About the Nigro Firm: Working with Natalie Nigro

It may sound cliche, but we all know that a company is only as good as its' people.

So in order for you to get to know us a little better, from the inside out, I am going to tell you about the inner core of the Nigro Firm. I am going to tell you a little about Natalie Nigro our President. And not the kind of stuff you typically see in a resume or a company portfolio, I am going to tell you a little about her, what she likes and dislikes and what it is like to meet her.

First Meeting
When I first met Natalie Nigro, I was coming in to talk to her because I heard from a friend that they were looking for someone to help out in the office. I think I actually met Natalie and Shirley, her mother and partner, on a Saturday afternoon, to accommodate my work schedule at the time. My first impression was that she was cheery, personable and curious about me, how I worked and how I thought. It turned out that I did not fit the position she was looking for, but she thought she could fit me into the company in a different capacity. She asked me when I could start and I said, "Right now." And she took me up on it. Our first project, believe it or not, was to install an office corner desk. A few seconds into the project I already figured out how Natalie and Shirley work together, how their different talents and strengths could be focused into a single project. Shirley was working the tools and lying under the desk taking care of the "infrastructure" so to speak and Natalie had the level out ensuring "quality control." As soon as I saw Natalie pull the level out and REALLY use it, I knew what kind of lady I was going to be working with.

Personality Traits
Natalie is a dynamic and intelligent woman, but here are a few of the highlights:

• She is a list maker and actually completes her tasks.


• She is a researcher... she never starts a new endeavor without knowing what she is getting into.


• She has a big brain... she can understand complex topics, mathematics, physics and tedious procedures.


• She rarely gets angry, but if she does, she has a really good reason.


• She is a good communicator and knows how to handle delicate or stressful topics without stressing out who she is talking to.


• She is extremely flexible, except when it comes to deadlines.


• She is always willing to lend a helping hand, which is why she has to get out of the office from time to time, otherwise she would never stop helping reviewers.
  

Things she likes (not work related):

• World of Warcraft (WOW)... she would play all night if she could.
  
• Beagles and cute kitties or any stray that needs a home.


• Raw, vegan, vegetarian and organic food, though if she has to cook, pizza delivered is good enough.


• Collectible swords, shields and medieval weapons... she even has a spear in her office.


• American Idol and Dancing with the Stars.


• Dog training and organic pet diets... she makes the beagles' dog food every day, no store bought bags of dog food for them.
  

Things she does not like (not work related):

• Yard work, mowing lawns or snow removal... if on her own she would have a condo.


• Heavy metal or hard rock and roll... Barbra Streisand and Abba suit her fine.


• Spicy food... mild is her version of "hot and spicy."


• Uncomfortable clothes... no high heels or business dress for her, unless she absolutely must.


• Mornings... though she does often work in the early hours of the morning, she would rather work at the crack of noon.

Well, now you know a little about Natalie Nigro. So next time you call her up to plan a coordination review you can ask her how the beagles are and how late she stayed up the night before playing WOW.

And if you want to read a little about her in a professional sense see, The Nigro Firm's President Natalie Nigro.

Or check out, Who answers the phones at the Nigro Firm.

You are also always welcome to just give her a call, she will tell you all about construction document coordination reviews.

Authored by:
Pamela S. Stevens, Content Development and Writer

Top 10 Ways to Save Money in Construction Costs in 2009 (Not Really)

We like to have fun every now and then and inject humor into our sites, as the new year approaches we have created our top ten ways to save money in your constructions costs and the cost of running your company in 2009...not really, meaning really DON'T follow these tips, they are just for fun.

Top Ten Ways to Save Money for Construction Companies in 2009...Not Really

10. Require all offices to run the coffee maker TWICE per each load of coffee grounds and reuse the filter.

9. Replace all toilet rolls with single ply paper and only allow each employee to use one square per visit.

8. Save costs on gas by only working on projects downhill from the construction supply center.

7. Reduce the number of porta-potties on site and supply a bucket for overflow.

6. Instead of providing a weekly box of donuts just buy a single bag of M&Ms and give out one to each person.

5. Cover worn tread on work truck tires with duct tape, duct tape fixes everything right?

4. Use error ridden construction drawings to line the inside of worn out work boots to keep your crews feet warm and dry.

3. Replace all company cell phones with two cans and a string or pagers recovered from 1989.

2. Go back to dial-up, it will slow down your Internet service to the point that your employees will get frustrated with trying to shop on Amazon or check their MySpace and will actually get bored enough to ...work.

1. Call us...seriously, no kidding, joking aside we can save you tons of money. Give us a call.

New Construction Cartoon: Seasons Greetings from the Nigro Firm

We here at the Nigro Firm wish you a
happy holiday and a PROSPEROUS and busy New Year!

The above holiday cartoon is the newest cartoon on our construction humor site, Blueprint Bluepers. It was not inspired from an actual construction drawing error, though we have seen toilets placed in showers and in the middle of a waiting room...so we didn't think this was pushing it.

