EP 32 · 2022-07-25 · 59:09
Raised Access Floors and Underfloor Air Distribution in Commercial Construction — Russell Cook, Cook's Construction
Russell Cook explains how raised access floors and underfloor air distribution make commercial buildings more flexible, energy-efficient, and cost-neutral to build.
RC
Russell Cook, Dip.ME, GSC
⟶ The story, written up — a sharp read with every fact on the record.
// CHAPTERS — TAP TO JUMP THE PLAYER
0:00Sponsor intro — Payzant Building Products — Host announces Payzant Building Products as a new presenter sponsor, based in the HRM with seven locations.0:31Russell's background and the Bow Tower — Russell traces his path from drywall and basement finishing through the 675 union to a Toronto company specializing in RAF. He is offered a posting on the Bow Tower (56 stories, 1.8 M sq ft of RAF) in Calgary in 2009-2010, which becomes the crucible for all his skills and core team.3:40Cook's Construction founded — from truck-and-trailer to warehouse — Russell describes spinning off Cook's in 2017-2018, starting with a home office and personal vehicles, quickly scaling to a supply-and-install model, and today operating a 2,500 sq ft warehouse showroom east of downtown Calgary.8:05What is raised access flooring? History and how it works — Dan asks for a primer. Russell explains RAF's origins in data-centre cooling, the modular two-foot panel system, how underfloor air distribution (UFAD) works as a pressurized plenum, and the flexibility benefits for power, data, and HVAC routing.14:00Energy efficiency, cost neutrality, and the cost case — Russell details the energy savings from UFAD (lower supply-air temperature, less turbulence, more free-cooling hours) and makes the cost-neutrality argument: subtract suspended ceilings, slab coring, and ductwork, and RAF often adds $0 net to the budget at roughly $15/sq ft.19:05Use-cases: universities, casinos, mass timber, healthcare, offices — Russell walks through diverse applications: university lecture-hall upgrades (USB/fibre retrofit over a weekend), oil-firm campus adaptation mid-construction, casinos, mass-timber projects, healthcare (MRI rooms), and open-concept offices with demountable glass partitions.24:20Labour model, competitive edge, and all in-house crew — Cook's differentiates through certified, salaried in-house installers — no subs. Russell explains this enables reliability guarantees, cross-Canada travel (BC airbnb, Saskatchewan, New Brunswick), and referral-driven growth. Core management team of four all met on the Bow Tower.31:00First Atlantic Canada project — Kodiak policing facility, NB — Cook's wins a public tender with Palmer Low GC for a 3,000 sq ft raised floor in a police operations centre in New Brunswick — Russell's first job east of Ontario. Planned for Q1-Q2 2023.36:50Founding advice and the COVID chapter — Russell reflects on starting Cook's in 2018 — employees using personal vehicles, buy-in from the team, navigating construction-site shutdowns during COVID, and growing from home-office to owning a building. Advice: just go for it, treat people well, they are your biggest asset.44:00Western Canada market outlook and labour challenges — Russell is bullish on Calgary and Vancouver; vacancy rates are filling, major tech firms (IBM) moving in. Answering more tenders than ever and turning some down. Labour is the main pinch: supplementing a core crew of 8-10 with new hires is the challenge.51:00Installation quality, air-leakage deficiency prevention — Russell details the main RAF deficiency: air leakage in UFAD systems. Explains the gasket-sealed panel solution and the importance of getting layout right from the first tile — a small deviation across 150 ft makes the last tile impossible to fit.55:55Wrap-up and Calgary Stampede small talk — Light conversation about the Stampede, Kevin Costner, and 300,000 attendees. Dan expresses hope for a future Halifax visit and live recording when Russell is in town for the NB project.
