By Kay Wilson, Rafn Company Project Manager
The latest additions to the Piper Village development are Buildings 5 & 6 and Morrow Lane. The project is a beautiful combination of form and function, reinvigorating a natural pathway through the area while adding small retail spaces and appealing apartments in keeping with the character and charm of the neighborhood.
This latest project is located on the East side of the area and connects Greenwood Avenue to the rest of the Piper Village development. We began the project with Building 6 while another building was being demolished to make way for Building 5, and then finished up with the construction of Morrow Lane.
Buildings 5 & 6 are both mixed-use structures with 2 retail spaces at street level and 3 apartments above. Building 5 is 4,740 square feet and Building 6 is 5,543 square feet. Both are constructed with a mix of CMU, steel, and wood framing. Both buildings rely on a methane barrier system beneath their concrete slabs to protect from the fumes of a peat bog underneath the neighborhood.
Morrow Lane is a continuation of the woonerf inspired roadway linking the Sedges Building with Greenwood Avenue. The lane is constructed entirely of pervious asphalt, allowing rain water to penetrate directly through the street and recharge the aforementioned peat bog. Our work also included concrete curbing to separate the pervious asphalt from the paver sidewalk as well as all site lighting infrastructure.
We will profile the new Bartell Drug Store, Top Ten Toys, and future development in Part 3 of the series in our next newsletter.
By Ryan Meno, LEED AP, Rafn Company Project Manager
The Emerald City Commons Apartment building on Rainier Avenue in Seattle recently celebrated its Grand Opening, billed as "A Great Day for Rainier Beach." 61 apartment homes coupled with on-site supportive services provided by Mercy Housing Northwest and Urban Impact, and Rainier Health and Fitness Center combine to help low-income families thrive in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.
The 100,000 square foot building contains three levels of housing above 5,500 square feet of retail space and 70 underground parking spots. Housing is comprised of one, two, and three bedroom units ranging in size from 650 to 1,200 square feet with a large community room and 2nd floor courtyard with a children's play area. The retail level is home to supportive services and the relocated Rainier Health and Fitness, a non-profit health organization which promotes accessible and high-quality fitness opportunities.
South facing units look over the courtyard landscaped with trees, wood decks, and the children's play area. The three bedroom units are designed for families and have a layout built with 180 degree views to allow parents to watch their kids play.
The project is also sensitive to the environment by including energy efficient appliances and boiler, low VOC paints, finish materials that reduce allergens, a reflective white roof, solar reflective paving, and Energy Star Advanced lighting resulting in the building exceeding the Evergreen Sustainable Development Standard.
Funding for the project came from Union Bank, City of Seattle Office of Housing, Washington State Housing Trust Fund, Rainier Valley Community Development Fund, Washington State Housing Finance Commission, Seattle Housing Authority, Mercy Housing Northwest, and Urban Impact.
The building was conceived by Urban Impact, developed by Mercy Housing Northwest, designed by MulvannyG2 Architecture, and constructed by the Rafn Company. KPFF was the structural and civil engineer and Karen Kiest Landscape Architects was the landscape architect.
Photo 1 Credit: Mercy Housing Northwest
Photo 2 Credit: Juan Hernandez of MulvannyG2
By Chip Gregory, Rafn Company Project Manager and Head of Special Projects Group
The growth of HomeStreet Bank and the growth of the Rafn Company's Special Projects Group have been closely tied since 2001. During this period, HomeStreet Bank has expanded its commercial and consumer banking and lending with Rafn building their spaces along the way. Rafn's first project with HomeStreet Bank was at Bellevue Main and we've worked on 81 projects together since then. Rafn's Special Projects Group has also grown, including a record year in 2010 with over 10 million dollars in revenue.
Based in Seattle, HomeStreet Bank is one of the largest community banks headquartered in Washington. HomeStreet began in 1921 as Continental Mortgage and Loan Company, initially offering financing for commercial real estate and home mortgages. HomeStreet evolved into a full service bank in 1986, further expanding its products and services in 2000 to include commercial banking and lending. HomeStreet Bank is consistently recognized by the federal government as "Outstanding" under the Community Reinvestment Act. (1)
Today, HomeStreet Bank has just over $3 billion in assets, approximately 1,500 employees, and 78 retail deposit branches, stand-alone home loan centers, and commercial lending offices in the Pacific Northwest, California, and Hawaii. The Western Independent Bankers honored HomeStreet Bank's creativity and innovation with their 2013 Innovative Community Banks of the Year Award for its successful IPO-driven recapitalization.
