Prologis Commercial  Painting Project Case Study

Prologis has the largest portfolio of logistics real estate in the world. As of June 2021, Prologis owned or had investments in properties and development projects expected to total 995 million square feet in 19 countries.

Within their impressive portfolio of properties is 21705 Mississippi in Elwood, IL. With over 1 million square feet under one roof, this precast exterior would be no simple feat.

Scope of Work & Challenges Faced

In August 2021, Prologis chose PPD Painting to execute the exterior caulking, priming, and painting of this massive building. Oh yeah, and it needed to be completed before the weather changed…

Occupied by a logistics freight company, the warehouse has considerable traffic in and out of its 254 truck docks. PPD’s first order of business was to meet with the tenant’s traffic management team and coordinate a schedule around the busy location to ensure both the safety of everyone on site and minimize disruption to the ongoing operations around the building.

The scope of work included a high-pressure wash to remove loose paint around the building, removal and replacement of 428 deteriorating vertical caulk joints and backer rod, a full prime coat, and painting of the precast masonry. The scope of the project also included the painting of a multitude of different ancillary services, including:

  • Entrance Door Awnings
  • Bollards
  • Metal Railings
  • Concrete Staircases
  • Metal Staircases
  • 2 Sections of Guard Rail
  • Building Mounted Fire Equipment & Hydrants
  • Gas Pipes
  • Mail Box Post
  • Rail Dock Angle Iron & Stops
  • Light Poles
  • Installing New Vinyl Dock Numbers

Paint often peels and for a variety of reasons, but what made this project challenging was the sheer amount of flaking and peeling paint on the exterior of the 1 million square foot building.

At the time of our initial walkthrough, our estimator identified a significant adhesion issue with the existing coating. In some areas, the existing coating has so poorly adhered that it could be scraped off with as little as your fingernail.

Painting Preparation Process

To properly clean and prepare the surface for its new coating, PPD’s team utilized a minimum of 4,000-psi high-pressure washers. These machines helped blast off the existing coating that has not properly adhered, giving the new coating a strong surface to bond to.

Safety is a priority on every single one of our projects. Our crew members utilized a variety of sizes of straight & articulating boom lifts to access every inch of the building.  The painters wore a harness while operating the lifts, provided proper hazard communication, and used safety cones to identify and mark off work areas.

After the power washing was complete, the PPD team needed to remove and replace 428 failing caulk joints. They did so by using knives to cut out and remove the failing caulk and existing backer rod.

Once the old joints were removed and the surfaces scraped and cleaned, a new backer rod and Loxon S1 One Component Smooth Polyurethane Sealant were installed in each joint around the building. PPD chose this product because it is versatile, durable, resilient, and adheres to a variety of substrates. It is also highly resistant to extreme weather, water, and chemical buildup.

Commercial Warehouse Painting Process

The painting crew then began painting on the west side of the building before moving simultaneously to the north and south sides. To ensure the maximum life span of the coating system, PPD applied Sherwin-Williams Loxon Concrete & Masonry Primer to the exterior concrete panels around the entire building. This product is a high-performance acrylic coating, designed specifically for sealing and adhering to concrete surfaces and defending against harsh weather.

After the painting was complete, PPD replaced 256 loading dock numbers. To accomplish the task, PPD worked with the ER2 image group in Chicago to create vinyl decals that would adhere to the exterior of the building and hold up to the rough weather conditions found in the Chicago area.  
To wrap up the project, the team painted the various ancillary surfaces that needed repainting including bollards, doors, railing, and fire hydrants. After 3,000+ man-hours of meticulous work, the rest was, in the words of PPD’s foreman, Joe Cherven, “touch-up and pack-up”!

Ratings & Reviews
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Name Surname

Position, Company name

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Name Surname

Position, Company name

Really like this service. Great pricing

Alex Wong

Well, nothing in this life seems to be perfect, but Precision Painting is nearly there.

Karen Fenyn

Very responsive. Quality work. Helpful staff!

David Wilson

Work was great. Professionally completed job. Workers were great and a pleasure thru the mess.

Kathie

Exceptional work! Ricardo did a great job. The office staff and project manager as well as Aaron were all very helpful and accommodating.

Marikay Artner

On time, professional, pleasant, hard working and thorough job.

Maura Cullen

You came here and gave us the estimate when you said you would. Your project leader was polite and on time.Your crew was here on time, they were polite and got to work right away and did a good job. The job was completed when you said it would be finished.

Joe Lambert

Very detailed, quality work, responsive, prompt, pleasant to work with.

Kurt Nitschke

First time using, but very pleased with everything. Great crew did a great job, reasonable pricing, flexible hours with minimal effect on our staff

Robert Wallace

You have experienced, professional painters who genuinely care about the quality of their work.

Ann R.

The crew was very professional and courteous.

Kim Baker

Bruno is doing a good job in his new roll as project manager and Sal is the best painter that leads the crews for Phonak work projects. I get them started and they take it from there with very little monitoring on my part. I also like the partial billing, the organizing of my paints and if possible a year end report on what we spent on patching and painting would be great.

Mike Moore

Excellent workmanship, I didn't have to check your work. Paul and Alfonso were polite, and conscientious and treated my house as if it was their own.

Rick Orna

Answered their phone promptly. Paint job was a perfect match. My customer was very pleased.

BRS

Paul is an excellent painter. He was very tidy and easy to work with. Paul did a great job matching the color of our front stain and his work is professional. Paul was on time and good at communicating. I would definitely recommend Precision Painting to a friend.

Tracy McCarville

Quality efficient work

Brent Alwood

Great Professional Work!!

James Kastanis

On time, good job, neat, good clean up

Joyce Helms

Friendly professional staff. Quick scheduling of both quote and job. Quality work at finish!

Amy Barger

On time, on budget with a high degree of quality.

Richard Dusing

Great painters did a thorough and complete job. Staff was commenting on how good they were.

John Pena

The crew did an unbelievable job on our home.

Brian Germain

By far the best team I have worked with on home improvements -- I'd describe them as professional, timely, courteous, talented, and fun!

Kevin Slattery

They were extremely professional, organized and finished the job in half the time! Highly recommend their service again :)

Valentina Labovic

Very good execution and quality.

Bob Sanner

Great company; professional and courteous. It was clear the team knew how to do their job and took pride in doing it well. Very organized and efficient as well.

Pat Shaughnessy

Always prompt, professional, reasonably priced, great work, communicates well with you!

Mary Della Chiesa

Great job and extraordinarily kind gentlemen doing the work. Had the utmost respect for our home.

Eileen Daw

Great workers and very friendly.

John Pena

PPD was professional, prompt, clean and fairly priced. Recommend 100%!

Jack Dominy

Great experience from start to finish, from scheduling the estimate, work well done, polite & professional painters, cleaned up afterward

Christine Futrell

Professional, responsive, does great work!

Kurt Nitschke

Excellent service and quality work at a fair price....

Dan Abdo

You guys do great work, are reasonably priced, and stand behind your work and all your people are good to work with. I will mention that on the last few jobs I noticed a very slight slip in the finished quality, things like drips or missed spots. No big deal but something I don't expect from you guys.

Bernard Bartelli

Terrific and conscientious quality of work plus cleanup.

John Michie

Good job and very easy to work with!

Ilsa Conover

Great friendly staff and quality painting pros.

Christine Paulson

Good job Finished on time

Pat Rossi

The work was outstanding and the employees were amazingly courteous, professional and personable.

Eva Roby

Very nice job can’t wait til do the outside

Dennis Hansen