General Contracting with an Owner Mindset
High Mark Construction, LLC has a passion for operations, relationships and clients’ dreams
High Mark Construction, LLC (High Mark) is a general contractor with a strong understanding of how buildings are operated. The company, based in Winter Garden, Florida, specializes in commercial construction, light commercial construction and tenant buildouts in Florida and Georgia. High Mark is known for its expertise in retail offices, auto dealerships, theme parks and multifamily projects.
The company identifies how clients operate their businesses, including workflows and management processes, and then helps them design their building to maximize functionality while still meeting the design intent. “Our owner viewpoint has driven our success,” says High Mark President Tom Harl.
After graduating with honors from the Rinker School of Construction Management at the University of Florida, Tom spent 10 years as an in-house general contractor for a developer that owns and operates its own buildings. He founded High Mark Development, a fully integrated real estate company, and its third-party construction company, High Mark Construction, in 2007.
The core office team consists of Tom, Project Manager Larry Woodson, Director of Development Kristine Hernandez and Construction Administrator Chantel Cothron. In the field, High Mark superintendents run multiple construction projects and tenant buildouts.
In 2017 and 2019, High Mark was recognized in the Gator100, which celebrates the world’s 100 fastest-growing businesses owned or led by University of Florida alums.
Owner-Focused Approach to Construction
High Mark’s operating model and mindset is “Vision, Strategy, Solutions.” Each project begins with the owner’s vision, followed by a strategy to implement it and execution in the most productive manner.
Many owners have an idea and concept, Tom says, but they aren’t necessarily familiar with the construction process. High Mark likes to get involved early in a project to provide a design review of the owner’s plans and weigh in on overall constructability challenges. “We can solve challenges up front before the client is knee deep in the project,” says Tom.
A recent project illustrates this model in action. The client’s original goal was to build a small fish market and provide space for customers to eat. “We talked to the owner about his goals and dreams. During those discussions, we shared our knowledge and painted a bigger picture for him of the true potential of his business,” Kristine says. “It caused him to dream a little bigger. We recommended adding income-generating retail space to the project.”
High Mark showed the client how he could achieve that bigger goal. They helped him establish a banking relationship and introduced him to an architect.
“Kristine and Tom have a way of creating an infectious, believable dream,” Chantel says. In this case, a little dream of building a place to eat has become a much bigger vision, including potentially opening future locations.
Evaluating Building Life-Cycle Costs
High Mark often recommends changes—in selection of light fixtures, finishes, roofing materials—that have a huge impact on the ultimate life-cycle cost of the building but don’t significantly increase the overall cost of the construction project.
During preconstruction, for example, High Mark worked with the fish market owner to understand the day-to-day operations of the facility. Cooler and prep areas were to be washed down daily, so the staff at High Mark recommended building concrete curbs for the coolers to sit on to prevent rusting. By determining the exact direction of the washdown, High Mark also determined that the client would need an additional trench drain to capture that water.
High Mark’s process includes considering the life-cycle cost of the building to help clients minimize that cost. The company’s work in the auto dealership industry is a good example. “Typically, a dealership receives prototype plans designed by their corporate office,” Tom says. However, the design intent doesn’t necessarily convey how the owner of the dealership operates the building. High Mark takes the time to understand these processes in order to provide an optimal solution that realistically addresses ongoing operational costs.
The owner of an auto dealership approached Tom about replacing its parking lot lights with a product he learned about at an industry trade show. Tom recommended that the dealer consider additional options. After talking to lighting vendors, High Mark provided an alternate light fixture package that cost $60,000 less, provided twice the warranty and delivered much better photometrics for the parking lot, which serves as the dealership’s showroom. That experience earned the dealer’s respect and trust.
“We’re a general contractor and work on a percentage-of-cost fee basis. However, we viewed the situation from an owner’s perspective. I showed him how I would build it if it were mine, even though technically it cost me money to save him money,” Tom says. “He knew we were looking out for his best interests. That’s our differentiator.”
Construction with the Owner in Mind
“We are hyperfocused on understanding our clients’ operational requirements and concerns, and then providing a construction process and strategy that makes the project as painless as possible for them,” Tom says.
High Mark has completed several projects for auto dealerships. “We’re able to provide owners real value design and intent,” he says. Ongoing consulting is part of the project. They assess life-cycle costs, define the plan and ensure it is accurately communicated between pre-construction and construction teams.
A memorable project was the construction of the Rountree-Moore Ford dealership in Lake City, Florida. The sales staff needed to remain in the building during construction to serve their clients. Temporarily moving into trailers was not an option. High Mark made it work.
“We built the new building around, over and on top of the existing building,” Tom recalls. High Mark built and finished out the front half of the new building, then built a temporary wall and demolished the old building within the new finished building. “We had to do some creative offset columns and beams,” he explains. “We took great care to understand the owner’s business needs and create a process that worked the best for him and caused minimal disruption to his employees and business.”
Integrating Design Intent, Guest Experience
High Mark’s successful execution of construction projects within operating businesses led to projects in the theme park industry, including Universal Orlando Resort. “Obviously, theme parks don’t shut down for construction,” Tom says.
Theme park projects are exciting and challenging. Design intent and guest experience are prioritized, and no two projects are exactly alike. “They’re exciting because every project is unique. They involve a lot of specialty items,” Tom says.
High Mark is a member of the Themed Entertainment Association, a nonprofit that represents creators, developers, designers and producers in the theme park industry.
“We work with design teams who are artists, with engineers and with operations teams. Our challenge is integrating their design intent with corporate standards and then executing,” Tom says. This is often accomplished on an accelerated schedule. “We’re able to make adjustments midstream. That’s very challenging to do in the themed environment world,” Larry adds.
“It’s part of our ‘get it done no matter what’ attitude. If an outcome is within our control, we deliver it,” Tom says.
High Mark’s theme park project experience informs their work in retail construction. “A transition is occurring in the retail world,” Tom says. “Increasingly, retailers want to create an experiential environment for their clients.”
Tenant BuildOuts and Improvements
Buildouts and tenant improvements represent a significant portion of High Mark’s projects, from small tenant buildouts to large-scale retail and office spaces, such as back-of-house loan processing operations for a bank. They also execute “vanilla box” projects for corporate clients to complete their own buildouts.
High Mark has completed buildouts of several T-Mobile stores. “We went into existing retail centers and completed them in just three weeks, from demo to finished store. The client had to open a certain number of stores, and we hit all deadlines,” Tom says.
Purpose-Built Relationships
The company builds and maintains solid, long-term relationships with subcontractors and vendors. “We value our relationships with subcontractors as much as we do those with our clients,” Chantel says.
These partnerships are especially critical to fast-turnaround projects. “We had the same crews working on each of the T-Mobile stores. They knew what to do and how to do it. We got the projects done together, very efficiently and on time,” Kristine says.
The success of High Mark’s business lies in repeat projects. “The subcontractors and people involved in our projects understand that we will face challenges,” Tom says. “They share our mindset that we’ll work through them together to deliver a successful project, as well as make sure we’re all financially successful with the project.”
There is more than repeat business at stake, though. “One of the rewards of our work is taking personal satisfaction when we walk away from a project,” Tom says. “To say, ‘We built that!’ People will use, visit and enjoy that building for years to come. We take pride in delivering a project to the owners’ satisfaction, and ultimately, one they will derive revenue from.”