Coming up with the "one-liners" used in our cartoon is always fun, here are the runner ups:

• Santa may be in a hurry… but this is pushing multi-tasking a little too far.
• A simple porta-potty on the roof would have sufficed.
• Just because the economy seems to be tanking, no reason to flush Santa down with it.
• Unfortunately, Santa’s amazing fireplace skills cannot compete with the Tidy Bowl man.
• Whoever left the lid up is getting coal in their stocking.
• Santa suddenly realizes why the chimney stack looked surprisingly similar to a roof vent.

If you would like to avoid these kind of silly construction errors, please give us a call, we would love to review your drawings so you don't run into any of these "humorous" and expensive errors onsite.

Construction Cartoons: Blueprint Bluepers Newest Cartoon

This year we had our artist, Chaise Payan create a Thanksgiving construction cartoon just for us. You can see this cartoon and others on our construction humor site, Blueprint Bluepers.


A thanksgiving note from our president, Natalie Nigro:
It's Thanksgiving time and we are thankful to have had the opportunity to help cities, universities, hospitals, developers, etc. to save time and money on their construction projects! We are looking forward to continuing our rewarding service into the future. We thoroughly enjoy performing construction document coordination reviews for commercial and governmental projects. Best wishes to all.

New Construction Humor
We also posted some new construction humor on Blueprint Bluepers, including some interesting definitions for a few architectural terms, including sexfoil, ever wondered exactly what that is?

Construction Cartoons: Our Featured Artist Chaise Payan

Our site Blueprint Bluepers features the art of Chaise Payan. He creates original construction cartoons especially for our company based on errors actually found in construction drawings that we have reviewed. We have had a great time helping him develop humorous drawings for us.

However, he does more than just what you have seen on our sites. Here is a peak into his sketchbook.

Necromancy



Um, excuse me, do you-


Mad Hatter

Mademoiselle

Chaise Payan is currently finishing up his senior year at Weber State University, he is expected to graduate with a BFA with a 2D emphasis. Check him out at Linkedin.

To read more about how we look for artists and how we found Chaise, click here.

See more of our original cartoons created by Chaise.

Check out some of the sketches created while thinking about our cartoons.

Nigro Firm News: More Reasons to Love Seattle

There are many reasons to love Seattle - Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, views of the Puget Sound, a stellar night skyline and now, the City of Seattle has partnered with the Nigro Firm. After an extensive RFQ consultant selection process, the Nigro Firm was selected as the City of Seattle's Fleet and Facilities Department's sole source for construction coordination reviews.

The Nigro Firm has begun helping the City of Seattle save money on it's new and/or renovated fire stations. So far, we have reviewed the drawings for the new Fire Station #38 and #39. The old stations are pictured below:




While researching the City of Seattle and its' fire stations we discovered the the city has many historic and architecturally interesting fire stations, such as:

Fire Station #6
Fire Station #13
To see all of Seattle's Fire Stations click here.

In November of 2003, 69% of voters in Seattle approved the Fire Facilities and Emergency Response Levy. This nine-year program that began in 2004, will use levy proceeds and other funding to upgrade, renovate, or replace 32 neighborhood fire stations and to construct a new training facility, a new Fire Alarm Center, and more. We are very excited to be a part of the city's Fire Facilities and Emergency response improvements.

To read more about how the Nigro Firm can help your city save money and time with a construction document coordination review, see the Nigro Firm. Or just give us a call, we would love to talk to you.

Construction Humor: Who is reviewing your construction drawings?

Hmmm...bad idea.



Give us a call instead...we have many more years experience than your cat...and we have oppose-able thumbs.

Construction News: Rising material costs hit home

Rising material costs over the last few years have made a huge impact on the cost of constructing schools in Utah. Though this is not just a local problem, rising material costs effect all construction projects.

For example, in 2003 the Jordan School district in Utah built a school for the total build cost of 7 million, today the same building plan will cost them 15 million.

The dramatic difference has been pinpointed to two factors, the rise in material costs and the increase of the price of land in the district. Increased copper prices have driven up the cost of the electrical system by 200%, drywall cost rose 90% and the price of land has skyrocketed from around $50,000 per acre to nearly $300,000.

Could the Nigro Firm have helped this school district reduce costs?
At this point, likely not, since they are working from a set of drawings that have already been built from, we would like to assume that the errors on the drawings have been discovered and corrected. However, we can help reduce total build costs by reviewing original sets of drawings. Our construction coordination reviews catch errors on drawings and if they are corrected before materials are ordered and construction has started, cost over runs can be greatly reduced.

Construction Humor: Take a break with these funny videos

And you thought your Monday mornings were bad...



Contractors....don't follow this guys example, please.



Every wonder what your crew is doing when you are not around?



You might want to think twice before yelling at your heavy machinery operator...



NOW GET BACK TO WORK, LOL.

Our Newest Construction Cartoon: How do you wind this thing?

Bright move… putting a sundial
where the sun don’t shine

The Real Deal
After giving precise calibration instructions for the sundial, the drawings showed it in a location where it would be in the shade for the entire day.

We do not have an official title for this one yet, but here are some of our ideas:

Sundial in the Shade (sorta a spoof on Raisin in the Sun)
How do you wind this thing?
Made in the Shade

Hmm....any ideas, let us know.

