Case Study

Sector: E-commerce - Overcoming Construction Obstacles

Three years after its launch in 2012, the client had reached its founders’ goal to become India’s largest online furniture and home decor retailer, with an infusion of capital to continue its rapid expansion. That meant hiring a lot more people, which in turn required a larger central office in Bangalore—as soon as possible. Vestian delivered the 32,000-square-foot space on a tight timeline, despite construction challenges that would have delayed the project in less capable hands.

The new office location selected for expansion was in a business corridor popular with leading-edge technology companies, allowing the firm to compete for talented employees. The space was designed to reflect the company’s business philosophy to be smart, open and modern, and to provide employees with a fun and vibrant work environment that would encourage social interaction. In addition, the space doubles as a showcase for some of their home furniture products, so while employees relax in casual seating or collaborate in small-group niches, they also become more in tune with the product line.

As project manager and general contractor, Vestian had just 45 days to transform the space from a bare-shell facility to office space that reflects the firm’s fun and collegial culture. A tight schedule such as this normally wouldn’t present a major challenge for Vestian, whose professional construction teams work 24 hours a day. But in this case, two critical obstacles arose during the construction process.

The first challenge was a change in design and specifications mid-way through the process, which threatened to delay delivery of long-lead time equipment such as servers, uninterruptible power supplies and precision air conditioning, until just a few days before the deadline. Vestian’s contacts and reputation in the market were critical to expediting delivery of the long-lead items, leaving time for installation and office finishes to be completed. In addition, the underlying slab was uneven and required leveling, or screeding, with plain cement concrete that needed time to dry.

These challenges were made even more difficult by the fact that the floors above and below the client’s space were occupied during business hours, which limited when certain build-out activities could take place. Vestian overcame the obstacles by managing teams to work on parallel paths, in order to complete all phases on the most efficient schedule possible. As a result, Vestian delivered the finished space on time, even mitigating delays from last-minute changes.