Senior Living Construction with Community Living Solutions

How we bring the pieces of the puzzle together

At Community Living Solutions, designing and building senior living communities isn’t all we do. We think beyond brick and mortar to ensure our clients are making the best decisions for their future. How do we do that? With a comprehensive planning process, a commitment to active listening and informed decision-making. That way, all the pieces of a senior living construction project come together in a state-of-the-art facility that will meet residents’ and employees’ needs for years to come.

We often compare our process to a three-legged stool made up of planning, architecture and construction. Our extensive planning process leads to thoughtful design and construction, which is based on our clients’ vision coupled with current and future market demand. When one of those legs doesn’t function effectively, the project suffers. See how we approach each of these services to ensure all three legs work together to create a state-of-the-art senior living facility.

Our planning process

Before we begin designing your senior living facility, we take a significant amount of time gathering information to fully understand everything about your organization, your team, your residents and your board of directors. Thanks to our experience in designing and building only senior living communities, we also bring insight we gained from past projects to help ensure yours goes smoothly.

We have assisted clients with developing strategic initiatives of their business plans. We helped them obtain financing and determine the capital cost of their project. Typically, we assist with identifying third-party market feasibility consultants to help our clients determine what to build—or whether to build—based on market demand.

We enter every project knowing there are numerous decision-making possibilities, and every decision affects the whole. Like a Rubik’s Cube®, if you change one thing, there are another five sides that could be affected, for better or worse. That’s why we take master planning so seriously. Without proper planning, making changes without noticing how they affect the whole can leave you frustrated. And worse yet, leave you with costly mistakes both now and in the future.

Staying on trend in architectural design

We design and build only senior living facilities because we share our clients’ passion for providing seniors the best quality of life possible. Our person-centered designs are uniquely creative as they need to solve a series of complex problems—focusing on residents’ quality of life, maximizing operations and staff efficiencies, minimizing overall costs and taking advantage of the latest market trends.

We do our due diligence by researching not only overall architectural design trends but also new products or new ways of delivering care that may affect the design. Three examples come to mind:

• During a recent memory care expansion at Bethel Home & Services in Viroqua, Wis., we brought the first Snoezelen room to that market. These multi-sensory rooms help reduce anxiety, especially for those living with memory loss.
• In post-construction client surveys, we learned that while the long-term care market is demanding private bathrooms, there are fewer people available to clean those bathrooms. At the same time, we learned of a light fixture that is said to kill germs and bacteria. Could installing these light fixtures help upkeep these bathrooms in some small way? It’s possible.
• Those living with memory loss may benefit from a room design with the subtle reminder of having the restroom in view from the bed. The possibility of reducing accidents allows caregivers to spend time on greater needs and interaction.

Our portfolio is full of projects that not only brought beautiful new living spaces to area markets, but they also solved day-to-day challenges, both big and small.

Helping reduce senior living construction costs

People often ask about assisted living construction costs, as well as construction costs of other senior living facilities. At Community Living Solutions, we take pride in bringing together all the disciplines needed under one source of responsibility: us. That helps keep costs down.

Every project is led by a CLS partner who develops and helps to manage a team of about 20 subcontractors. In every instance, we hire local tradespeople who fully understand the area’s building codes. We vet them thoroughly to make sure they are fully staffed, have the right experience and background, and are financially sound. We also ensure they share our common values so they become a trusted partner of your complete construction team.

We save money by acting as our own general contractor, and we pass those savings on to you. It’s estimated that a competitive construction management procurement process, such as the one we deliver, can save an average of 8 percent on construction costs.

The CLS way

We view success as lessening for our clients any burdens that may come from a building project; delivering an efficient, homelike facility; and saving clients money in the long run. If you are interested in seeing how we are different, request an introductory meet-and-greet by visiting our Contact page or calling (920) 969-9344.