Have you ever walked past a building site and witnessed huge cranes hoisting huge concrete panels in the air? Have you been left amazed at how fast the construction of a commercial building happens, almost in weeks? What you've seen is tilt-up concrete construction. This is a revolutionary method for putting up different types of commercial and industrial buildings such as offices, warehouses, retail centres, call centres and distribution centres with incredible pace, safety, and affordable constructions costs. Are thinking about using tilt-up method for your upcoming commercial construction project? Well, here are some advantages to know for savvy building owners.

Tilt-up concrete explained

The name tilt-up is derived from the way the concrete panels are hoisted into place. Basically, the walls of a tilt-up building are formed horizontally in massive blocks of concrete referred to as panels. Next, the panels which are virtually finished are tilted up into position next to the building's slab using a crane. The panels are reinforced by means of a steel grid as well as plastic strengthening bar supports.

Benefits

Affordable construction costs

Building contractors, building owners and construction managers stand to realise significant savings in construction costs. Typically, tilt-up method employs the use of locally available materials such as ready-made concrete, stone aggregates, silica fumes and limes sludge eliminating the need to manufacture and import materials. This lowers the cost of raw materials and guarantees their availability when needed.  What's more, tilt-up construction crews are far smaller in number compared to the workers employed in traditional construction. This is because heavy equipment performs a significant part of moulding concrete and lifting the panels. In effect, labour costs are significantly reduced. The larger the tilt-up building, the more cost savings on the project's overall cost.

Speed of construction

Building owners desire the fast completion of their commercial structure. Tilt-up construction provides a unique opportunity to accelerate the pace of construction. First, the process of lifting the concrete panels is faster compared to wall construction using traditional methods. Given that tilt-up buildings are made of locally available materials, the project is unaffected by transport or shipping delays. All these aspects combined, provide a quicker, more predictable timeline with limited opportunities for holdups and related cost overruns.

Durability

Every building owner wants the assurance their construction project will be durable and last the test of time with minimal wear. As a clear indication of the strength of tilt-up buildings, commercial buildings in earthquake prone areas adopt this type of construction method.

Talk to an experienced project manager to help you determine whether the benefits associated with tilt-up construction are relevant to your commercial construction project.