Building & Construction
Extensive Experience in All Aspects
SAI has extensive experience in all aspects of the building and construction industry including raw materials; building supplies; fabricated building components; commercial, residential and industrial buildings; infrastructure and related construction projects; green technologies and recycling/reuse programs; and machinery and equipment. This comprehensive experience and knowledge base developed over almost 40 years enables us to explore your growth options, address challenges within your industry, develop investment and acquisition strategies, and help make better corporate decisions with confidence and clarity. Our team has a unique combination of commercial experience and technical degrees/insights enabling us to understand key technology and business subtleties in the various building and construction industry sectors to help our clients succeed.
SAI has extensive experience in building and construction materials overall. As a result, SAI understands the value chain in international markets and maintains a network of useful contacts worldwide.
OBJECTIVE:
For an international building materials industry consortium, SAI assessed the market dynamics for glue laminated timber (glulam) in China, with specific focus on:
- Industry structure for glulam use and specifications
- Decision-making process for glulam use and specifications
- Acceptance of higher cost of glulam compared to competing materials and building systems
- Value of glulam in visible/architectural applications
- Lack of infrastructure to support widespread adoption of glulam
- Market potential for glulam compared with competing construction systems
- Most effective marketing and implementation approaches for introducing glulam
- Outline of possible marketing and implementation programs
APPROACH:
To develop the required insights, SAI conducted over 150 interviews with Chinese government agencies, real estate developers, architects and design institutes, building contractors, building material suppliers, industry associations, academic institutions and other knowledgeable industry sources
RESULTS:
The client used this analysis as input into its long term global strategy planning system and successfully adjusted its priorities to plan for further market penetration in select regions of China
OBJECTIVE:
A client required a market assessment for Tatami material substitutes in Japan. Tatami is the traditional Japanese flooring material produced from straw. A key emphasis was placed on identify market segments where our client could add value with its new material and obtain maximized profit. Key objectives were to understand major factors that trigger replacement of traditional materials in Tatami
APPROACH:
SAI developed the information and analysis by conducting interviews with key players shown above
RESULTS:
SAI identified the Japanese Tatami consumption volume, key segments in Tatami markets, and provided recommendations about ways to add value with its new material and how to expand its market share based on the current and future needs of customers in each market segment
SAI has analyzed the market for and suppliers of many different types of capital equipment used in the construction, automotive, biofuels, chemical processing, energy, food and beverage, marine, material handling, medical, metals, mining, minerals exploration, oil and gas, paper and paperboard, petrochemical, pharmaceutical/medical, plastic fabrication, retail, waste and water treatment, and other industries.
OBJECTIVE:
For its client, SAI developed intelligence on air equipment competitors’ size, market share, activities, technology and products, with an eye towards possible acquisition of a competitor. In addition, it analyzed the current and future market size, structure and industry dynamics for gas equipment to help its client determine the technical direction it should take
APPROACH:
To develop the information and analysis, SAI interviewed dozens of competitors, customers, associations, government agencies and other key players in a wide range of industrial areas
RESULTS:
SAI benchmarked key air equipment suppliers against each other, identified key competitive threats for its client, highlighted key issues to monitor and recommended opportunities for its client to pursue in air equipment. It also provided a detailed picture of current and future technologies and players in gas equipment, including market size, segmentation and key current and future competitors. Looking to unfulfilled market needs, SAI identified key opportunities for its client and made specific recommendations for successful market penetration
SAI’s extensive experience in building products has included assessments of new technologies incorporating increased energy efficiency and environmental benefits
Advanced window technologies
- Electrochromic
- Photovoltaic-electrochromic
- Suspended particle device windows
- Liquid crystal design
- Suspended particle device
- Photochromics
- Thermotropic
- Aerogel-insulated windows
- Evacuated windows
Building envelopes and roofing
- Gas filled panel insulation
- Aerogel insulation
- Reflective roofing systems
- Active building envelope systems
Other technologies
- Photocatalytic coatings
- Hybrid solar lighting systems
- Polymer desiccant membrane air conditioning systems
OBJECTIVE:
The owners of a small manufacturing company approached its supplier (SAI’s client) about selling the firm which produced specialty pins for dampers for HVAC equipment potentially used in industrial, commercial and military buildings and on Navy vessels. SAI’s client required an independent analysis of the target acquisition candidate and the market it served
APPROACH:
SAI undertook a strategic and tactical assessment of the opportunity for the target damper market by interviewing about 80 HVAC equipment suppliers, damper manufacturers, distributors, building owners and supervisors, government agencies, certification organizations and trade associations
RESULTS:
Upon completion of the study, SAI determined the market potential for the target product, the competitive environment, the value proposition of the target product, the required channels to market, and the pitfalls to avoid. SAI recommended that the risk/reward trade off for our client did not justify the investment in the small company
SAI has extensive experience in smart systems as they relate to structures and building products.
