Rise and grind!
Here are a few tips for commercial and industrial general contractors and developers to be aware of us we enter the new year with unprecedented delays and supply chain issues. We will take the lead and navigate through all of these issues for you! Let us show you how!
#1 – Plan early and often. With electrical switchgear leadtimes for any service over 600 amps, you can plan on 28-60+ weeks for procurement! Consider working with your owners to issue partial PO’s on switchgear, or better yet partnering with MEP partners prior to other bid packages to meet owner expectations.
#2 – Be wary of utility leadtimes. While switchgear leadtimes are a major headache, utility transformer availability is a debilitating migraine. We were told in Q3 by our Xcel representative that it will not be uncommon to see 1+ year leadtimes to get utility power. One project we applied for this week has a 440 day lead for utility transformer installation. This could be less or more with municipal utility providers, or other utility providers. Again, proper planning delivers positive project results.
#3 – Be flexible! My engineer friends may not fully agree, but we may need to shelve the original electrical design and get back to the drawing board with collaborative design-build mindsets. On a few recent projects, we had to rethink our switchgear and distribution intent to lower leadtimes by 3 months.
Don’t get caught in the cold, pick a contractor like Laketown Electric Corporation that has navigated difficult challenges for nearly 50 years, and has one of the largest, most experienced workforces and management teams in Minnesota. We also will never turn away your one-hour service call.
