Uponor Kitting Helps Austin High-Rise Hit One-Floor-Per-Week Plumbing Pace
Key Highlights
- Contractor maintained one-floor-per-week plumbing installation pace
- Coordinated kitting improved consistency across 370 multifamily units
- PEX system helped reduce labor strain, waste and schedule pressure
A fast-track luxury high-rise project in downtown Austin required a plumbing installation strategy capable of keeping pace with an aggressive construction schedule while maintaining consistent quality across hundreds of residential units.
For The Porter Company, the challenge was delivering one floor of residential plumbing every week on a 670-foot mixed-use tower with 370 units and 34 unique layouts.
The Porter Company, now part of the EMCOR Group, has been in business since 1945. The company specializes in mechanical services for HVAC, plumbing, medical gas, specialty piping systems, and control systems. It offers its clients expertise in all phases of preconstruction, including VDC services.
With 25,000 square feet of shop space dedicated to HVAC, plumbing, and piping prefabrication—and 18,000 square feet of dedicated sheet metal fabrication space—The Porter Company is able to meet the prefabrication and fabrication needs of multiple diverse projects at any given time.
Aggressive Build Schedule Required Speed and Precision
ATX Tower, located at 321 West Sixth Street in Austin’s central business district, ranks as the second-largest high-rise in the market.
With multiple unit types, luxury finishes and demanding deadlines, the project required more than just manpower—it required repeatable systems and efficient field execution.
The Porter Company was selected for its focus on speed, efficiency and delivering high-quality results under pressure.
“Our goal for this project was to be as close to a hundred-percent efficiency as possible and being out in front of deadlines as opposed to struggling to meet them,” said Grant Thornhill, superintendent at The Porter Company.
PEX and Kitting Strategy Streamlined Installation
To meet schedule and labor demands, the contractor selected Uponor AquaPEX with ProPEX F1960 expansion fittings.
The system was chosen for installation speed, flexibility and consistency—key advantages when crews are repeating work across multiple floors with changing unit layouts.
To further improve execution, The Porter Company partnered with Uponor Kitting Services, which supplied coordinated material packages designed for specific installations.
For contractors, kitting can reduce time spent staging materials, searching for parts and sorting components on site.
Consistency Across 370 Units Reduced Rework Risk
With 34 unique floorplan variations, maintaining quality across all units was a major priority.
Using pre-coordinated kits helped crews install with greater consistency, while reducing the chances of missing materials or layout errors that can slow production.
That level of standardization is especially valuable on multifamily towers where minor mistakes repeated across dozens of units can become expensive rework.
Labor Efficiency and Waste Reduction Supported Production
The combined use of AquaPEX and kitting services also helped reduce labor strain and jobsite waste.
Instead of spending additional hours gathering materials, crews could focus on installation productivity.
“Uponor Kitting Services helps improve efficiency more than anything else,” said Jake Huizar, Project Manager at The Porter Company. “When you're talking about costs and quality, they run hand-in-hand. Being able to give the guys a package and say, ‘Go ahead and run with it,’ makes it that much easier, and it’s another way for us to maintain quality control as we’re installing.”
Takeaway for Multifamily Contractors
For contractors facing labor shortages, compressed schedules and repetitive multifamily work, prefab-ready systems and coordinated kitting can improve speed, consistency and cost control.
On projects where one missed deadline can impact multiple trades, efficient plumbing execution becomes a schedule-critical advantage.
To learn more about Uponor's products and kitting services, visit www.uponor.com/en-us.