HomeStreet Bank is not only an accomplished lender, they are also great philanthropists and community leaders. Just this year the Puget Sound Business Journal recognized them as one of the top 25 corporate philanthropists in their 2013 Corporate Citizenship Awards.
The Rafn Company is honored to be HomeStreet Bank's building partner and we look forward to many more projects together.
(1) www.homestreet.com/everythingelse/about-us
By Phil Wheeler, Rafn Company Senior Superintendent
“Prefab” is not new to wood framed construction - an everyday example are the prefabricated trusses delivered to construction sites. Rafn has been using pre-built components in our wood frame buildings since 1994. The construction of prebuilt sections of walls and hoisting them into place, commonly referred to as panelization, saves time, is precise and efficient, reduces delays, and allows flexibility in scheduling. What was unique on the 525 Northgate project was the location of our “factory”. Usually panels are made in a warehouse and trucked to a jobsite, but at Northgate our team negotiated rental of an adjacent parking lot and built our own “factory”.
Time Savings
Panelized walls can be built concurrently with the foundation or concrete podium of a building and then are ready immediately for framing. Walls can be placed and secured much faster this way than by conventional site built framing. Our on-site panel production operation allowed us to complete wall erection and begin the roof framing over a month ahead of schedule.
Precise and Efficient
Working away from a busy construction site allows carpenters to focus on their task at hand, and allows them to repeat it precisely every time. Cutting wood, laying out the design, and fastening it all together in an "assembly line" setup adds efficiency to the process. The walls can be built on tables at a more ergonomic height, reducing worker fatigue and increases productivity and accuracy.
Reduced Delays
Without the concern of other work going on at a jobsite, carpenters can make sure they are meeting their production schedule. Panelization can continue even if other trades on a project lag or if the project experiences weather related delays. This is true for both offsite panelization and our setup adjacent to our building. However, our project only required a forklift to deliver the panels to the tower crane for hoisting, as opposed to costly trucking from an offsite facility.
Flexibility in Scheduling
One of the most unpredictable aspects of construction, especially in the Northwest, is the weather. Panelized wall sections can be constructed in an offsite climate-controlled facility or even adjacent to the building in a sheltered area. Both situations allow work to continue during heavy rains or snow. With time savings already realized in production, Superintendents then are able to “dry the building in” earlier and the interior finishes can start earlier also.
Panelization is one of the many ways Rafn works to deliver quality buildings, on time, and on budget.
By Tim Lewis, Rafn Company Superintendent
One of the biggest byproducts of turning an architect's dream into reality is construction waste. In addition to the environmental impact of construction waste is the often unseen cost to the project. One of our jobs is to ensure our clients are paying the lowest possible cost for materials used in the construction of their projects and one of the best ways we can do that is by reducing construction waste.
Working with a client and architect during design, we are proactive and look at every piece of work with an eye for constructability (how the design will be put together). We look to maintain the aesthetic of the design along with its intended function, but making sure how it is constructed is the most efficient and cost effective it can be. A large aspect of this process is to think ahead about the materials that will be used, their standard sizes, and how the design can compliment that. Below are a few solutions we have implemented throughout the years with this in mind.
My recent work at Piper Village in Greenwood called for site pavers on the sidewalks of the new private road, Morrow Lane, which we were building. During design, we worked with the architect to adjust the layout of the concrete bands which contain the pavers to dimensions that eliminated cutting. This not only sped up installation time, but also eliminated smaller (cut) paver sizes which can be problematic in the long-term. With a little planning and emphasis on dimensioning, we gained significant efficiencies in installation.
On many Rafn projects we have ordered drywall in sizes other than the standard four by eight. This can reduce waste by requiring fewer cuts to fit a given application. In some cases, we have used 9’ long drywall panels, turning the sheets vertically on our furred-out walls.
A similar strategy was taken at a recent apartment project of ours where the site built components (planters in the courtyard) were designed based on standard sizes of the materials specified. This means that if the product being used to construct the sides of the planter come in a standard length of 3 feet, the overall design of the planter takes that into account along with the sizes of the posts and joints to come up with a final overall size that fits it’s location in the courtyard.
