GOSHEN, N.Y. (November 19, 2012) – The Ruby Group, a Goshen-based project management, general contracting and consulting firm, announced today that it is building a 15,000-square-foot summer recreation building for the Bethel Sunshine Camp located in the Town of Thompson, Sullivan County.
The Ruby Group was engaged after the owner began the project directly. The Ruby Group was brought in to provide value engineering to get the project’s costs within budget and then manage completion of the site work, pool and main recreational building in close consultation with the project architect Mike Berta and project engineer Joe Berger.
The Ruby Group team was able to reduce the budget by several hundred thousand dollars while still delivering the desired features on time. The value engineering process implemented by The Ruby Group is designed to lower costs while preserving features and functionality experienced by the user. In this case the interior framing was converted to wood from metal and the insulation was adjusted to yield slight cost savings and expose the steel structure to view from inside the gym at the owners’ request. Also, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems were relocated to shorten duct distance and thereby lowering construction cost and increasing unit efficiency and the fire suppression system was redesigned to eliminate expensive fire pumps and outdoor water storage. This building, which is the first phase of a long-term vision, includes a gymnasium, fitness rooms, cyber café, classrooms, multipurpose rooms and restrooms with shower facilities.
The Bethel Sunshine Camp is owned by Pentecostal Faith Church of New Rochelle.
“The Ruby Group is so glad to work on this project because we know it will be a great benefit to the children who use the facility,” said Peter Berman, President and CEO of The Ruby Group. “It was also a good example of how The Ruby Group team – led by Ramon Gonzalez – is able to provide value engineering to get a project’s costs down to where a client needs them to be.”
The building is expected to be complete early next year, Berman said, and the Church intends to work with The Ruby Group and the project architecture and engineering team to obtain approvals to build housing and additional facilities.
“We have been extremely pleased by the craftsmanship and work that The Ruby Group has provided,” Pastor Jacob Wilson of the Pentecostal Faith Church. “They have developed many good ideas to keep costs reasonable and get this project to fit within our budget.”
About The Ruby Group:
The Ruby Group is a project management, general contracting and consulting firm that serves developers, owners, landlords, tenants and investors in both commercial and residential real estate. Based in Goshen, New York, the firm oversees both new construction and development, and has a high level of expertise in green building and attaining LEED certifications. To learn more, visit http://www.rubygrp.com.
