Florida Shell Construction Contractors

Richard and Rice has a combined 40 years of construction experience in meeting the most demanding needs of General Contractors and Developers in Florida. We provide full service, shell contracting services to some of the largest, most successful and prestigious developers in the United States (See list of Richard and Rice developer clients). The type of shell contract structures we build include; single family, multi-family, light commercial, and industrial building buildout.

Many of our projects include luxury residential developments which have been multi-year on-demand projects. Our dependable foundation, masonry, and carpentry professional services have played an important role in our developer clients’ business success. Just as important, we have met an important need in providing the construction “backbone” of hundreds of high quality-built communities throughout Florida and ultimately to tens of thousands of homeowners and families.

Like with many important things in life… a strong foundation is essential from which the building of a greater achievements is attainable.

Richard and Rice – Florida Construction Foundation Services

In engineering, a foundation is the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads from the structure to the ground. Foundations are generally considered either shallow or deep. The greater the load that a building or structure produces, the greater to amount of secure foundational support it will require. Foundation engineering analysis determines the load amounts that are feasible given the application of soil mechanics and rock mechanics (Geotechnical engineering) in the design of foundation elements of your site and structure.

Richard and Rice work with your engineers and planning teams to implement foundation construction services that meet the most challenging Florida construction projects and building codes. Whether it be a large multi-story building or an expansive residential home construction development, Richard and Rice have the manpower, heavy equipment resources and logistical expertise to meet both your budget and construction deadline.

Richard and Rice foundation construction services provide your structure’s stability:

To distribute the weight of the structure over large area so as to avoid over-loading of the soil beneath.
To anchor the structures against the changing natural forces like sink holes, floods, wind, tornado and hurricane.
To load the sub-stratum evenly and thus prevent unequal settlement.
To provide a level surface for building operations.
To take the structure deep into the ground and thus increase its stability, preventing overloading.
Specially designed foundation helps in avoiding the lateral movements of the supporting material.

Contact the Richard and Rice Foundation Service team today at 954-418-9831. Share with us your ambitious project and learn how we can play an important role in the shell construction of your development project.

Richard and Rice – Florida Masonry Services

Masonry construction technology has advanced so much over recent decades, that today’s techniques and materials would appear almost magical to a time-traveling mason from 100 years ago. Masonry buildings built 100 years ago commonly were constructed with multi-wythe, load-bearing walls—unlike modern, curtain-wall construction based on a structural steel frame. Instead of an air space between the exterior masonry and the interior finish wall, a hundred-year-old building could have interlocking brick, stone or even rubble. The inside and outside walls are inextricably tied together. Understanding how these walls bear loads, flex with thermal movement and transmit moisture is critical to modern masonry engineer today.

Since Roman time, cement-based masonry is one of our oldest and most established building techniques. Evolutions in materials, mix designs, and engineering allow for the construction today of even stronger masonry buildings—structures that will last for multi-generations.

As with other concrete wall systems, masonry creates walls with high thermal mass, minimizing temperature swings and shifting heating and cooling loads to off-peak hours. The resulting buildings are more economical, with lower overall heating and cooling costs, providing a consistently comfortable atmosphere for inhabitants. Masonry also offers durability as well as sound attenuation—which all adds up to a more quiet, comfortable atmosphere for inhabitants.

South Florida Masonry Construction: Fire Safety and Wind Durability

When it comes to fire resistance, masonry is a true performer. It offers excellent protection from fire damage and thus lower homeowner insurance rates to consumers. Masonry structures are also stand up well to high wind forces such as tropical storms, tornadoes and hurricanes. Wind acting on the roof surfaces of a building can cause negative pressures that create a lifting force sufficient to lift the roof off the building. Once this occurs, the building is weakened considerably and the rest of the building will likely fail as well. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992 caused $16 billion in insured damage, the state of Florida established new building standards and enforcement. To minimize this vulnerability, the upper structure of Florida newly constructed homes are now anchored through the walls to the foundation. The state of Florida has enhanced performance criteria for wind-load provisions on residential structures and has adopted new wind provisions from the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Many homes built in South Florida since Hurricane Andrew are cinder block masonry construction reinforced with concrete pillars, hurricane-strapped roof trusses, and codes requirements for adhesives and types of roofing Florida also designated high-velocity hurricane zones (i.e. High Velocity Hurricane Zone) with special requirements defined for Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. Today, several methods can be used to anchor roof effectively. Typically, roof trusses were “toenailed” into the top of the walls, which provide insufficient force to resist high winds. Hurricane ties nail into the wall and wrap over the trusses to provide higher force resistance.