And finally back to my project at Piper Village. Our construction of Buildings 5 & 6 this past summer included two basically identical buildings side by side. We sequenced the excavation and foundation work to enable us to excavate dirt from the second foundation, utilizing a telebelt to convey the excavated material from this foundation directly into the first foundation as under slab and perimeter backfill. This prevented the need to export waste material, which saved time, space for a staging area for the stockpile, and trucking costs.
The underlying objective is reducing and managing waste. When an architect and contractor can work together proactively in preconstruction, designing with the end product and materials in mind, a project benefits with smoother construction, reduced cost, and a less waste.
So what's so special about 35? It seems that 30, 40, or 50 are all about looking back. The end of something. 35 is the age when it seems you finally are all grown up. When you start looking ahead with the notion that it matters what you do. It matters who you are. You begin to seriously consider the impact your life has on others.
The RAFN Company turns 35 this year. We have used this piece of our newsletter to tell the story of how we have evolved into a company with a consistent value driven reputation. In this final installment of the series we thought it could be fun to focus on the future.
Briefly, the past five years have proven that our core values and our business model work. During the time when a lot of companies struggled to survive we held our own. We kept our head above water, our people working and focused on our customers. As a result we are thriving as we enter the next 35 years.
I imagine that in the future our work will remain the same. We will continue to do the types of projects that our clients choose to pursue. There will be a half dozen mixed-use projects; some for people with limited incomes, some for seniors and some for hip young "millennials". There will be some infill "Transit Oriented Development" projects that include offices, retail spaces and community centers. We will continue to build out some great spaces for theaters, museums, architectural firms and restaurants. We will likely continue to prosper in the private school arena where our creativity coupled with quality serves a unique niche. And I both hope and anticipate that our work in historic renovation will continue to revitalize our wonderful city.
I imagine that our clients will largely be the same people they have been with an occasional fun new personality like Jason Parker and his Copperworks Distillery. They will be people who appreciate our attention to detail and our honest approach to finding the specific ways that we can serve each individual customer. We will continue to work with great partners like Ira Gross (IL Gross) and Dan Say (Swenson Say Faget) as we discover new matches like Jim Cary (James Cary Architects) and Amy Hartwell (GGLO).
We will continue to refine our accounting and project management systems to maintain their efficiency and accuracy while enhancing the user experience for our employees and clients. Our preconstruction processes will move to the cloud and become tools for the whole project team as we continuously seek more ways to collaborate. Our client relationship management tool will be used to facilitate communication, project close-out and feedback loops for better asset management and life-cycle product considerations.
All of these things will progress without ever losing sight of those things which we have mastered. Our job costs will remain highly competitive, our quality assurance program will remain top tier, and our focus on safety will never be compromised. And most of all our culture will be the first, last and most important thing that our people learn and value. We will continue to seek the high road at every opportunity and we will continue to be - Good People doing Great Work.
By Heather Bunn, Rafn Company Vice President
I have recently had the opportunity to talk about our success during the latest recession. One key fact that amazes people the most is that Rafn was able to keep all of our people gainfully employed during this time. Meanwhile across the US, from 2007 – 2011, the construction industry suffered a loss of 5 million jobs. That is a staggering number even before you couple it with the projection that “a net of 2 million construction employees left the industry when unemployment approached 20%, and most are simply not coming back”.
What that means for most of our clients and business partners is a serious shortage of craft people as the market heats back up. We are just now beginning to see the shortage impacting construction sites across the region. This phenomena is not new, but it is of a larger magnitude than the last cycle. Hopefully as an industry we learned some lessons that can be brought forward to prevent repeats of the sleepless nights.
So what can we do? Short term we need to be cautious and we need to pace ourselves. We need open communication with our subcontractors about their capacity and we need to be honest about our own. We need to balance the work so that not all projects are starting and ending at the same time. We need to balance the types of work so that not all of one specialty trade or specialized vendor gets used up. We need to keep lines of communication open to make sure that none of the team gets stretched beyond their capacity. We need to ensure that those assigned a particular task are properly trained and experienced, and that the “new guys” are being well mentored. All of these tactics will pay off for our industry across our region in the short term.
Long term, we need to encourage young people to look seriously at the trades as career choices. Our craft workers earn good wages, have great health care, PTO (paid time off), and a generous 401(k) program. Many of our craft workers will spend a good portion of their working years here and will retire with a comfortable nest egg after a very fulfilling career. Some of them will also graduate from the “University of Rafn” to become the future leaders of the company.
