What We Learned from a 27-Container Soccer Stadium Project

Twenty-seven containers. Ten facility types. One fixed opening-day deadline, and a state modular program Falcon had never worked in before.

It's exactly the kind of project that makes a team better, and one our Projects Director, Thomas Nevill, still points to as one of Falcon's most rewarding builds to date.

"Boise is a huge success story for Falcon, because those are our hurdles and challenges and obstacles that I don't think many companies can overcome. It's a huge commitment, but at the end of the day, it happened."
— Thomas Nevill, Projects Director

We asked the three Falcon team members closest to it, Account Executive David Hill, Projects Director Thomas Nevill, and VP of Operations Robert Fausett, what they took away from our project with Athletic Club Boise (Go ACB!) at their stadium venue in Garden City, Idaho. Here's what they said.

David Hill: The value of knowing your decision-makers

On a project with as many stakeholders as a new stadium involves, from ownership groups to local teams, contractors, and municipal partners, the AC Boise project taught David to build that contact map proactively, as one of the first steps on any complex build, rather than letting it take shape as the project goes.

"I think just having a good beat on a contact list from the people who are building this project, the people who are funding the project, and then the people who are using the project is going to be crucial in making sure all of the decisions are made right the first time and there's no backtracking."

Thomas Nevill: Learning a new state's process, in real time

AC Boise was Falcon's first project navigating Idaho's state modular program. Thomas came away with a sharper read on how these approvals actually work, including a hard lesson that plan approval and final permitting are two separate milestones, not one:

"Slow down. Approved is not the same as permitted. The plan is approved to be permitted. That takes another three weeks. All of a sudden, we just lost three weeks we didn't know about."

That experience is now built directly into how Falcon scopes new projects: a state-level code analysis happens before any timeline is committed to, and delivery schedules aren't finalized until shop drawings are approved.

Robert Fausett: Setting a clear finish line on design

For Robert, this project reinforced that design creep, the recurring tweaking of a design, hinders a manufacturer's ability to complete production on time. It's something Falcon now builds into every project from the start: setting a clear, firm design deadline early and communicating it clearly, so delivery timelines stay protected no matter how a project evolves.

"That would be the key takeaway, which I did learn, and that's what I've addressed with my project management team: put your foot down. You gotta have a finish line for design."

It's a discipline he's since made standard practice across his project management team.

The bigger picture

That’s the valuable hindsight our team is taking away. Our team rose to the challenge, learned fast, and delivered a stadium’s worth of facilities on time for a season opener that couldn’t wait.

Want the full story of how it came together? Read the AC Boise case study.