Richard and Rice provides Florida Hurricane code-compliant concrete block, brick and stone masonry services to general contractors throughout South Florida. Our masonry teams are also knowledgeable in the installation requirements of the extensive variety of aesthetic masonry and stone composite products that are available today.

Richard and Rice – Florida Carpentry Services

Truss Carpentry Framing

Truss construction is the dominant method of roof framing used in building homes in Florida today. Before the popularity of truss construction, homes were designed with a center load bearing partition. This was necessary to support the ceiling joist. The advantage of today’s roof trusses is the ability to span large distances. This has opened up a tremendous number of new home design options for home developers.

Truss roof framing must also be designed to hold up a structural load including what is called dead load, its own weight and the weight of the roof covering, and additional loading called the environmental load such as rain and wind. Trusses are most often pre-fabricated, triangulated wooden structures delivered to the homesite.

Benefits of Truss Carpentry:

Trusses are incredibly strong
Because they are built strictly from shorter lengths of 2×4 lumber, they are generally a lot less expensive than the alternative.
You can have just about any shape custom-built, and this allows interesting features like cathedral ceilings at a low cost.
You can span a large distance with a truss and the truss transmits all of the weight to the exterior walls. Therefore, none of the interior walls are “load-bearing,” so they can go anywhere and are easily moved later.
Trusses go up quickly!

Flat roofs in addition to dead loads may also need to be designed for live loads if people can walk on them. In the United States, building codes specify the loads in pounds per square foot which vary by region. The load and span distance between supports) defines the size and spacing of the rafters and trusses.

For over 40 decades Richard and Rice has met the expanding design requirements of truss carpentry on homes and multi-family housing units. We understand and are compliant with, South Florida’s rigorous hurricane wind code requirements. Call the Richard and Rice Truss Carpentry Framing team at 954-418-9831 to learn how we can put a long-lasting roof on your construction projects.

Florida Custom Home Construction Carpentry

Home architects and developers are constantly innovating and creating new and exciting home design features. For these exciting designs to become reality dependable and highly skilled carpenters are required to construct these custom home design feature. Vaulted ceilings, archways, columns, and complex staircases all require significant carpentry experience and expertise. Richard and Rice has a deep bench of custom carpentry craftsmen to complete even the most complex custom carpentry design. These talented craftsmen are essential in delivering a high-quality home – on time and on budget.

Richard and Rice – Construction Management Services

Even the most basic home has over 1 million components in the construction process each of these components needs to be installed at a precise time and in coordination with other construction elements. In today’s competitive construction world, downtime in totally unacceptable. Large and important construction projects require an orchestrated delivery schedule of materials. Large, expensive and dangerous construction equipment requires expert and focused operators to keep construction sites safe. The Richard and Rice skilled shell contracting craftsmen understand the level of commitment it takes to brings all of the materials, machines and skilled professional to achieve the development goals.

The seasoned management team of over 40 years at Richard and Rice have orchestrated the shell construction process to eliminate the following discrepancies: inefficiencies, construction hazards, and budget and deadline shortfalls. If the task sounds daunting, in reality, it is. Everyday our team expects to perform to the highest standards of professionalism and efficiency it starts at with top management and goes throughout the entire Richard and Rice team because that is the requirement for winning the privilege of working for our valuable developer clients.

Call Richard and Rice – Florida Shell Contracting Experts today at 954-418-9831. Learn how we can earn your business as your dependable partner in your important construction project.

Richard and Rice has earned the trust, confidence and business the following esteemed builders; Toll Brothers, Pulte Home Group, D.R. Horton, Lennar Homes, Beazer Homes, K. Hovnanian, David Weekley, Standard Homes, Taylor Morrison, Kolter Homes, Minto Homes, Mattamy Homes, Centerline Homes, WCI Communities and many other regional custom builders and General Contractors throughout the state of Florida.

Florida Shell Contracting areas served:

Fort Lauderdale Shell Contractor (linked to new city page)

West Palm Beach Shell Contractor (linked to new city page)

Miami Fl Shell Contractor (linked to new city page)

Naples Shell Contractor Services (linked in new city page)