For more great construction cartoons, see Blueprint Bluepers.

Want to avoid these type of errors? GIVE US A CALL!

The days of beer and dandelions

At the Nigro Firm we believe the days of wine and roses are over and we are now in the days of beer and dandelions. We believe that it is time to reduce costs where ever and whenever we can, without sacrificing quality.

We started the Beagle Review Newsletter to introduce our firm to you and to bring a little humor into the construction industry. We have enjoyed designing and producing each and every issue. We sincerely hope you enjoyed receiving them. However, we believe we can share information by using our web sites in the future with a lot less environmental impact.

We hope you will stop by and visit us frequently and enjoy our articles, cartoons, and anything else we can think of to share.

Please feel free to keep in touch. We will miss you if you don’t.

The days of wine and roses are over...or are they?

The days of wine and roses have faded away. Everyone in the industry has become concerned over the last few years about the rapid escalation of construction costs.

The biggest driver of higher costs is the price of materials. In many instances, material costs have doubled and even tripled. Over the last 18 months, steel prices skyrocketed more than 50 percent. Not to mention, this year prices are very likely to rise on oil-, plastic-, and copper-based products.

Investors are tightening their proverbial money belts. Many projects in the public and private sectors are being put on hold or shelved all together and new projects face a tough and skeptical path to financing. Many invested in the US construction industry are starting to show signs of a mild, but ever increasing panic. But is the panic a result of a real or imagined dreary forecast? The safest bet is to assume the worst case scenario and prepare for it.

Tightening the flow of money out is a good first step. Start with well coordinated and accurate contract documents. When the construction documents are not up to par, change orders during construction promote delays and cost overruns which place a tremendous strain on resources. Fixing the problems on paper, prior to breaking ground, is a fantastic way to reduce unexpected large expenditures.

Take the first step. Contact us for more information about our coordination reviews.

Featured Construction Project: The new JetBlue terminal at JFK

JetBlue layovers may actually be a pleasurable experience at JFK.

It is not the 26 new gates you keep hearing about or the 20 security lanes... when it comes to JetBlue’s T5, the buzz seems to be all about the food. The 800 million dollar JFK terminal will have 55,000 sq. ft. of dining and shopping space and is planned to be ready for hungry travelers this fall.

JetBlue’s T5 is the first terminal to be constructed post 9-11, hence the extra security lanes. It’s great to get past this step of the flight travel process as quickly as possible!

The latest news indicates that this project will be completed under budget and ahead of schedule! The team of dedicated, ambitious companies that helped complete this project included the Nigro Firm, Inc, who performed a construction document coordination/constuctability review to help ensure the best start possible.

Post security, there will be numerous restaurants, including many that will not offer the typical franchise-type airport fare. Since many travelers spend an hour or more waiting for flights, T5 developers decided to bank on the fact that most are going to get hungry and many may want something other than a hamburger or a slice of pizza. T5’s chef-driven restaurants will include
AeroNuova (Italian trattoria), Deep Blue (sushi/Asian), La Vie (brasserie), Piquillo (tapas) and Revolución (Mexican). One can only wonder though, what will it be like to eat a high-end meal with a plastic spork?

The building will be full of light from the numerous windows and high ceilings and will offer free wi-fi. For convenience it will have a direct skywalk connection to the JFK AirTrain.

Turner construction has been contracted for the construction management and the architects were Gensler and Associates. Other partners include ARUP, DMJM Harris/AECOM, URS, Parsons Brinkerhoff and Project Consult, the Rockwell Group, and the Port Authority of NY and NJ.

To see more projects that the Nigro Firm has performed construction document reviews on, see our Abbreviated Project List or contact us directly for more information.

What Makes the Nigro Firm Stand Out? We Love What We Do!

As I was tiding up the office the day after a job was FedEx-ed out, I was thinking about how much fun the project was. It also got me thinking about marketing, who knows why. However, I want to share my thoughts with everyone who is interested in knowing about, contracting or even doing coordination reviews for your upcoming construction projects.

First thing, the Nigro Firm strongly believes in and encourages competition. We know we can please some of the people all of the time or please all of the people some of the time, but we can’t please all of the people all of the time. And we want all of the people constructing buildings to use a coordination review on their drawings all of the time.

Not only that, but competition is a motivating force for us to continue to improve… and we love to improve! Meeting challenges and stretching our brains is a big part of what makes this work so fun for us.

Doing business with someone means having a relationship with them. People have a tendency to trust or “click” with certain other people or personality types or business approaches. With our variety of competitors, I hope there will be a match and a place where a good relationship can develop for everyone who’s building a building.

We have worked with many of our competitors in the past and it’s been a tremendous win-win situation. See the Partnering area of our Nigro Firm web page. I am not going to say that we are better than they are, and I’m not going to say we are less than they are… we are just different. However, after looking at all the web sites, they mostly say the same thing. The wonderful unique differences between us is not always apparent. So, what I do wish to say is, we like what we do and are happy when we are reviewing a project and we do it very well. We enjoy working with our clients to make their lives a little better and brighter.