By Ryan Meno, LEED AP, Rafn Company Project Manager
Most consumers would like to save energy, both for environmental and financial reasons. But there is another entity that likes us to save energy even more, utility companies. That may seem counterintuitive as they make money by selling energy.
End user incentives are an energy saving alternative to the much greater capital expense of expanding power plant capacity and infrastructure maintenance. It is often cheaper to pay for rebates than to build a new power plant. Utilities we've worked with on local projects that offer incentives include:
- Puget Sound Energy
- Seattle City Light
- Seattle Public Utilities
The following are just 3 examples of incentives recently pursued on behalf of our client on our Emerald City Commons Mixed-Use project. This new construction is located in South Seattle and combines 61 apartment units over 5,700 square feet of commercial space.
Gas Fired Boilers
For gas fired boilers in multifamily projects, PSE has a custom measure incentive/rebate opportunity. For this PSE asks for two cost estimates: one for the +90% (and we often see +93% submitted) and one for the 83%. Other items to submit are equipment cut sheets and PDF copy of related project drawings. PSE will generate the energy savings calculations but if you have an energy model that has already looked at this they are happy to receive that information too.
PSE bases our incentive amount on the cost difference between the more efficient choice and the code minimum choice, the energy saved, and how long the measure will last before it needs to be replaced. If the energy savings produce a quick payback PSE will pay for most of the upgrade cost difference. If it has a longer payback PSE pays a smaller percentage or perhaps none of the cost increase.
Showerheads
Rebates for installation of low-flow showerheads vary from year to year. In 2012, PSE offered $5 for each showerhead 2.0 gpm max. Currently in 2013, PSE is offering $15 for each showerhead 1.75 gpm max and $25 for each showerhead 1.5 gpm max. Our project is looking at a potential incentive of $1,525 for use of the 1.5 gpm max showerheads.
Built Smart Program
Seattle City Light's Built Smart incentive program looks at a variety of energy savings measures and incentivizes a project accordingly. Our project will earn incentives from:
- low u-value glazing
- interior common area lighting
- in-unit Energy Star light fixtures
- Energy Star refrigerators
- energy efficient whole house fans
- energy efficient washing machines
We estimate the combined kWh savings for these measures to be 159,351 and the incentive for the project owner to be just over $35,000.
In summary, there are many incentives from many utilities that developers may not know about but are easy to achieve. However, they do change each year; even if your project is underway, check in to see what programs are currently being offered. Utilities move funds from one program to another based on their market and what makes sense to them to encourage energy savings.
Energy savings = more green in your pocket.
By Kay Wilson, Rafn Company Project Manager
Piper Village, which is located in the vicinity of 85th & Greenwood in Seattle, has been in the Brunt family since 1885. The various parcels that make-up the 13 acre site are managed by the Greenwood Shopping Center Board and more specifically their representative Gary Brunt. Gary began actively participating in the management, planning, and acquisition of the property in 1981. Piper Village first entered the Rafn project portfolio as a “site” with a variety of optional development paths more than a decade ago. It has been a very fun project to participate in as it has unfolded for the Brunt Family.
The evolution of Piper Village is the family’s legacy designed to transform the old shopping center to meet the needs of a new generation. The work began by soliciting ideas from a number of local design firms as to what to do with the old Fred Meyer, the shopping center and various underutilized small retail shops. Michael Whalen was selected as architect for his innovative approach to protecting the “small shop” and organic growth of neighborhood retail and a pedestrian feel rather than giving way to exclusive big box retail.
While estimating and planning began in 2002, the construction didn’t begin for Rafn until January 2008 with the Sedges – a 3 story, 46 unit mixed-use project. That project included the beginnings of Morrow Lane, a new through street that is key to creating Whalen’s pedestrian access to small, local retail shops.
Barry Leahy, the development consultant and owner’s representative through that early process is also still part of the project team. Barry has been instrumental in helping to plan the project phasing in such a way as to balance the best construction cost with a positive cash flow and a minimal disruption to existing retail tenants.
We will profile the second mixed-use piece known as Buildings 5 & 6, and the balance of Morrow Lane that connects through to Greenwood Avenue, in Part 2 of the series in our next newsletter.