This product experience ranges from total “intelligent house” systems to security systems to individual components. As a result of this project experience, SAI maintains a network of useful contacts worldwide
OBJECTIVE:
A leading global automation company wished to assess its plans for developing a network of facilities across China to position itself as a substantial player in building efficiency services – Heating Ventilation and Cooling (HVAC) and Building Automation Systems (BAS), specifically to:
Benchmark against other players in terms of their current direct presence and future expansion plans
Understand market drivers to form the basis of such an expansion plan
APPROACH:
To successfully perform the analysis, SAI conducted 234 interviews with three target competitors, distributors, industry associations and other knowledgeable industry sources
RESULTS:
SAI provided benchmarking analysis for each target competitor, this included the following information:
- Product portfolio
- Geographic layout of network structure
- Expansion model and strategy
Based on this analysis, SAI mapped out key market drivers for its client using both macro and micro levels as references for future expansion and described the consequences of making early market entry moves. SAI also outlined the market attractiveness of HVAC and BAS
OBJECTIVE:
SAI investigated the merger of two companies that resulted in the largest photovoltaic (PV) manufacturer in the world
APPROACH:
SAI studied the use of building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV’s) worldwide as substitutes for traditional building materials to replace complete roof facades or roof shingles. These are photovoltaic arrays that are integrated into the building design and can be interconnected to the utility power grid. BIPV’s shave peak demands on the network and lessen the need for new central generation equipment and new transmission and distribution lines. Information required included analysis of the opportunity for BIPV’s by detailing specific product attributes, trade-off of different attributes, most appropriate building types and locations for BIPV’s (i.e., horizontal versus vertical glazing), price/volume curves as well as the current and likely future market
RESULTS:
Practical use of this information assists not only with decision making for future technical investments but opportunities for market positioning and potential alliance partners for SAI’s client
SAI has substantial experience in infrastructure related industries, including energy and power, transportation, telecommunications, urban development, agriculture etc. As a result, SAI can complete highly accurate and up-to-date assessments of the markets, customers, competitors and opportunities to support their clients with major business decisions
OBJECTIVE:
SAI’s client is one of the global leaders in water, energy, air and process technologies and services. The client engaged SAI to assess channels of oil and gas markets in Indonesia and China to improve its market share both multi-nationally and domestically, as well as to select a key partner or acquisition target
APPROACH:
SAI conducted 105 interviews in China and 90 interviews in Indonesia with oil and gas producers and field chemicals service providers. SAI analyzed the oil and gas industry overview, as well as in-depth profiles of leading oil and gas producers
RESULTS:
With analysis of customer needs and expectations, procurement process, and competitive landscape, SAI helped the client with development of its market positioning strategies, as well as recommended supply strategy and potential partners in China and Indonesia
OBJECTIVE:
SAI’s client, a global leading resources company, wanted to assess the steel consumption intensity and outlook in the infrastructure sector covering the listed segments below for each of the target countries in Southeast Asia and required interpretation on the impact and trends on the usage of steel:
- Railway (rail track, subways and tunnels)
- Roads (road, subways, tunnels, flyovers and bridges)
- Pipeline (oil and gas, sewage and water)
- Power generation, transmission and distribution
APPROACH:
SAI designed a competency model to evaluate the information and analysis through careful interviews with leading participants and experts in the infrastructure sector such as government organizations, leading construction companies, design engineers, engineering contractors, steel suppliers, multilateral agencies, analysts and other experts before the results interpretation and trends projection
RESULTS:
As a result, SAI provided the customer’s needs and presented an overall analysis and thorough assessment summary on the usage of steel covering the growth path overview and future outlook for each of the market segments of infrastructure sectors in the selected countries