Community Health Center Clinic Renovation/Expansion New Health & Wellness / Assisted Living Center Medical Office Building Renovation Inpatient Geriatric Behavioral Health Unit Urgent Care & Outpatient Diagnostic Imaging Center New Acute Care Clinic Community Health Center Acute Care/Dental/Office Replacement Critical Access Hospital & Medical Office Buildings Replacement Long-Term Care Center New Behavioral Access Center New Medical Office Buildings Regional Hospital Expanded Services Additions Rural Hospital Patient Care Expansion Surgery Addition and Energy Center Replacement New Orthopedic Medicine Clinic/Health Fitness Center Rural Hospital Addition, Fit-out, Renovation Rural Hospital Replacement Hospital/Clinics Addition & Renovation Community Hospital Renovations/Additions Rural Community Health Center Clinic To Earn Long-Term Healthcare Clients: Build, Serve, Repeat Community Health Center Clinic Renovation/Expansion New Health & Wellness / Assisted Living Center Medical Office Building Renovation Inpatient Geriatric Behavioral Health Unit Urgent Care & Outpatient Diagnostic Imaging Center New Acute Care Clinic Community Health Center Acute Care/Dental/Office Replacement Critical Access Hospital & Medical Office Buildings Replacement Long-Term Care Center New Behavioral Access Center New Medical Office Buildings Regional Hospital Expanded Services Additions Rural Hospital Patient Care Expansion Surgery Addition and Energy Center Replacement New Orthopedic Medicine Clinic/Health Fitness Center Rural Hospital Addition, Fit-out, Renovation Rural Hospital Replacement Hospital/Clinics Addition & Renovation Community Hospital Renovations/Additions Rural Community Health Center Clinic To Earn Long-Term Healthcare Clients: Build, Serve, Repeat

Healthcare Construction Management & Design-Build Contractor


Carl A. Nelson & Company is a trusted name in healthcare construction. With extensive experience in the industry, we specialize in delivering high-quality healthcare facilities, from hospitals to medical offices and more. Our team prioritizes safety, efficiency, and superior craftsmanship to ensure successful outcomes that meet the unique needs of healthcare providers.

 At Carl A. Nelson & Company (CANCO), we understand the complexity of 21st-century healthcare construction. Integration of high-tech medical equipment, security and communication technology, medical gases, and fire protection all contribute to the complexity of the construction.

But healthcare construction is more than just knowing how to build. Your design-build or construction management team also needs to understand the business and practice of healthcare. Oftentimes the construction occurs at an existing facility, which requires special attention to staff needs, patient comfort, and infection control procedures.

CANCO has a wide range of experience in the healthcare marketplace in the design-build, construction management agency or at-risk, or general contractor role. And not only can we help you accomplish your vision of a better facility, our needs assessment and master planning services can help you to shape that vision.

We have built different types of facilities including regional and rural hospitals, critical-access hospitals, medical office buildings and stand-alone medical and dental clinics, as well as senior living and long-term care facilities. Furthermore, our experience includes new facilities, remodeled spaces, and additions. Except on construction management agency projects, where the construction manager has the role of Owner advocate rather than building contractor, we are able to self-perform much of the work with our own highly trained and skilled construction craftsmen.

<b>Dan Culp, Vice President of Operations (Burlington)</b>
Dan Culp, Vice President of Operations (Burlington)
  • Carl A. Nelson & Company has completed nearly 2,000,000 s.f. of new or remodeled medical facilities.
  • Our healthcare Project Managers have received their Healthcare Construction Certificate from the American Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital Association (ASHE).


Discover the Top 5 Reasons to choose Construction Management Agency delivery for your future construction projects

     

• If your hospital, health system or senior living facility is privately owned, Design-Build is an option you can consider. 
    
• Not familiar with Construction Management Agency, or how it differs from other construction project delivery methods? We've got you covered in the Knowledge Base.


Our Healthcare Project Portfolio

Carl A. Nelson & Company is an experienced healthcare construction contractor, with a long history of successful projects, such as: 

  • new hospitals (including critical access rural hospitals);
  • hospital renovations and hospital additions; 
  • large medical office buildings and local medical clinics;
  • dental clinics;
  • Community Health Centers; 
  • therapy pools;
  • rehabilitation/health fitness facilities; 
  • long-term care centers, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and senior living communities.

Explore our Project Portfolio on this page to see examples of the work we have done for Healthcare clients.

<b><i>Our Healthcare Brochure</i></b>
Our Healthcare Brochure
<b><i>Our Senior Living Brochure</i></b>
Our Senior Living Brochure

Click the cover image to view the e-brochure version of our Healthcare publication. Also available is our brochure for the Senior Living construction market, featuring our work in long-term care, assisted living and independent living settings.

Hospital, Health System and Community Health Center Master Planning

In addition to providing construction services, Carl A. Nelson & Company also is able to bring its experience leading successful facilities master planning processes to your healthcare organization.

