Construction

Concrete:
Lavender is a one-stop shop for everything a client needs for even the largest concrete jobs.  We can supply equipment, chemicals, hand tools, decorative concretes, reinforcing steel, tilt up, shoring, finishing tools, fasteners, rentals, layout tools, forming supplies, and bagged products. Lavender owns batch plants and can build a client their plant or offer access to ours.  We have more than a decade of experience producing and selling prefab, ready-to-place concrete objects.

Fill, Gravel, Asphalt & Sand:
Lavender has in stock or can quickly produce road crush, road gravel, sub base, sand, pit run, tile rock, topsoil and asphalt to meet a client's needs.  We have plants in several Middle Eastern countries to meet growing demands.

Electrical Supply:
Lavender can supply: Conduit, Fittings, Mountings, Communication, Distribution, Electrical Boxes, Enclosures, Encoders, Fuses, Fault Protectors, Receptacles, Power Supply, PLCs, Raceways, Relays, Safety Switches, Solar Panels, Solenoids, Starters, Contactors, Switches, Temperature Controllers Terminal Blocks Timers, Transformers, Regulators, Connectors, Wire and Cables.  Lavender can meet a client's needs at any standard: ANSI, BS, IEC, NFPA or TIA

Plumbing Supply:
Lavender is a client’s source for all kitchen and bathroom plumbing fixtures and supplies.  Located in Dubai, Lavender serves the Middle East and surrounding countries by providing an outstanding selection of plumbing supplies such as fixtures and pipe fittings, valves, drains, filtration, gas lines, aeration, sinks, pipes, tubing, fountains, water heaters, pumps, and treatment systems. Lavender can supply all name brand fixtures and fittings plus tools and many specialty items. Our brand name products include copper fittings, ball valves, brass fittings, flush valves, galvanized fittings, and all types of tubing. Our broad selections of residential and commercial plumbing fixtures offer the client attractive designs and types at reasonable prices. Our products meet the UPC, IAPMO, or IPC standards.

Blocks and Bricks:
Lavender can supply the color, texture, size, manufacturing process and availability that a client needs for horizontal and vertical block and brick construction.  Blocks and bricks provide strength, thermal performance, fire resistance and durability. The cost savings for a brick or block building is considerable thus giving the client a low cost-to-build and low cost-to-maintain option.

Lumber and Steel:
Advances in steel building methods has created an option for clients to construct a low-cost building quickly.  The weight and limited manufacturing options for quality rolled steel often make procurement tricky; however, Lavender has primary building material already in the country and ready to use. Lavender can provide every type of lumber from the most exotic to particleboard.  Lavender will evaluate every option a and provide the best value approach. Regional price differences in wood and even seasonal changes can mean that a client is spending too much on local suppliers.  Lavender strives to give the best price for wood delivered to a client's site.

Prefab Construction:
Lavender can offer a client many prefab construction solutions. The advantages of Lavender’s prefab construction are numerous including:
- Quality control already installed in the factory
- Fast delivery to meet clients’ needs and assemblage within minimum required work
- Capability for construction work during the entire year
- A wide range of opportunities for projections and construction of multipurpose facilities
- Environmentally safe (does not pollute the environment)
- Excellent seismic characteristics
- Good fire protection
- Low price and non-limiting architectural design and creativity

Furniture:
Lavender can supply commercial and home-use appliances, desks, tables, chairs, beds, wardrobes, dressers, lamps, etc. Our company can supply these products in various styles, colors and in multiple standards of quality ranging from economical to expensive.

 Outcomes:
The experience Lavender possesses spans a broad spectrum of internal and external relationships. Part of Lavender's philosophy is to ensure that a portion of the money earned in the accomplishment of these job orders goes to those people in the community whose lives can benefit most. Lavender attributes its successes to best practices, and many years of training and establishing relationships with our UAE staff and our subcontractor team. These best practices include:
- Efficient and Effective Design Process – The Lavender Site Management Team has an experienced staff that forms the basis of Lavender’s design review and submission team. This team of has years of experience working with Eastern and Western reporting regulations and submission standards which dramatically contributes to fast-track success during the design process. The UAE team is backed by an experienced engineering staff.
- Mature Subcontractor Force – Lavender has performed in the Middle East for more than thirty years. Lavender has moved from employing subcontractors with little construction and contracting experience to a strong pool of talented subcontractors many of whom now have their own contracting companies.
- A Strong Commitment to Mentor local, national and TCN workers – The Lavender team is committed to a disciplined mentoring approach for vocational skills, quality control, and project management techniques for our subcontractors and their workers

Management Capabilities:
Lavender’s project management and leadership capabilities, including our organizational structure, personnel, systems, and support, reduce project risk and ensure quality projects are delivered safely, on time, and within budget.