// THE INTRO
Russell J. Cook, founder of Cook's Construction and Consulting (Calgary), takes host Daniel Arsenault on a deep technical tour of raised access flooring (RAF) and underfloor air distribution (UFAD). Starting from his roots in drywall and the massive Bow Tower project (1.8 million sq ft of RAF), Russell explains what RAF is, why it emerged from data-centre cooling, and how it delivers flexibility, energy savings, and cost-neutrality versus conventional ceiling-plenum systems. He walks through specific use cases — casinos, universities, mass-timber buildings, police operations centres — and makes the ROI case using a give-back analysis that offsets the $15/sq-ft RAF premium against suspended ceilings, slab coring, and mechanical systems eliminated. He also shares the company's founding story (home office, truck, and trailer in 2018), survival through COVID, the philosophy of all in-house labour, referral-based business development, and Cook's first Atlantic Canada job: a raised floor at a RCMP/Kodiak policing facility in New Brunswick with Palmer Low as GC. The episode closes with an optimistic read on the western Canadian construction market and advice for tradespeople considering starting their own companies.
// THE LESSONS
See all 12 lessons ▸Raised access floors can be cost-neutral versus conventional construction when you factor in suspended ceiling, slab-coring, and ductwork offsets — do a give-back analysis before rejecting the premium.
“you're actually able to add a raised floor into your budget but not necessarily increase your budget”
Underfloor air distribution (UFAD) reduces energy costs by supplying conditioned air at a more moderate temperature and lower velocity than overhead mixing systems, enabling more free-cooling hours.
“you can bring it in a much more moderate temperature which means you're cooling less air”
All-in-house, salaried crews — not subcontractors — give specialty contractors the ability to guarantee schedule commitments and warranty quality, which drives referral-based growth.
“if a contractor asks us to be here on September 1st at 11 o'clock in the morning we can guarantee that”
Building a loyal core team from shared early project experience (same mega-project origin) creates retention that lasts 15+ years and is a sustainable competitive moat.
“we've got three or four guys that we were all involved in that project that are still with us today, like 15 years later”
Raised access floor layout errors are nearly impossible to correct once you're past the first few panels — precision at the start is non-negotiable for 150-ft runs.
“if that line deviates ever so slightly once you start adding on to that flooring system we've had it where you just can't even squeeze a tile in”
For UFAD systems, air leakage — not panel load-bearing — is the primary deficiency risk; specifying gasketed panels and sealing all penetrations at the glass-wall stage prevents costly remediation.
“the biggest deficiency is going to be air leakage — that's the biggest hurdle that we have to get over”
Modular interior systems (raised floor + demountable partitions) let an owner reconfigure an entire floor plate without construction downtime — a competitive differentiator for growing tech tenants.
“we were able to quickly adapt and change and completely open up the layout — we just relocated some of the wire”
Mass-timber and raised access floor are a natural pairing: RAF routes all services under the floor so exposed structural wood ceilings remain unobstructed, reducing material cost on both sides.
“mass timbers and raised floors — they go together so well”
There is rarely a perfect time to start a construction company; belief in the product and people buy-in from the founding crew matter more than market timing.
“I don't know that there ever is a right time to ever do anything”
Referral-driven specialty contractors must treat every trade on site well; the shared goal of a satisfied end-user creates the word-of-mouth chain that sustains a sub-contractor pipeline.
“our business is so based on referrals — we do a good job here for one client there's a great chance we're going to work with that client again”
When scaling a specialty trade company into multi-million-dollar project territory, cash-flow exposure on materials (months before install) requires deliberate financial planning and build-up period.
“we're buying materials in February for a job that's just delivering next week — so we're months out and of course the manufacturers need something before you're even able to get boots on the ground”
Western Canada's union landscape differs sharply from Ontario: Alberta and provinces westward are largely open-shop for specialty interiors, which affects training pipelines and hiring strategy.
“we're not very union heavy here in Alberta — in Ontario where I started, it's all unionized”
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// FEATURED BUSINESSES
// FACT-CHECKED ✓ web-verified, with sources
// COMPANIES & ORGS ✓ verified
Modular Interiors by Cook's (formerly Cook's Construction & Consulting)Russell Cook, Dip.ME, GSCThe BowPayzant Building Products Ltd. ▸Ledcor Group of Companies
// PROJECTS NAMED
The BowKodiak Policing Facility (New Brunswick, ~3,000 sq ft RAF)Esso Campus Calgary (~800,000 sq ft)Calgary Casino (26,000 sq ft, 8-inch RAF, heavy-duty icon system)Vancouver Mezzanine Project (demountable partitions, seismic zone)University Lecture Halls (~400,000 sq ft retrofit)
SOURCE: podscope · public episode data · cJERrdqas5g