By Halene Sigmund, CITC of Washington President 
Since the Construction Industry Training Council's (CITC) inception in 1985, 31 Rafn employees have graduated from CITC’s programs. “We put people in the first class at CITC,” said Shawn Rhode, Rafn President and COO and CITC board member. “Gregg George graduated then and has been with us more than 30 years.” Gregg George is now a senior superintendent and remembers his start in construction well. “I started working with a demolition contractor that was a subcontractor for Rafn,” said George. “Rafn offered me a carpentry job and I took it. Then they offered me the opportunity to attend CITC. I’d been a carpenter for quite a while so at first it seemed like a step backward. Then I started learning a lot, growing in my job and was promoted to superintendent before I even graduated". George continues “At CITC I learned all facets of construction from beginning to end. It would have taken me years to get this much experience on the job alone.” “Our graduates do much more than carpentry,” said Rhode. “They move up to superintendents, foremen and project engineers which builds strength in the company. The knowledge and continuity of our people provides a lot of capacity for the company to grow over the years.” Tony Beaupre changed from a career in construction bonding to working for Rafn when a friend suggested that he give construction a try. “I started with Rafn as a carpenter/laborer but wanted to be a superintendent,” said Beaupre. “Rafn said I needed training at CITC to do that so I went through the program, became a project engineer, and now will retire soon as a superintendent.” Rafn brings as much value to CITC as our training brings to them. It’s a symbiotic relationship – they train employees here and their employees in turn come back to CITC as instructors, volunteers, and board members. Rafn supports those volunteer efforts and we are both stronger for their steadfast commitment.
By Ryan Meno, LEED AP, Rafn Company Project Manager 
The 21 Acres Center for Local Food and Sustainable Living (http://21acres.org/) project in Woodinville recently submitted it's application for LEED Platinum certification from the US Green Building Council (http://www.usgbc.org/leed/certification). The number of points a project earns determines the level of LEED Certification that the project will receive. Points are awarded in various categories including sustainable site, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. 52 points are needed to achieve Platinum Certification and the 21 Acres project submitted for 55. The project was completed with the following statistics: 48% energy cost reduction over ASHRAE 90.1-2004; 15% of the building energy provided by PV’s.; 100% reduction of building waste water; 84% reduction of building potable water use; and 95% construction waste diverted from landfill. A special thank you to the entire project team including ArchEcology (Architecture), Coughlin Porter Lundeen (Civil Engineering), Michael Nouwens (Structural Engineering), Van Ness Feldman GordonDerr (Land Use), Terracon (Geotech), Solterra (Green Roof), Sunergy (Solar Panels), Kirby Electric, United Systems Mechanical, Clearview Mechanical, Earthheat Geothermal Systems, and AAA Drainfield Design.
By Debbie Anway, Rafn Company Project Engineer Security at construction sites has become more and more of a topic in recent years as thieves look for ways to make quick money and others look to have epic adventures in a prohibited place. From the perspective of a general contractor, securing a construction site goes hand in hand with safety and loss prevention. Contractors work hard all day to keep projects moving forward but all that can be undone with an accident or theft afterhours. Top reasons to secure a job site:
- Safety - Construction sites have inherent hazards that are mitigated by workers with the use of safety equipment including boots, long pants, gloves, shirts with sleeves, fall protection (harnesses), eye protection, hearing protection, and hard hats. On site hazards are addressed at all times by making sure ladders are secured, floor edges have temporary railings, and exposed rebar have protective caps to name just a few. But if an unauthorized person enters the site after hours we are unable to assure their safety.
- Theft Prevention - Construction sites are prime targets for thieves due to the large amounts of new materials and products waiting to be installed. Because they have been recently delivered to the site, they are often in an easily transportable state aiding the thief in their removal. Knowledge of the security system's existence deters a thief from entering the site in the first place. We have signs on all of our fences announcing our security system.
- Apprehension - The security system is armed each day after the work day is over. Security cameras are motion activated and begin to record when they sense movement. The system calls the Police every time a video camera is triggered, proving that an unauthorized person is on our job site. Response times vary but multiple arrests have been made at three of our sites already this year (one this week).
- Insurance - The project owner and their insurance representative are looking for a predictable result in the construction of their project. Accidents and theft can throw a monkey wrench in the schedule and budget, resulting in delays, cost overruns, and insurance claims. Site security provides them peace of mind; they have confidence that materials won't be stolen and that we have done our due diligence to maintain a safe site.
Security on current Rafn jobsites is provided by Secure Pacific Corp. (http://securepacific.com/).