Our emphasis on leadership, mentoring, and the core values of safety, integrity, and client satisfaction are exemplified in all project endeavors. Lavender has developed a management strategy that will ensure our success. This strategy consists of two major components: (1) provide multidimensional contract and logistics support based on our years of experience in the Middle East, as well as operational bases in support of clients, and (2) deploy experienced site assessment teams to liaise with on-the-ground end users. These critical activities will result in:
- accelerated design-build capability in keeping with the client models;
- conceptual work plan (CWP) that is ready for presentation;
- site-specific integrated work plan (IWP)
- Following the initial round of bid reviews, Lavender will request a second round of final bids from the subcontractors that we identified as the best-value, low-cost providers. The final proposals Lavender receives represent "hard dollar" bids that reduce the risk of cost overruns and ensure that selected vetted subcontractors submit proposals based on bid packages with detailed specifications and drawings aligned with customer expectations.

Upon successful award of a contract, Lavender will review and ensure its subcontractors’ bids are refined, to further reduce costs and provide the best value for the client. The subcontractor quotations are included as a backup to this basis of estimate (BOE).
The final selection of a subcontractor's evaluation will be made based upon a best-value determination based on price, technical capability, quality of work, and the ability to meet the schedule, which is a key project driver. The final construction subcontract award(s) will be made to one or multiple subcontractors, depending on best value to the Government and schedule requirements.
 
Organizational Structure:
Lavender is committed to an organized, matrixed project management structure. Every discipline reports to the project manager but has access to the expertise of management and consultants from the home office. Lavender recognizes that the authority on projects stems from the client.
The Project Manager will direct and oversee all project execution, acting as the primary point of contact for the client. He/she will coordinate resources and manage safety, security and QC programs. The PM will meet with project controls and ensure that there is compliance with the budget and schedule. Also, he/she will chair weekly progress meetings, review and approve change order requests, and ensure timely contract deliverables.

Management Systems:
Our suite of project management policies, tools, programs, and standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been customized for Middle Eastern working conditions and customs.These project management systems are compliant with regulations, aligned with client requirements, and have received rigorous testing.
 
Lavender uses AccuEstimate to establish cost estimates, the basis of estimate, and work breakdown structures (WBSs) and Microsoft Project© to develop the integrated master schedule (IMS) during project planning and initiation. Upon contract award, the project WBS is finalized in CSI format for all TO work elements and embedded in our accounting system and the IMS. The budget and schedule are uploaded into AccuTrack, Lavender’s cost and schedule tracking system. The system integrates Microsoft Excel© with Microsoft Project© and provides project management and control personnel the tools to monitor, evaluate, reconcile, and report project performance. Lavender employs a measurement baseline review process that incorporates earned-value management systems to determine the fiscal and physical health of the project. Lavender’s earned-value management process ensures a systematic approach to the integration and measurement of cost, schedule, and technical (scope) accomplishments on each project. The methods used include:
- Highly accurate risk-based pricing, ensuring the ongoing fiscal health of Lavender while providing the client with the most responsible, very reasonable rates
- Measuring the budgeted cost of work scheduled against the budgeted cost of work performed
- Measuring the budgeted cost of work performed against the actual cost of work performed
- Subcontractor cost/schedule performance
- Identification and correction of variances
- Estimate to complete and estimated the cost at completion
- Two-week forecast schedules
- Daily, weekly, and monthly status reports
- Cost/Schedule Status Reports and
- Contractor’s Progress, Status, and Management Reports

Management Support
Lavender places project-critical operations at the project site. Management resources and support services not required to be present at each site are shared by all Lavender sites and provided as required from our Dubai office. Project controls and support functions performed via Microsoft SharePoint® (our system accessible worldwide) are provided from our Dubai office. This on-demand, shared approach provides a number of key features and benefits to project delivery, including:
- Elimination of redundancy for functions required at multiple sites, thereby reducing the number of personnel and costs for the services
- Standardized delivery that provides consistent quality and level of service to all projects
- Services provided on an as-needed basis that apportions the cost of services where used
- Consolidated, integrated, multiple project purchasing results in lower costs for goods and services and priority delivery when needed, where needed
- Standardized security, safety, and quality programs across all projects reduces costs and provides consistent services
- Coordinating resources efficiently allocates personnel and high-demand resources among the sites
- It is through these systems that our project management team has 24/7 access to and support from our resource and service network, including:
 -- Project Web Site. Lavender’s secured access web-based project portal exceeds security requirements and provides project participants access suitable to their roles and responsibilities. The system provides users real-time, 24/7 access to a wide variety of project information, such as contract and financial data, reports, deliverables, SOPs, invoices, and photos.
 -- Plans and Specifications. Lavender has a database of deliverables, such HSP, QSP, work plans, and facility designs and specifications that will reduce the time and cost for project planning and initiation.

Technical Approach
The capability and experience Lavender has gained in the Middle East provides technical advantages that make our company a low-risk contractor option when considering cost control, quality of work, on-schedule delivery, customer satisfaction, and compliance. Lavender is a locally based UAE company with strong ties to the resident community and the ability to obtain supplies and additional labor quickly and reliably. Our low mark-ups are the result of this approach: local, reliable and experienced.

