in the roof flashing — and what happens when the adhesion is so strong that stripping it brings the parapet walls down.
Not hypothetical risks. Specific conditions identified by a PM with 15 years of adaptive reuse experience, standing in the building where they’ll occur.
Most contractors sell certainty they can’t deliver. We name the uncertainty — and show you exactly who’s going to deal with it.
When a contractor who has delivered $950M in adaptive reuse projects tells you what’s going to go wrong — and how they plan to solve it — that creates more certainty than a promise of zero surprises. Because zero surprises is a fiction. And everybody in this industry knows it.
Jeff Kempf leads preconstruction at ANDRES as Senior Vice President. Twenty-eight years at the company.
In an industry where superintendent tenure at a single firm is measured in single digits, Jeff has spent nearly three decades building the preconstruction process that defines how ANDRES approaches every project. His estimating methodology. His trade partner relationships. His understanding of the Texas subcontractor market. His instinct for where a project’s cost risk actually lives.
None of that is in a procedures manual. It lives in 28 years of practice.
When Jeff walks a site, he’s not reading a checklist. He’s comparing this building to every building he’s walked before. The conditions that surprise a less experienced estimator are conditions Jeff has already solved — or watched his team solve — on a previous project.
Site Investigation & Condition Assessment — Physical walkthrough. Structural conditions, environmental concerns, access constraints, regulatory requirements. For adaptive reuse, this means detailed assessment of existing systems, code compliance gaps, and historic preservation obligations. We’re looking for what the drawings don’t show.
The Complexity Walk — 3 to 5 specific conditions documented with proposed resolution strategies. This is where the PM and superintendent who will run the job meet the owner and design team — face to face, on site — and demonstrate that they already understand what this project is going to throw at them.
Estimating & Value Engineering — Cost modeling based on real trade partner pricing. Not database averages. Jeff’s 28-year network means our estimates reflect what subs will actually charge — not what a cost database suggests they should.
Schedule Development — Built from the complexity map forward. The conditions identified in the Walk inform the critical path — because the conditions that create the most uncertainty are the ones that drive the timeline.
Team Assignment — The PM and superintendent are assigned during preconstruction. Not after the contract is signed. You meet your team before you commit. This is a fundamental difference from contractors who sell the project with senior leadership and hand it off to whoever’s available.
When a developer selects a GC, they’re evaluating two things: can this team build my project, and will they solve the problems my project will inevitably create.
The first question is a qualification check. Most GCs in Texas can build a multifamily project or a hotel renovation. That’s table stakes.
The second question is the real decision. And the only way to answer it credibly is to demonstrate — before the contract — that your team has already started solving problems. They’ve walked the site. They’ve identified conditions. They have specific, informed opinions about what’s going to happen and how they’ll handle it.
That’s what preconstruction produces at ANDRES. Not a proposal. A demonstration of competence, applied to this specific project, by the specific people who will run it.
Preconstruction quality is directly proportional to team tenure. Straightforward.
An estimator who has priced 18 adaptive reuse projects in Texas has a cost intuition that no database can replicate. A PM who has managed three ownership changes on a 52-story building knows which contract clauses actually matter. A superintendent who has moved 500 workers through a single freight elevator knows what the logistics plan needs to account for.
ANDRES’s leadership team averages 20-plus years together. The preconstruction process draws on decades of accumulated project knowledge — not just one PM’s experience, but the collective memory of a team that has been solving Texas construction problems together for longer than most competitors have existed.
Portfolio
Cathedral Guadalupe
Dallas, TX
Required coordination with the Diocese of Dallas, National Park Service, and Texas Historical Commission before any construction could begin. The historic tax credit application ($100M) was a preconstruction deliverable — built from detailed condition assessment and preservation planning that became the project’s regulatory foundation.
The National
Dallas, TX
52 stories. $460M. One freight elevator. The logistics plan — staggered shifts, floor-by-floor workforce management, material staging for 80,000 sheets of sheetrock — was designed during preconstruction. When COVID hit, that framework provided the structure for adapting operations without stopping the project.
Cabana
Dallas Design District, TX
Carlos Trevino’s preconstruction investigation identified the pool deck structural condition before demolition began. When the rebar cages proved impenetrable — a condition not on any drawing — the team had already planned for structural unknowns in the schedule. Asbestos abatement sequencing was designed during preconstruction to align with Southside Environmental’s dual-scope contract.
Knox Street
Dallas, TX
$619M JV with Balfour Beatty. Preconstruction required defining the handoff zone between Balfour’s structural scope and ANDRES’s finish scope. Every tolerance interface — where structural concrete meets 1/16-inch finish work — was mapped before ground broke. The scheme system for 46 custom condos was built during preconstruction to manage individual buyer selections against brand standards.
Magnolia
Dallas, TX
Same owner as Cabana (Sycamore Group). Carlos Trevino as PM. Currently in preconstruction. The owner already built with ANDRES and specifically requested the same PM for their next project. That’s the proof.
People Also Ask
What is the Complexity Walk?
It’s how ANDRES starts every project. Before ground breaks, the PM and superintendent who will manage the job walk the site with the owner and design team. They identify 3 to 5 specific conditions they expect to encounter — and present their plan for each one. Not a risk register. A face-to-face demonstration that the people building your project have already started thinking about what’s going to go wrong and how they’ll handle it.
Why is preconstruction the most important phase?
Because it’s where the project’s cost, schedule, and risk profile are actually established. Once construction begins, the team is executing against the plan preconstruction produced. The accuracy of the estimate, the realism of the schedule, the thoroughness of the site investigation — that determines whether the project delivers or spends 18 months managing surprises.
How does ANDRES’s preconstruction differ from other Texas GCs?
Three ways. The PM and superintendent are assigned during preconstruction, not after — you meet your team before committing. The Complexity Walk gives you a site-based demonstration of competence, not a conference-room slide deck. And our estimating draws on 28 years of Texas trade partner relationships, so pricing reflects actual market conditions.
How early should a developer engage a GC for preconstruction?
As early as possible. Ideally during schematic design. The earlier we’re involved, the more value we add through constructability review, value engineering, and early identification of conditions that will affect cost and schedule. For adaptive reuse and conversion projects, early engagement is critical — the existing building’s conditions can fundamentally change feasibility.
Does ANDRES charge for preconstruction services?
Scope and fee structure are defined in the project agreement. The investment pays for itself many times over by identifying cost risks early, avoiding change orders during construction, and producing a realistic schedule that accounts for what this project actually is — not a generic timeline that needs revision by month three.
Who leads preconstruction at ANDRES?
Jeff Kempf. Senior Vice President. 28 years at ANDRES. His tenure means the preconstruction process draws on nearly three decades of Texas construction knowledge — trade partner relationships, cost intuition, regulatory familiarity, and the kind of pattern recognition that only comes from sustained practice in one market.
Before We Break Ground, We Walk You Through What’s Going to Go Wrong.
That’s the Complexity Walk. Not a promise of zero surprises — a demonstration that we’ve already identified the ones we expect and we know who’s going to handle them. If you’re planning a project in Texas, start with the team that would run it.