This third installment of looking back over the history of the Rafn enterprise captures the solidification of a culture that looks like it is here to stay. Our 20th Anniversary marked an all-time high revenue for Rafn. 1998 was an apartment boom not dissimilar to the one we are seeing around us today. It was in the midst of that boom that we learned some very valuable lessons, lessons that continue to serve us well today. Rafn’s leadership adopted what we have come to know as our Golden Rules. They include things like not hiring for a project or taking on work for which we have no capacity, to always manage potential subcontractor failure proactively and with extreme caution, and to always use our tools, systems and processes to protect our customers and their projects from failure. We also learned the value of a balanced portfolio of projects in the pipeline. In addition to a healthy dose of apartments and condominiums, Rafn continued to grow our Special Projects Group (SPG) through a diverse range of customers. SPG did multi-floor office build-outs in Key Tower, technology switching stations for Looking Glass, and the Oceanaire Seafood Restaurant in the Clise Tower. Office buildings were a staple in Rafn’s resume during this decade. They included the award winning curved wall tilt-up for Burnstead, the concrete and steel shell for Columbia West and the Mount Baker Ridge offices that were sandwiched between two single family homes. 
Some of the most significant projects of this decade were those done in the name of the environment. Rafn was fortunate to get the opportunity to build the first LEED Gold project this side of the Mississipi – Islandwood. With the help of the creative folks at Mithun and the generous support of the Brainerd Family, the private school that was then known as the Puget Sound Environmental Learning Center became the Pilot for LEED in developing all of their tools for construction documentation and training. Next came Traugott Terrace, the first low-income apartment project in the country to get it’s LEED Certification. And the last “first” was the Green Globe certification given to Blakely Town Center at the new Issaquah Highlands. Today Rafn’s portfolio of sustainably built projects is just one of the things that was developed over that decade that has really stuck. The Rafn culture continued to evolve through this time of growth. It became a culture that allows people the opportunity to build unique and interesting projects for great people in an environment that is safe, fun and structured. We became structured not by a timeclock or a uniform but rather through common tools and systems. Tools and systems that make doing the work easier, faster and more efficient all the while producing more reliable outcomes with a high degree of predictability. It is low stress because we have each other’s backs and because the work gets done consistently on time and under budget. 
All of that adds up to another unique feature of the Rafn organization – people don’t leave. Tenure at the Rafn Company really began to add up during this decade. It was now not uncommon for people to have been with the company for over 20 years. We had our first retiree – Trygve Bjorndal in 1999. A world class craftsman Trygve is memorialized with our annual mentor award for the crafts person who gives most generously to others. We also began to see a trend in re-hires. Those rare birds who flew the coop for new adventures at other companies began to come back. They brought with them both valuable experience and a sense of loyalty that is inspirational and irreplaceable. Today we have Joe, Todd, Tim, Marc and others all who have stepped out for a brief education and then come home. In 2002 Shawn Rhode and Heather Bunn were added to the stockholder group as Jack Rafn prepared for retirement. The good people and the great work of the Rafn Company culminated in major rebranding effort in 2002. Our new logo and tag line appeared as a result of some serious outreach to our customers to find out how they thought about us. We then took that show on the road to make sure that our business partners really understood the breadth of the organization and to make sure that we knew how we could best serve our clients, associates and community.
This second installment of looking back over the history of the Rafn enterprise captures the evolution of our employee and customer profiles. Rafn’s teenage years saw many internal changes as we sought to find the right mix of work, the right operational structure and the right employees to successfully manage our evolving presence in Seattle’s construction market. In this decade the organization saw several landmark milestones chart the course for its future. In a nutshell you could say “We got some class”. Our service mark evolved from an odd, disjointed, blocky letterhead to an award winning marbled emblem on the way to becoming today’s clean easily recognizable logo. We worked with selective consultants to assist us in improving and formalizing our operational structure while coaching us through personalysis exercises to enhance teamwork. During this period we also honed Jack’s visionary ideals into a mission statement that perfectly reflected the aspirations and values of the organization. The office went from a few computerized workstations for converting green sheets of penciled estimates to a computerized accounting software to a Mac on every manager’s desk (except Greg Moller, who kept his under his desk in the box). We migrated away from hand held Dictaphones and secretaries to learning to type ourselves. We also learned the woes of fax machines with disappearing ink and the suitcase sized telephonic leash that would eventually shrink into today’s smart phone. Only the actual construction technology seemed to remain in static as we cruised through the 90’s. The Rafn Company grew from $20 million in annual revenues to a record $85 million. Some of that growth was good, some of it carried very valuable lessons. The good parts of the growth ferreted out the personality of those who would become long-term employees and the values of those who would become long-term customers. The challenging parts resulted in a relevant tool that we still use today - our Golden Rules. 
