Renovating an occupied hospital is the hardest thing a general contractor does. Patients are on the other side of the wall. Here is what a facility director should expect, and what to look for in the interview.
An infection control risk assessment for every phase
The ICRA defines the class of containment for each phase of work: barriers, negative air, HEPA, anterooms, how workers enter and leave. It is written with the facility's infection prevention staff and reviewed before every phase. A contractor who has done this has ICRA templates and can describe class IV containment without looking it up.
Interim life-safety measures
Construction changes exits, fire separations and alarm coverage. The ILSM plan documents what is affected and what compensates: fire watch, temporary exits, extra extinguishers. The Joint Commission asks for it.
Shutdowns planned with nursing
Medical gas, power, water and HVAC shutdowns are scheduled weeks out with nursing leadership, not with facilities alone. The superintendent should know which units are affected and who the charge nurse is.
A superintendent who has done it
Ask the superintendent, not the PM, how many occupied-hospital projects they have run. It is a field skill. Ours has run thirty.
What it costs
Occupied-hospital work costs more and takes longer than the same square footage in a shell. A contractor who prices it like a TI has not done it.
CM at risk, design-build or general contract: which one fits your project
Three ways to hire a general contractor, what each one does to cost, schedule and control, and how we help owners choose.
Why preconstruction estimates miss, and how to tell if yours will
Square-foot history, missing scope and optimism. The three reasons a number fails, and the questions an owner can ask at the first meeting.
How a construction schedule should be reported to an owner
Weekly, with the critical path marked, the float shown and the slips explained. If your updates do not look like this, ask why.
Tell us about the project. We will tell you what it costs and how long it takes.
A project executive replies the same business day. Conceptual estimates within two weeks of the information we need.