CANCO has particular experience working with Critical-Access Hospitals to address future facilities needs, and has worked with several clients from master planning through construction of renovation and additions as well as complete replacement hospitals.

Examples include:

  • Decatur County Hospital — Leon, Iowa
  • Jefferson County Health Center — Fairfield, Iowa
  • Davis County Hospital & Clinics — Bloomfield, Iowa
  • Regional Medical Center — Manchester, Iowa
  • Van Buren County Hospital — Keosauqua, Iowa
  • Washington County Hospital and Clinics — Washington, Iowa
  • Community Health Centers of Southeastern Iowa, Inc. — West Burlington, Iowa

Construction of the new Jefferson County Health Center in Fairfield, Iowa, was a construction management agency project of Carl A. Nelson & Company.

<b>The Fall 2020 edition of wibi featured healthcare client relationships.</b>
The Fall 2020 edition of wibi featured healthcare client relationships.

Healthcare experience and customer relationships featured in wibi newsletter

Carl A. Nelson & Company publishes a quarterly newsletter, wibi, for healthcare clients. In the pages of wibi, which is an acronym representing our "Would I Buy It" approach to quality assurance, we feature some of our projects, or address topics that influence construction cost and efficiency.

The Fall 2020 edition focused specifically on CANCO's approach to building and maintaining long-term relationships with our healthcare clients. For the complete report, click the link to read the article, Build, Serve, Repeat, or click the cover image to the left to view the e-edition of the newsletter.

Here's an excerpt:

Longevity among CANCO’s project managers and superintendents, many of whom are employee-owners of the company, provides continuity on the part of the builder amid client leadership changes. Maintaining a relationship through change keeps that history intact.

Staying in touch with clients allows CANCO project leaders to learn if there are any challenges from a previous project or if something new has come up, which helps support ongoing relationships. It isn’t uncommon, (CANCO Director of Business Development Dan) Culp said, for owners to ask for specific office and field leadership on a project.

“We try to maintain that contact with them over time so that they realize that we’re there for them whenever they need us,” Culp said.

(Larry) Mitchell, from Jefferson County Health Center, said CANCO can be counted on to support its customers long after the work is done.

“They will still do their best for you,” Mitchell said. “You are not forgotten.”

The mentality that comes from employee-ownership, Culp said, results in looking at projects as more than just one-time work, but as an opportunity for the future. That is seen in the “Would I Buy It?” quality assurance philosophy that gives this newsletter its name, and the entrepreneurial spirit encouraged among employees to seek out projects and build relationships.

It is shown, too, in the company’s core values of Fairness and Honesty, Quality Workmanship and Service Second to None."

The pledge is an accurate depiction of the level of service and quality of work they provide on projects,” (Henry County Health Center CEO Robb) Gardner said. “The values of CANCO are apparent by CANCO employees.”

 

CANCO healthcare clients offer testimonials

Don't just take our word for the quality of the work performed by Carl A. Nelson & Company's project managers and field personnel on design-build, construction management and general contracting projects in healthcare. 

Take our clients' word for it, too.

Several of the following testimonials can be found in the pages of our wibi newsletter. Click the text of each to visit the e-edition of the newsletter where the statement originated.


"For me, it was their references. Their references were glowing. It wasn't just one reference, either. They were all that way. I think it goes back to their core values and the trust and communication. It was clear that they do a good job of building long-term relationships, and that means they are doing a good job project after project to maintain that reputation."

— Danette Kramer, CFO, 
Regional Medical Center, Manchester, Iowa

   

"We are confident in the services they provide. We know the projects will be managed appropriately and timely, and we will receive good communication throughout the project. We also know they will ensure each phase of the project is completed the right way, with high quality standards."

— Bryan Hunger, CEO,
Jefferson County Health Center, Fairfield, Iowa

   

"They are on time and below the planned cost on each project. Their team is highly professional and focused on good outcomes."

— Ron Kemp, CEO,
Community Health Centers of Southeastern Iowa, West Burlington, Iowa

   

"Carl A. Nelson's team is professional and were respectful guests on our campus through the building process. They efficiently managed subcontractors, kept our project on time as well as on budget, and handled any issues quickly. All of these things made our construction project a very positive experience!"

— Erin Drahota, CEO,
United Presbyterian Home, Washington, Iow

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Related Services and Additional Information

If your planned hospital or other healthcare project includes complex laboratory spaces, Carl A. Nelson & Company has you covered. Our experience in laboratory construction, which includes highly technical mechanical, electrical, plumbing and technology (MEPT) systems, is well suited to the medical diagnostic laboratory environment.

Nelson Design, Inc.

Our in-house design team is able to use 3D modeling technology to ensure systems and structure work together in harmony before construction begins, saving valuable money and time during the build. On design-build and design-assist projects, our team also will apply its experience to review architectural and MEPT design and applicable code requirements to ensure the best-possible quality, cost and schedule on your project.

Project Portfolio