For 30 years, Mercury Builders and Contractors Inc. has stood apart from other general contractors. They are one of the few who offer a design-build at no cost initially to the tenant. 

“We can tell you one of three spaces that may work best for them,” said owner Jeff Gehring. 

Gehring said he thinks it’s important to hire a local company that has been in the community for at least 10 years, has a class B license, and can offer some competitive pricing and experience in completing a project similar to what is being asked.

“We’ve done dozens of office and clinic buildouts,” he said. “COVID-19 took people home and they’re trying to figure out how to do at-home offices and be ergonomic. It’s trending the way of temporary spaces and group spaces like before COVID-19. 

Gehring said they have been seeing a lot of a temporary/interim space where companies have a traveling consultant and there are a lot of collaborative workspaces where people can do group activities. 

One company that Gehring’s Mercury Builders helped was Primerica. 

“They worked with our realtor after we found the space, got an architect in there, made all the adjustments quickly and the work was done in 60 days,” said Ken Engelmeyer. “Their crews are excellent. There was even a little service after they came back to fix our doors. It was a good experience.” 

Engelmeyer said he’s referred them to other remodels and businesses and homes. 

“They have multiple plans for homes but can customize them or do them completely from scratch,” he said. “Their work is competent and their subcontractors have been with them for years. They make the complicated simple.” 

Engelmeyer said he’s known Gehring as a friend. 

“We’ve helped each other in business over the years,” he said. “It’s a piece of business with friends that do good work.” 

Gehring said Zoom has created a lot of demand, too, where people can meet and get larger screens on the wall. 

“We are having to reorient these rooms to accommodate Zoom more,” he said. 

He’s seen an increase in the need to have transitional space as opposed to putting hard offices in. 

“We can do temporary walls or partitions depending on what the needs are,” Gehring said. “A lot of them are cubicles that can be modified fairly quickly and partitioned walls. There are more landing platforms for laptops in case a pandemic happens again.”

Gehring said they have been going back to the same companies they’ve worked with and modifying their spaces for them. 

“I believe Mercury Contractors stand apart by offering very competitive pricing, offering a very detailed project management timeline, and completed in a very expeditious manner,” he said.

“In addition, we offer a design-build package for new tenants, including law firms, that provides them initial cost estimates, tenant fit feasibility, code review and an overall layout at no cost to them.” 

Gehring said they meet with clients initially with an architect that is very experienced in determining what design layouts work the best for them. 

“This allows them to discern which space they are looking at would best suit their firm’s needs and the most optimal design layout that would work for their attorneys,” he said. “We try to go beyond what other general contractors would do,  by minimizing change orders, and providing value engineering that reduces costs yet does not diminish quality.” 

Gehring said that is particularly critical when they are working with a specific budget.  

“We partner with CMBA Architects, which are on the cutting edge of modern design and energy efficient plans to best suit a law firm,” he said. “Typically, when you hire a general contractor, you must go out and hire an architect, mechanical, structural and electrical engineer. In addition, you may need an interior designer. By hiring Mercury Contractors, we include all these services.”

Gehring said commonly overlooked problems and issues that come up include a large number of change orders. 

“This can happen because the general contractor is not aware of local codes, architectural errors or not using a good architect,” he said. “More importantly, lack of experience and understanding what that type of construction project will involve is a problem.” 

Gehring said a lack of planning can be detrimental. 

“For example, not including a break room, not enough room for their conference room, not enough temporary spaces,” he said. “We provide a design-build with an architectural firm at no additional cost to the client, so that we can eliminate issues that might occur like that. This can cause major design reworks, an amended set of permitted plans and much additional expense and turn around time to the client.

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