It isn’t easy to market these days. Doing business isn’t in a home town where everyone knows everybody. Doing business is working with folks across an entire country or even the entire world.

Working to find that good relationship with businesses you need to successfully run your business is worth all the money and work it might take.

Author: Shirley Nigro

Other marketing articles posted by the Nigro Firm:
Marketing: Telling a great story with the help of Seth Godin
Business Networking: Wonderful things can come in unusual ways

The Funniest Travel Story Ever: A Reviewer Goes to Montreal

This may indeed be our longest blog ever posted by the Nigro Firm, but it is worth it, it is hilarious.

One of our construction document reviewers, who is an inexperienced traveler, especially in the post 9/11 era, wrote this story about his trip to Montreal. I guess this guy is lucky he does not have to fly to review construction documents.

Please read and enjoy.

It started with getting up early in the morning Wednesday to make it to the airport two hours before our flight. I, not being a world traveler like my wife, asked why. She said it was because of the long lines to get through security. We made it to the airport, parked the car, rode a “short” bus to the terminals and walked in.

We walked, very quickly, up to the ticket giver guy. He didn’t smile…actually he didn’t show any emotion but gave us a bunch of stuff and took our suitcases. Janet kept everything but gave me back my passport and one piece of paper and said come on and took off. I tried to keep up but it was tough. Just when I thought I would forever lose her in the distance she stopped in a long line. I reached her and realized this was the dreaded security line. I have never been through a metal detector without it going off but Janet had grilled me pretty well about what I could bring and what I couldn’t. It went something like this:

Janet: Empty all your pockets.

Me: *Emptying my pockets with a look of distrust* (I am the boyscout type that carries everything from duct tape to a leatherman, which I never leave the house without).

Janet: Leave all of that home.

Me: *Curl up on the floor in the fetal position*

Security

After we got in line I asked Janet about those other papers she got and she said I would get the appropriate papers at the appropriate time. As the security people got closer I have to admit I was nervous. When we finally got there I took out three of those big gray bins and emptied my pockets into the first one (yea I know, I don’t listen), put my laptop and carry-on in the second and then put my jacket in the third. They then made me take off my boots and put them on the belt. I then nervously walked through the thing and it didn’t beep. I was so happy I wanted to walk through it again just to hear it not beep but decided they would probably then strip search me or something so I decided against it. So I figured the hard part was over we could relax and wait for the plane. Janet though was scooping things up out of those bins and running off again. I grabbed my stuff, started to put a boot on and she said “No, just grab it and come on.” So I grabbed all of my stuff and took off hoping they didn’t think something was up and that was the reason why we were running. Luckily we were just going over to a bench so we could get organized. We finally got everything put back on and in and I figured a leisurely stroll to the gate but Janet was gone again. We got to the gate and she put everything down on a couple of chairs and said she was going to the restroom and to wait right there. I sat down and waited. When she got back I asked her if we would be boarding soon. She said in about an hour and a half. I sat there dumbfounded. I thought to myself, why were we running through the airport then? Never mind, I’ll go shopping. I went to the store next to us. After looking at every item in the store three times and buying some water and Dr. Pepper I had killed ten minutes. So I sat down and pulled out my book. I was reading the five book trilogy of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Why he calls five books a trilogy I don’t know.

Take-Off and and a Thing Called Turbulence

We finally boarded and got settled. My anxiety was high. I’ve never liked being in any vehicle that I’m not in control of. Through my life whenever I was taught the Bernoulli principle they always taught it around an airplane wing. I would listen, make some calculations and figure out quickly that there was no way a plane should get off the ground from the Bernoulli principle. When people ask me why I hate to fly I just tell them I don’t believe in the Bernoulli principle. This has worked great until I told Preston that and he said “That’s not how a plane flies.” Well, this really freaked me out. I’ve looked at planes many times and there is just no way they should be flying. They are big, made of metal and just have tiny wings. I figure I may have got Bernoulli wrong but Preston doesn’t usually mess up Physics. As all of this is going through my mind, I’m sitting staring out a window. I got a wing seat so I can see the wing and how it works. There is a “flap” on the back and I decide it must be pointing downward now and then it straightens out and that is what makes it go up. As we hurl ourselves down the runway in a plane that consists of a third fuel, a third metal and a third humans - my eyes are fixated on the wing and when the flap thingy is going to move. Well, pretty soon we get airborne and the flap never moved. Panic starts to set in as now I have no idea how a plane works and figure it must just run off of faith. Everyone on board simply believes it will fly. I figure I’ll be OK as long as I can see the wing and the ground…I think this ...as the plane goes into the clouds. I turn to Janet for reassurance that we aren’t going to die and she is dead…no, she is just dead asleep, how can she sleep through this? Then the plane starts shaking, I mean shaking bad, you can see the wing tip bouncing. I know this can’t be normal. I look around the cabin and people are reading, sleeping and chatting completely unaware that they are going to die! The captain then says he apologizes for the "slight" turbulence and that we should be out of it in about ten minutes. I just keep thinking, “I should have driven to Montreal.”

