in decrying this, thinks Frerker— you just have to accept it as part of the mix and make the best of it. This is not to say that there's a lack of professionalism in any of the three elements, but for many years hotel owners tended to be local entrepreneurial businessmen with plenty of money to spend and a penchant for getting what they wanted. The positive side of this arrangement, though, was that owners were capable of making instant decisions. No need to refer back to a board of directors or committee. Even in those times, though, there was a realization that nobody made any money while a casino was under construction. There was always an urge to get the project finished and start pulling in the gamblers. Frerker believes that contractors must be prepared to make changes at any stage while at the same time keeping owners well informed about the impact the changes will have on the overall schedule and budget. So far, the Hard Rock schedule is holding good. The conference rooms will be ready for business in April 09 www. bus- ex. com 33 M. J. Dean Construction and wall covering, as well as external insulation and finishes, fireproofing, plus all doors and hardware. " On one hand," says Frerker, " this gives us maximum control over quality, but it's also a useful tool for us to control the pace of the overall schedule, enabling us to contract or slow down work as the case may be." MJ Dean project director Travis Cubley recruited Frerker specifically to be part of the Hard Rock team. He has been in Las Vegas for 20 years and has seen a lot of outside contractors come and go. " With so much high- value building work taking place in Las Vegas," he says, " there's an obvious attraction for other contractors and subcontractors to try their luck. They try to import their own ways of managing projects to this town, but by and large they do one job and then drift away." Frerker defines the Las Vegas way of doing business as a true partnership between owners, architects and contractors where each party understands that many and varied changes will be made to a project as it progresses. There's no point