We went from a staff small enough that everyone’s birthday was celebrated with a cake in the conference room, to an all-time high of 150 people. Many of those people are still here today – Randy Wood, SPG Superintendent, and Mark Ahart, Journeyman Carpenter, just celebrated 25 years with us and Tom Perrault recently was able to enjoy retirement after a long productive career. Heather Bunn joined as junior PM and is now a VP, Anne Schuessler came on board as a carpenter – foreman and proceeded to lead our vault into the heart of the sustainable construction frontier. Today our 18 Superintendents have over 340 years of collective experience with the Rafn Company – an average tenure of 19 years. As we began doing business with more than just Jack Rafn’s friends, we began to seek out the clients who possessed the values that would be a good fit for our culture. We discovered how crucial trust and integrity were to successful ventures and how important it was to work with like-minded people. We discovered a niche working with non-profit clientele and also with committee based and faith based customers. Our strong focus on managing the budget and our intolerance of failure combined to bring a dependable and relatively risk-free result to our work. 
Rafn’s good people partnered with great customers produced a rich and interesting profile of projects during the second decade. Retail projects included the original South Lake Union Chandler’s Cove and the Pioneer Square National Building. We built the large Kirkland office park at Crown Point and we rebuilt old strip centers like the Redmond Bear Creek Mall. For Lorig we got to tackle a couple of historic office conversions - medical office at the old Lake City School and government office at the Thurston County Courthouse. We enjoyed a long run with Country Clubs from the Olympic peninsula south to Olympia and north to Whidbey Island. In 1996 Rafn built the initial phases of Starbucks Headquarters after completing 40 retail stores for them. We added Bellwether, Canlis and Filson to our list of great customers. And last but not least we began building a steady stream of ground up apartments and urban infill transit oriented mixed-use projects. The final noteworthy accomplishment of the Rafn Company’s second decade was the creation of a continuity plan that would ensure the company would outlast its founder’s desire to continue working. In 1994 Jack Rafn included Tom Ambrey and Kim Bottles in a stock purchase agreement that would create the template for future generations. And in 1996 Rafn Company moved into the Evergreen Building as its Headquarters… hard to believe that was 17 years ago.
Jack Rafn founded the Rafn Company in 1978 to consciously avoid the often times adversarial nature inherent to hard bid contracting. By personality and attitude, Jack was driven to a collaborative process in which shared goals and mutual commitment to the development process could achieve a successful, high quality, cost-effective outcome — and could continue to cultivate lasting friends. It was a novel and visionary idea that we have championed over the past 35 years. Initially, the renovation of historic buildings was the testing ground for this team approach with owners and architects, years before the industry bantered about the terms “partnering” and “team building”. These principles were then applied to both public and private commercial projects with such great success that it has become the de facto standard in our market segment. The Rafn Values born from these beginnings are: Character – integrity to guarantee the quality & delivery of our work Competency – the best people & the skill to lead the construction process Courage – to achieve the highest standard and to make the right decisions Commitment – to our people, clients, environment, and community For more than three decades, the Rafn Company has grown successfully on these values with a focus on negotiated work. Rafn’s leadership team is committed to guiding the company to greater success by building on these values. Tom Ambrey has been a part of the Rafn team for more than 30 years as a carpenter, superintendent, COO and now CEO. Kim Bottles, Shawn Rhode, and Heather Bunn join Tom on the leadership team. Together these four carry the mantle of integrity, depth of experience, and commitment to Rafn’s continued success. The Rafn Company’s presence and reputation throughout the Northwest is built on a very simple concept: make the client’s interests the center of our business. Our customers are frequently surprised to discover that we often have a greater understanding of their needs than do many in their own organization. The needs of our customers led us to become pioneers in negotiated GC/CM work and the first in the Northwest to implement sustainable standards into every project we build. When you layer onto that firm foundation our company of people whose average tenure spans over 13 years and whose supervisors have been here for over 18 years the result commands respect. The sum of the parts equates to a world class culture of integrity; competitiveness; intelligence; innovation; and consistent, quality delivery. That’s why when asked about the Rafn Company, clients, subcontractors, suppliers, regulatory agencies and even competitors say, “they are good people... and they do great work.”