After a while these Stewardess’s ask if I want something to drink. This wakes up Janet and we get something to drink. She asks me how I’m doing and I say “fine.” She starts to read. I figure I will try and do that for a while. Reading actually helps. I start to relax and even enjoy looking out the window on occasion at the crop circles (not the alien kind but rather those farmer create with the use of circular sprinkler systems) and various other landmarks. From this high up the cars all look like tiny little cars. It’s not long before we start our descent. This starts the acid in my stomach bubbling again. Janet is chatting about how long we have (2 hours) and other chit chat and I’m trying to concentrate all of my happy thoughts to the captain so he doesn’t kill us. About 30 seconds out my stomach acid finally bubbles up into my mouth leaving a nasty acid taste …this of course is the point where Janet asks me what I feel like having for lunch. I calmly explain to her that I don’t feel much like eating right now and let’s discuss it after the crisis is over. She looks at me funny and says OK. We land without incident and taxi to the gate.

Landing

The captain turns off the seat belt light and the plane people come to life, well at least two thirds of them do. I figure about one third are the “real travelers,” these people just sit in their seat and wait because they know it will be a while. Then there are the third who are “impatient experienced travelers" i.e. Janet who just wants to get off the plane. These people stand up and jockey for position. Then there is the third that are the inexperienced who jump up because they don’t want to be left on the plane on accident. Janet jumps up, throws me my stuff from the bin and jockeys for her position. I do too but she ends up a few people in front of me. I figure it’s not a big deal because we have two hours here so we’ll just take our time and wander through the airport. As we disembark Janet waited for me at the end and makes some comment about me being too nice and takes off like a rocket through the airport again. Well, by now my back hurts, my hips hurt, my knees hurt and I just can’t keep up. The last I see her she is hurdling chairs like OJ Simpson in that 1970’s commercial. A man in a walker passes me and I tell him if he runs into a hot redhead to tell her that I’m coming as fast as I can. He says he’ll relay the message and takes off too fast for me to grab onto his walker and let him drag me along. Eventually Janet comes back for me and this is when I learn the travelers rule. You have to run to your gate make sure everything is OK and then you can relax. Now this doesn’t exactly make sense to me because typically she would just make sure the gate does indeed exist and then would look at the TV screen and check on our flight. Logically, I think we can assume the gate does exist and those TV screens are everywhere but by the number of people at the gate two hours early I can tell this is not just her rule but an acceptable rule of travel.

We then ate at Popeye’s chicken (I don’t recommend it) and sat down to wait for the next plane. It arrived and we boarded it. This time wasn’t quite as bad as the first but it was still a little nerve racking. The flight was longer so I had more time to calm down between take off and landing and I think that helped.

Flying Home

Coming home wasn’t as scary; however, for the first leg to Chicago I couldn’t sit by my wife which was annoying. She was only four seats in front of me but she may as well been in the front on the plane. When we got to Chicago and ran to our gate, Janet went to the restroom and I went up to the cute blond behind the counter and flirted a little and then told her I was scared and could she change our seat assignments so that I could sit by my wife so she could comfort me. We got the second row back from the front next to each other. Janet was happy and so was I. The last flight I hardly got nervous at all and decided that faith after all might not be a bad way to fly a plane. I still think I will stay grounded for a while though.

To read more about our reviewer's wife and her speedy legs, see Compassion in the workplace: Going the extra mile...or 26.

To read about how this reviewer helped us meet a crisis deadline situation, see Creative Problem Solving: Meeting deadlines.

Wonder, just what it is the Nigro Firm does, see What does the Nigro Firm do?

Construction Humor Speaks the Universal Language

Our site, Blueprint Bluepers has enjoyed International traffic since day one. Humor speaks the universal language and the terms "construction humor" and "construction cartoons" are searched on from all over the world.

Though you may notice that much of our traffic comes from the US, you will also notice visitors from many other places. Keep in mind, that this map only reflects September 12th, 2008.

Standard Google Map:


Hybrid Google Map:


Since we understand that humor is an international language we have spent quite a bit of time creating this site, to not only help promote our company name, but to also help relieve stress levels everywhere. This site includes construction cartoons, construction humor and tales and stories.

According to numerous researches, laughter decreases the level of stress hormones like cortisol, epinephrine, adrenaline, dopamine and growth hormone. And it increases the level of health-enhancing hormones like endorphins and neurotransmitters. Laughter also increases the number of antibody-producing cells and enhances the effectiveness of T cells. So in conclusion, laughter helps support a stronger immune system and decreases the negative physical side effects of stress.

Go ahead, relax and laugh. Here is our newest cartoon, we have more coming soon.



And please, check out our site Blueprint Bluepers.

Construction Projects: Why sometimes the small jobs are better

Sometimes it seems that those of us who work in the construction industry are always looking for the next "big job."

However, after working on projects with over 2000 drawings...which is stressful for everyone involved...we occasionally rethink our stance. Yes, sometimes the small construction projects are much sweeter. Small for us meaning a construction project with a build cost of under 30 million.

