At McKinstry, our mission is to make every building we touch more efficient. “Mission: Possible” is a monthly series featuring people and projects around the country that demonstrate our mission in action.

Working efficiently is nothing new at McKinstry. We have long believed that half the labor in a construction project is wasted and have been on a mission to drive efficiency into our work for years – everything from developing standard processes and adapting technology that streamlines our work to providing just-in-time delivery.

When our team in Texas received a call and was asked if they could step in to help get a local main distribution frame (MDF) room for a 1 million-square-foot distribution center up and running on a tight timeline, the team did not hesitate to jump in. The owner has been building out capacity and the need for computing power is greater than ever so the project couldn’t wait.

McKinstry’s commissioning team was contacted by general contractor Gordan Highlander, who they knew through previous work, when the original subcontractor was unable to travel to Dallas due to COVID-19 travel restrictions to complete the build-out of Denali’s MDF DEN rack enclosures. The scope was a bit out of the norm for a McKinstry commissioning team, but with some ingenuity and good bench strength, they were able to bring together a variety of teammates with expertise to create a competent, efficient and safe work plan.

“This was an extremely challenging job,” said Kevin Callis, commissioning manager. “We were the first third-party to perform this work and the team worked 12-hour days to complete the work in five days. We definitely proved we were up to the challenge.”

Carson Zirges drilled 70+ anchor bolts. Our on-site electrical engineer, Phillip Walker, rolled up his sleeves to wire up the UPS and build the cage it sat in. Our resident master electrician, Jackie Gilcrease, wired the panels. Duane Warren played a key role in acquiring the job and Kevin Callis orchestrated the project.

Estimated, contracted and completed in less than three weeks, this project is a testament to incredible teamwork and careful planning.

“We had never had a third-party vendor build these cages, so we were a little nervous,” said Taylor Henry, project manager for Denali. “The McKinstry team performed the work perfectly. In my mind, this couldn’t have gone any better.”