Most general contractors think about one thing: building what’s on the drawings. Get it done, get paid, move on. That’s not a criticism. It’s just how the industry is structured.
The problem is that developers and investors need more than that. They need a contractor who understands what’s actually at stake: the pro forma, the debt service, the lease-up timeline, the exit. They need someone who has been on their side of the table.
We built Dana Gunnell after spending years on both sides. We came up through large institutional organizations where risk management wasn’t a suggestion, it was the culture. We learned how to systematize complex processes, how to identify where cost and schedule risk actually lives, and how to communicate with capital partners in a language they respect. Then we spent years as developers ourselves, putting our own money into deals and feeling what it means when a project runs over budget or behind schedule.
That experience changed how we approach every project.
When we review a set of drawings, we’re not just thinking about how to build it. We’re thinking about whether the structural system makes sense for the budget, whether the MEP coordination is going to create problems during framing, whether the schedule has enough float to absorb a lead-time issue on windows or steel. We’re thinking about your return.
That’s what we mean when we say we think like developers. It’s not a marketing line. It’s the lens we apply to every preconstruction decision, every subcontractor selection, every RFI response.
For real estate developers and investors in Salt Lake City and Utah County, that perspective is rare. Most contractors in this market are skilled builders. Far fewer have sat across the table from institutional capital and understood what they needed to hear. We have, and we bring that to every project we take on.
If you’re planning a multifamily, mixed-use, or commercial project along the Wasatch Front and want a contractor who genuinely understands your goals, not just your drawings, we’d like to talk.