Benefits of working on small projects:

• Fewer interested parties to work with, less likely to have a large board of directors or other complicated and slow approval processes.
• Requires a smaller team and less resources to complete.
• Construction drawing review can be completed quickly...and almost joyously, compared to large projects which are much more complex.
• More likely to be able to work directly with interested party.

Recently, we completed a smaller project, that may lead into a series of small projects, we are very much looking forward to the opportunity to work on these projects.

Will we still take large projects? Very likely, we love a challenge and of course they look great in our portfolio.

Have a project coming up? Give us a call.

How to Use our Construction Cartoons

We love to share our construction cartoons....but not necessarily our bandwidth.

So, if you would like to post our Blueprint Bluepers cartoons to your website, forum or blog please link to our Photobucket album. Currently, we have 10 full-color original construction cartoons in this album.

Including our first, The Circulating Pimp.


All we ask is that you please include the entire cartoon with attributions/credits. And please do not sell them or alter them in any way.

Of course you are also welcome to print them out, we offer large printable versions from our website Blueprint Bluepers, see the cartoon section.

If you would like to learn more about our featured artist, Chaise Payan, click here.

If you have construction related cartoons or humorous stories that you would like to share, see our contribution guidelines.

New JFK Terminal: JetBlue puts on the ritz

Forget sitting at Starbucks for four hours waiting for your flight...avoid the jitters...and indulge in some fine dining instead.

The new T5 terminal at JFK is expected to be ready for weary, hungry travelers this fall and will include many high-end restaurants that will offer everything from sushi to Italian to an americanesque steak house.

We performed a construction document coordination review on the drawings for this terminal before ground breaking and are happy to hear that T5 is under budget and ahead of schedule....we hope we had something to do with that.

Please stay tuned for more information about this new terminal in our next newsletter.

How much experience does the Nigro Firm, Inc have reviewing airport terminal drawings?
Plenty. If you have a project like this coming up, give us a call, we would like to see your project be under budget and ahead of schedule too.

Introducing our newest construction cartoons

Too close for comfort

We actually saw this in a construction drawing, though technically it was not an "error," we felt that perhaps the placement of the urinals should be reconsidered.

Dude, What's Up?

This cartoon was inspired from a construction drawing that called for a heavy HVAC unit to be placed on the roof without enough structural support to hold the weight.

To see these cartoons and more construction humor visit Blueprint Bluepers.

Stress Management: The Nigro Firm Goes Fishing

Recently, on a local radio station we heard an ad for fishing licenses. Our first reaction was, "What?! They have to advertise to sell the opportunity to go fishing?" Obviously... fewer people are fishing than used to! Are people taking less time to relax?

There are many ways to reduce stress. One way is through rest and relaxation, which many find in knee waiters in the middle of a cold, rocky stream with a pole in hand, even when not a single fish bites.

We at the Nigro Firm believe that hobbies, vacations, days off and even just a simple belly laugh are good ways to reduce stress. Lower stress levels help our team be more productive, work more cooperatively, and more creatively.

You don't have to go fishing to relax. "Gone Fishing" can be more of a metaphor to represent all forms of recreation or to simply indicate that you need to just take a break. So, next time you are stressed and wish you could just get away, put up a "gone fishing" sign on your office door and just take a few minutes to clear your mind. Often just ten minutes of meditation or relaxation can save an hour of stressful time wasting.

Print out your free "gone fishing" door hanger.

The internet is loaded with lists of ways to reduce stress, here are just a few:

101 Ways to Reduce Stress
52 Proven Stress Reducers
25 Ways to Cut Stress in Your Life
10 Ways to Reduce Stress at Work
3 Ways to Reduce Stress

However, if all else fails GO FISHING! Are at least go find a river to sit next to, it will do you good.

Introducing the Nigro Firm’s Complimentary Evaluations

Acquire foresight and first hand experience for FREE.

Imagining potential loss is difficult, if not impossible. However, we are offering you a way to capture a glimpse of the cost saving possibilities that you can obtain from a construction document coordination review.

Frequently, people ask us an important and relevant question, “What kind of savings can be achieved in both time and money on the project to justify the additional expenses of a coordination review?” It is a good question. However, understanding the answer requires a bit of imagination and vision.

Can you visualize the road not taken?

Imagine this situation as a quick analogy. You are standing on the curb of busy street. As a bus approaches, the man standing next to you, for an unknown reason, starts to step in front of the bus. You grab him by the shirt and pull him back to safety. He turns to you and says, “Wow. Thanks, I really appreciate your help. How much pain, suffering, money, time and hassle did you just save me?” Your answer is, “I have no idea. But I imagine it would have been a lot. What would have been the accumulated loss if you had stepped in front of the bus?”

We can’t quantify the savings that a coordination review provided since we can’t go back in time and redo the construction process without the review. It all boils down to foresight. Or the ability to understand that finding mistakes on paper is cheaper and faster to fix than mistakes discovered in the field. And then belief that the review fee is minuscule compared to the impact of errors discovered after ground breaking.

Curious as to what we can do for your next project?