Lavender’s personnel have in-depth knowledge and experience in excavation, utility installation, military base construction, concrete and asphalt paving, vertical block construction, column and fill block construction, maintenance, construction, and vertical and horizontal concrete works both in local and global regions. Lavender’s logistical support and extensive in-country experience contribute to decreased performance risk in addition to compliance with the budget and schedule. Our approach consists of five major components:
- Provide all projects with multi-dimensional contract and logistics support;
- Deploy an experienced site assessment team to liaise with on-the-ground teams and clients during the proposal phase to ensure prime contractors, their client’s, and Lavender’s goals and objectives are aligned;
- Prepare detailed work packages and get multiple firm-fixed-price bids from proven subcontractors to lower cost, schedule, and performance risks;
- Complete a majority of the work in-house thus allowing for lower pricing and avoiding any potential problems associated with multi-tiered subcontracting; and
- Ensure the protection and safety of all personnel and property by careful selection and rigorous oversight of workers.

These critical activities will result in:
- An accelerated design-build capability
- A conceptual work plan (CWP) that is ready for presentation after job order solicitation
- A better understanding by subcontractors of a client’s requirements and Lavender’s expectations which will ultimately lead to increased confidence in meeting the budget and schedule
- Adequate security and safety oversight maintained by the labor force and subcontractors to ensure the protection the workers, personnel, and property.

Quality Control
With a commitment to quality and project collaboration with clients, Lavender has created a Quality Control Division in Dubai to provide timely and in-depth technical backup to the project sites. Lavender, in close partnership with clients, is working to ensure its structures are built to the highest attainable standards for the locality. The Quality Control Division in Dubai is staffed with engineers, who are thoroughly trained in local and international building techniques and can to provide design review and daily engineering oversight of submissions.

The project QCP will be developed and will be implemented by Lavender's Project QC Manager. Salient features of our quality approach include:
- Ensuring all personnel are familiar with and trained in the provisions of the QCP
- Ensuring that all personnel are qualified for their assigned work
- Understanding of each person’s responsibility, authority, and accountability
- Ensuring the project scope of work is followed and contract specifications met
- Identifying, reporting, tracking, and correcting all deficiencies
- On-site and off-site QC inspections, testing, and audits
- Notifying the Construction Manager and supervisors of acceptance and rejection of work

The project QCP will be finalized by our QC Manager and implemented by our site execution team. The final QCP will be submitted upon NTP and will contain such elements as:
- Project organization chart with clear lines of authority
- List of definable features of work per WBS
- Coordination of inspections with the IMS
- Procedures for scheduling and managing submittals
- Procedures for requests for information
- List and schedule of inspections and tests
- Records of all tests and inspections conducted
- Notification of acceptance or rejection of work
- Reports of deficiencies and corrective actions
- Process for tracking and correcting deficiencies
- Completion turnover and acceptance procedures
- Pre-final and final inspection

Lavender will work with its subcontractors and workers to train them in proper construction methods, building code requirements, QC techniques, and document preparation that meet the client’s requirements. Through our efforts, local subcontractors and workers will develop new skills and a commitment to quality work. This approach will result in significantly improved work products and a better-trained projects workforce and team.

Lavender’s project management and leadership capabilities, including our structure, personnel, systems, and support, reduce project risk and ensure quality facilities are delivered safely, on time, and within budget.
 
Health and Safety:
Lavender’s most important corporate policy is to provide a safe and healthy work environment for its employees, workers, subcontractors, clients, and the general public. Lavender has a Zero Incident Rate goal for its projects and will actively manage projects/jobs accordingly.After Lavender has its first site walk-through, we will finalize the site-specific HSP, and Lavender's SSH Manager will include a Safety First Environment policy in every task to meet or exceed all safety regulations.

In Iraq, which had no safety infrastructure or culture, Lavender succeeded in implementing the necessary safety policies and controls to minimize injury and improve the overall safety culture on its projects.
To ensure safety on its contracts, Lavender will:
- Provide all on-site personnel the authority to enforce safety and will hold each worker responsible and accountable for safety-related infractions.
- Assign an SSH Manager, who will be supported by Safety Specialists on site during any fieldwork
- Develop a project-specific HSP and field procedures for any high-hazard activities
- Provide safety training to workers and subcontractors before commencing work, daily tailgate safety meetings, and follow-up training
- Adhere to the strictest safety practices and enforce a zero-incident policy for unsafe work habits
- Conduct regular site audits to ensure safety procedures and practices are adhered to.
- Encourage any employee or subcontractor to report infractions or dangerous activities directly to the Health and Safety Manager

Subcontractors who provide on-site labor are required to provide PPE for their workers, including work shoes, safety glasses, respirators, ear protection, gloves, hard hats, and jumpsuits. To ensure enforcement of the PPE requirements, Lavender maintains backup PPE supplies on site.