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Jack Nieporte & Associates Company History __________________ Our latest company, JNA, began as a separate company in 1986. It followed-on however, a former company, but with different principals and a different company name. Its mission and offering of services changed also. That company began in 1978. Jack Nieporte was the President and co-founder. Jack Nieporte & Associates (JNA) began as a training company and then added consulting services to its list of offerings shortly after it completed its first client assignment. The theme of the company, its focus and principal offering to its clients even till today is Fastrack production management services; either teaching or consulting with companies all across the US and abroad how to cut at least 50% off of their overall construction time, without any appreciable loss to quality or budget (of course that isn't always the case and depends upon what the particular circumstances are). The idea was new when we began, and it still appears that even at this date that we have little or no competition in this rather unique aspect of construction management. That is both good and bad of course. Let us go back to 1979 and look at the former company Mark IV Development, Inc. and the impact that it had on the future of JNA. In 1979 we developed and built the first waterslide project in the State of Utah. In an effort to get the project up and on line by the beginning of the operating season we did all that we knew how to do to construct the slide quickly and it was a real 'splash' in the local marketplace. No other fun water activity like this was available at the time. It was associated with an amusement park and hot springs resort on a large fresh water lake. In 1980, interest rates were so high that we were forced as a new home builder to look for ways to become more efficient and effective. We began with an idea that the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) had for a theme at their national conference and convention that year. It featured a new house that was built with every conceivable cost cutting idea that was then known to the planners of this project. It had a score of fresh new ideas that were truly innovative for the time. A note might be worthy to mention here. This COST BUSTER HOUSE that the NAHB sponsored and built, did NOT include a cost savings category called construction interest! In other words, it contained a high percentage overall, for this costly category. We would seize upon this one little (and it wasn't that little as one might expect) idea. We took it and ran! We came back from that show jazzed up about putting all of them into production. We were building about 10-15 houses per year. The story continues now below. In that same year, but later on we decided to measure our new found efficiencies to see how cost effective they were overall. We found that we were saving approximately 25%! That was a huge savings. The building inspectors in our area worked with us on some of the newer more progressive ones. We were slowly beginning to out-do our competition a little bit at a time. Now during this same time period my main partner and a couple of other guys that were key in our growing organization, put their heads together to come up with another idea. It was to attempt to build the already efficiently built house, on a much faster basis. This was the start of what would eventually come to occupy Jack Nieporte's thoughts and time in the years to come. 30 day House The first house we tried to cut serious time on was an affordable home show house. It was a two-story Cape Cod style house with a full garage, dormers and a full basement. The size was approximately 1500sf. We entered the show late and needed to make up some time as our competitors were already at the sheetrock stage. We hadn't even gotten our building permit. But we did and built the entire house in just 30 days! We beat the other builders and it was such a boost to our ego's that it turned out to be a positive experience. We saved money on our construction loan and the quality was excellent. We won almost all of the awards in the show that year from design to best overall home in the show. We were off now to bigger (or faster) things. 48 hour 20 minute House Our next 'learning/test' house was in 1982 and was small but a 'really fast' house. It was only 900sf with a carport. We had presold it and asked the new owners to allow us to get them into to it quickly. They asked, "well how quickly?" and we said, how about just 60 hours?! They were in serious disbelief but after some explanation on our part to assure them that they could watch us build it and that their quality concerns would be more than met, they agreed. We set a date and began. Nothing was prefabricated. We began with a flat lot that needed a hole dug and a stack of lumber, etc. Our workers were definitely ready though. They had been rehearsing for some few weeks off and on to make certain that there would not be any serious problems. We had each sub and supplier very involved. We got their input and commitment. The new house began at 6:00 AM with cameras rolling. It finished just 48 hours and 20 minutes later! And the house was built to FHA-VA standards, with all of the necessary inspections being made along the way! We had one city inspector at the completion of the house hold off on our 'final' CO, because he wanted us to pay him for having to get up early to make his inspections! Or, we would have certainly shaved a couple more ours off at least. That was just one of many-many problems that we had with building this house fast and continuously until completed. We now held the record for the fastest house ever built in Utah, or at least that we knew about. It was on the TV and radio all day long. The climax was when the city building inspector came out to proclaim the house complete according to all building codes, etc. We felt like we had just accomplished some great feat, and again it was satisfying to the soul. We won a national Special Performance Award from Professional Builder Magazine for this fast house. 37 hours 18 minutes House In 1982 we thought that we would attempt again a still larger fast house, which we did. It was approximately 1200sf with three bedrooms, a full 'poured' concrete basement and a double car garage. All of the sitework was completed, the house built and final inspected by the city, the driveway poured, the yard landscaped completely with the lawn mowed and flowers in bloom planted in their designated spots, and all completed to a full and complete state in just 37 hours and 18 minutes! This house was likewise built to FHA-VA standards. We had now beaten our own old record from the previous year! One of the crowning moments of this house was when the local chief building inspector for the city asked if we would sell it to him! He didn't carry out that desire, but it did send out a clear signal to us and our subs and suppliers, that this house was built well enough for him to ask that question. We had scores of visitors to this worksite, like we had on each and every house that we did fast, yet again while we were constructing it. The community probably thought that we were crazy but at that time we didn't care-in a good way though. And their is much more, however, please register to continue reading more about our additional projects that just kept getting larger and faster. We moved on from houses. We also began a new service that aided us and then our new clients in later years.
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