We understand that visualizing the positive impact of a review is difficult, so through the end of this year, we are offering a complimentary evaluation of a small project of your choice so you can get a feel for what we do. Truly, the only way to fully understand our service is to experience it.

For more information, visit:
Nigro Firm Complimentary Evaluation

Coordination Errors Don’t Have to be a Daily Occurrence

Would you invest $1 to get $7 back?

Of course you would.

Just because it has “always been that way” does not mean it always has to stay that way. The ROI of a coordination review is solid; however, we have found that many in the industry still need a little convincing.

We run into an extremely interesting phenomenon when we explain to people what we do.

To many the benefits of a coordination review are obvious.

People who are not in the construction industry “get it” right away. They immediately see the value of catching mistakes on paper instead of in the middle of the construction process. It’s obvious and logical to them and fits the old adage that “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

People in the industry are used to dealing with coordination errors.

When we tell people, who are in the construction industry, how we can help them, they often have a “yes, but…” response. Although people don’t like dealing with the costs, delays, and hassles involved with errors, omissions, variances and inconsistencies in the drawings and specs, they have a feeling that “it’s just the way things are” and that they have to put up with it.

What prevents some from understanding the benefit of a coordination review?

Often people think of their established protocols, methods, systems, bureaucracies, etc. that do not take advantage of a construction document coordination review. The conventional methods are typically the only ones considered, even though the system is not perfect, it is familiar. Of course, changing the process is not an easy task, especially when multiple parties and a large investment are involved. But it is worth the effort.

The advantages of a construction document coordination review.

Reviews performed by independent third-party reviewers are affordable and an extremely efficient way to reduce risk. They improve bid accuracy, help you meet deadlines and position each job for greater overall success.



How much money can be saved?

Benchmark studies have shown that per $1 spent on a construction document coordination review, between $7 and $30 are saved in averted change orders and cost overruns. This is an excellent return on investment (ROI).

Who commissions reviews?

The people who use our services are people with foresight. They are leaders in the industry who are innovative, organized, and efficient. They are experienced and competent.

Customized reviews for each project.

The Nigro Firm, Inc. realizes that each company has unique systems, projects, and needs… requiring our coordination reviews to be customized for each project’s budget, schedule, and areas of concern.

For more information, see:
Nigro Firm Custom Reviews & Fees

Featured Construction Project: The Galveston National Laboratory

When construction document quality is critically necessary - you can count on us.

It can stand strong through hurricanes, it can contain highly dangerous infectious agents, and has some of the most sophisticated security protocols imagined. What building is it? The Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) or the National Biocontainment Laboratory. The building should be completed this month.


The GNL has to be Perfect

This facility can be nothing less than perfect. When it comes to containing agents like anthrax, Lassa fever, dengue fever and Ebola there is no room for structural error. The Nigro Firm reviewed sections of this lab in 2006 and found the project extremely interesting and particularly unique.

The Nigro Firm’s experience reviewing GNL

Our experience reviewing GNL was incredibly fascinating.

Many things that would not normally be a big deal in typical construction projects were fatally important for this research lab. For example, the pipe sleeve locations between the concrete floors had to exactly match the locations of the plumbing fixtures, decontamination showers, lab equipment, etc. To prevent micro-cracks and possible hiding places for microbes, holes could not be drilled through the concrete after it was poured. In addition, the building’s special systems such as the decontamination shower system were extremely interesting and required the design of a special custom review.

Who funded the construction of the GNL?

The GNL was primarily funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases/National Institutes of Health (NIAID/NIH). This organization was formed after the 2001 post office anthrax attacks and helped fund GNL as well as one other National Biocontainment Laboratory and Regional Centers of Excellence (RCEs) to research hazardous biological agents.

GNL Specs

The GNL is nearly a 170 million dollar project which, when complete, will include 174,000 gross square feet. Construction began in May of 2005. University of Texas Medical Branch will possess and operate the GNL in support of the biodefense research agenda of NIAID.

How do other projects compare to the GNL?

Most buildings are not responsible for containing NIAID Category A, B and C priority pathogens such as typhus fever, West Nile virus, yellow fever and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus. However, all projects have access to the quality review services provided by companies like the Nigro Firm to help ensure that their buildings are top notch.

Interested in other projects reviewed by the Nigro Firm, see our Abbreviated Project List.

We understand the need for perfection

Believe it or not....this is our office pantry. Go ahead and measure the distance between the cans, we dare you. We enjoy nothing less than perfection.


Imagine what we can do with your construction drawings.

Who answers the phones at the Nigro Firm?

The answer may surprise you.

Is it a sales person? No.
Is it a secretary or executive assistant? No.
Is it the VP of sales? No.
Is it an account executive? No.

Who answers the phones at the Nigro Firm?
The President, Natalie Nigro.

Why does the president of the company answer the phones?
Because, simply put, she knows everything.

Other reasons our president takes the time to answer all phone calls:

• She can make all final decisions, in regards to contract negotiations, pricing, review requirements and so on.


• She has over 17 years of coordination review experience and is the best qualified person to help you figure out what kind of review best fits your project.


