Gaetano completes the Cayuga Medical Center: A $22m proj.

The three-year project for the Cayuga Medical Center began in August 2005 during a time when material prices were still aggressively escalating. Contractors were required to submit competitive pricing in order to be awarded the project while most vendors would not guarantee their material prices for the project duration. Gaetano, as the general contractor, was part of the team effort from the design drawings stage through the development of the pre-construction budget. Through communication with the bidding contractors as well with the owner it was made clear that all material escalation costs must be included in their bid proposal. One collaborative solution was that arrangements were made with the hospital before the bid to allow project materials to be stockpiled at multiple locations of the site during the early stages of the project. This not only helped contain the price escalation estimates that would have been reflected in the final bid amount, but it also helped the project progress smoothly since payment for these materials were allowed upon confirmed delivery to the site. This $22 million project included renovation for an upgraded pharmacy, nuclear medicine, and women's imaging departments. The expansion part of the project included a 40,000 s/f addition for a new emergency department increasing the patient capacity to 40,000 annually, as well as an ICU/cardiac care unit addition with 16 private rooms with access to the exterior windows, toilet facilities and monitoring for patient care. To begin this new addition, the building façade and exterior partitions of these departments had to be removed. This removal was successfully completed while critical care patients remained on the other side of temporary constructed weatherproof partitions. This project was initially scheduled with nine phases to allow the hospital to continue with operations until the new departments were constructed or upgraded. This took immense pre-planning by both the hospital and the construction staff as well. The transitions were very involved with vendor involvement and equipment relocation that had to be relocated nights and weekends. The move dates were set in stone months in advance due to the amount of people and commitments affected during each phase. The project team included: * General contractor: Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corp. * Architect: HOLT Architects. * Engineer: Sack & Associates. * Engineer/Structural: Ryan Biggs Associates. * Engineer/Civil: T.G. Miller. Commissioning consultant: Bergmann Associates. * Plumbing/HVAC contractor: Collins & Walton Plumbing & Heating. * Automatic Sprinkler System: David-Ulmer Sprinkler Co. * Electrical contractor: Richardson Bros. Electrical Contractors.