• She knows exactly what her review teams are capable of performing in a given amount of time.


• She has access to the review schedule and can schedule reviews.


• She cares and wants to get to know her clients one-on-one. She feels that this helps her provide the best service possible.

Natalie is one of the most knowledgeable and personable people you could ever talk to on the phone. She never pushes the hard sell and she is genuinely interested in customer education and friendly win-win contract arrangements.

Go ahead, give her a call, she would love to hear from you.

For more information on how to contact the Nigro Firm, click here.

Team Building Events: Some Assembly Required

We here at the Nigro Firm are do-it-yourselfers, team players and like to save a few bucks here and there. So, we recently combined a complicated assembly project into a team building experience , why not?

Our project was to put a desk together. Sound easy? Maybe, if you have good instructions and few parts....building a simple elementary school extension is easy too, when you have good build instructions.....but we all know the reality of that situation.

The Instructions
Like most "some assembly required" projects this one was actually "tons of assembly required." According to the 37 pages of instructions the project should take one person about an hour and 20 minutes.

However, here are the real stats:
Build Time: 3.5 hours
# of People: 3

Other Highlights and statistics:
# of times someone said "This is stupid": 48
# of times someone said "What the ____?": 23
Tools and screws not included: 5
Beers and Iced Teas Required: 6
Total Swear Words Uttered: 297
Total Number of Full On Belly Laughs: 12

Favorite Saying Developed During the Process
"If all else fails, smack it."

Least Helpful Team Member: Izzy
Though we assigned this beagle the task of translating the instructions from Spanish to English, he failed miserably due to his constant napping.










Finished Product:
After three and half hours of assembly, we decided we liked it better before we took it out of the box, lol.













What we learned during this team event:

• That complex and confusing tasks are easier and more amusing when not completed alone.
• We learned compromise and that sometimes parts can be put on upside down and still work.
• Good communication is paramount to success, especially when your content writer refers to the brackets as the "L" things.
• That building from bad instructions is stressful. And that building from bad construction drawings must be exponentially stressful. That is what makes our work so rewarding, the assistance we can offer to help people obtain the most accurate construction drawings possible is an amazing reward to our hard work.
• That we are perfectionists. Despite confusing instructions, bad drawings, and general frustration, we refused short cuts, never skipped a step and kept the final product in our mind at all times. That is just how we operate.
  

Client Relationships: We love positive feeback

We love hearing from people that we have worked with, especially when they have such great things to say about us. We realize that we are all busy with our work, families and friends, so when someone takes the time to send us thoughtful, positive feedback we really appreciate it.

Recently, we received an email from a project manager who we had worked with several years ago. Before checking our availability to perform a review for a new project, he sent us a really nice email. We love getting emails like this one, it helps us to see the real value of our hard work and how much our work is appreciated.

Here is the letter: (We removed identifying information from the email to protect the anonymity of our client.)

Hello Natalie,
It’s been a few years since we have spoken but I will never forget how happy I was when you returned our documents. I was the Director of Construction when I hired your firm to review a project we were developing in the Florida Keys. The review was PHENOMENAL and I know we saved time and money by having it done.

I am now working for another company in Miami and I will be the Project Manager on a new project. In addition, we have other projects in progress and in the pipeline that I believe could benefit from your services.

Shirley, being an ex-graphic designer, found it interesting that he used every type of font attribution for the word phenomenal…capitalized, bold and underlined to emphasize the word, that takes effort and thought.

We are very excited and look forward to working on this project and know that we can provide excellent service and help everyone involved save tons of money.

Construction Cartoons: Just for fun

As many readers know, we publish original construction cartoons on our web site Blueprint Bluepers. However, we figured why keep the fun to just that site? So, we asked our artist, Chaise Payan, to create two illustations... project manager Beagles, one that is happy and relieved because his construction drawings are accurate and coordinated, and one stressed beagle who is burdened with tons of RFI's, cost over runs and change orders.

And this is what our artist came up with:





Hmmm...which one would you rather be?

That's what we thought. Before you break ground on your next project, get your drawings and specs checked by the Nigro Firm. We can save you tons of worry and money and may even prolong your life.

Please check out our services page to see these cartoons in context and to learn more about what we do.

Blueprint Bluepers: Our Newest Construction Cartoons

We are truly excited to announce that we have two new construction cartoons on Blueprint Bluepers, our construction humor website.

The first one is called The Beagle Bulb, and was inspired by a very curious spec error.


Our second new cartoon is called Wet Dog, which was based on the bad placement of a scupper.

Our construction cartoons are 100% original and are based on errors actually found while performing construction drawing coordination reviews. Please visit Blueprint Bluepers for many more fun and unique construction cartoons.

Why do we create construction cartoons?

For fun! We believe that humor is not only amusing, but also a great stress reducer. Please see our main cartoon page for more info and check out our artist, Chaise Payan.

Is it OK to share Blueprint Blueper cartoons?
Yes, please do. We offer a printable version on the Blueprint Blueper website or you can link to an image in our photobucket album at http://s288.photobucket.com/albums/ll194/nigro_bucket/.