Blog – Page 172 – Easterday Construction Co., Inc.

Culver Garden Court – Kiwanis

August 22, 2011July 28, 2011 by

Reverend Liechty and I were the speakers at the Culver Kiwanis meeting last week. We were asked to give an update on Culver Garden Court, a little about the project and a little about the Garden Court organization. I spoke first and gave a brief run down on how long it took to make this project happen in Culver, the problems with finding a site, and the cooperation we received from the Town.

I discussed our progress on the project. (Framing has been completed, roofing is underway, rough-in of plumbing & electrical is underway.) I also discussed the schedule moving forward. I also told them of the other Garden Court projects we have completed in Argos, Bourbon, Knox, Plymouth (Fairfield), Mentone and LaPaz. There is one planned for Napannee if the funding comes through.

Reverend Liechty then spoke on how Garden Court began with their mission to provide affordable housing that they “would be willing to put their grandmother in”. He spoke on their constraints and their plans for the future.

Everything was well received and there were good questions as we went along.

As a quick status update, as of yesterday the windows are installed. Shingles are being installed and were approximately 15% complete yesterday evening. Internally the draft stops have been installed in the attic. The electricians and plumbers are working on their rough-in.

With the completion of the framing, we will be looking at beginning some of the initial site work finishes such as curbs and walks. Asphalt for parking and drives will follow the walks. We will delay the landscaping until later in the year to get out of the extreme heat.

See Jeff Kenney’s reporting on this presentation in the Pilot News here.

Really?

July 27, 2011 by

Well, I would have to say that I have been a fan of Star Trek since the original series. Yes, looking back it is cheesy, but it was one of my first exposures to science fiction. No I never had a pair of Spock ears. Yes, some of the current incarnations have been butchered mercilessly. But, really? Teenage Mutant Ninja Kirk? Really!?!

I wonder if Michelangelo’s realizes he’s toast in that red shirt…

Common Wage Hearing

July 19, 2011 by

This Monday I was asked to serve as ABC’s (Associated Builders and Contractors) representative at a Common Wage Hearing in Warsaw. The Hearing covered three sewer projects for the City of Warsaw and was held at the Kosciusko County Courthouse. This is the first Wage Hearing that I have attended since the Law changed on July 1. As of that date the five member panel no longer includes a representative appointed by the Governor’s Office but now has a member appointed by ABC. There are a couple of other changes to the Law. One is that a Wage Hearing is good for any other projects going forward for a period of three months providing that all of the wage classes named in the hearing cover the following projects. (This should reduce the number of Hearings required). The second item is a change in the project cost threshold from $150,000 to $250,000. Unfortunately due to a language error, the $250,000 threshold does not apply until January 1, 2012 and the language error caused all Hearings for the remainder of 2011 to have no threshold, i.e., any project must pay the common wage and have a hearing to set that wage.

In some ways it was apropos that I took this position as I was filling the shoes of Don Scearce. Don was a personal friend as well as a business associate for many years. I worked briefly in his office as a draftsman after college and I have a continuing relationship with his office, Scearce Rudisel Architects, to this day. Don was a staunch supporter of Merit Shop and served on countless Wage Hearings such as this striving to do the best he could for his community through these Common Wage Hearings. Unfortunately Don passed away last year. (Obituary)

The City of Warsaw and Kosciusko County have a long history of supporting ABC wages on their projects. Of the 231 construction businesses in the County, only three are signatory to unions. Since 2008 there have been 37 hearings and at 33 hearings the ABC rates were adopted. This makes the County very pro Merit Shop regardless of whether the companies are affiliated with ABC or not. The representative for the AFL/CIO brought several documents to present including a folder of affidavits from workers showing their wage rates. Unfortunately it appeared that many of those workers were not actually working in Kosciusko County though that was the implication. I also noted a significant number of the ones that I glanced through that were below the rates requested in their submission. Their submission was also heavy highway rather than providing rates across all classifications. It was not clear why they did not provide the complete list of rates but had that list been adopted, additional hearings would have been required if another building project came up.

The ABC Wages passed on a vote of 3 to 1 with the chair abstaining. Even though these projects are outside of our scope of work I still felt good about doing what I could to get the best rates for the City of Warsaw.

While I still believe that the best legislation would be a repeal of the Common Wage requirements, the changes to the new Law helped to promote competition and lower project costs for all of us. Once the $250,000 threshold is in place that will also help improve the situation Our Senators and Representatives should be commended for making this change and should be encouraged to continue the trend towards no common wage requirements.

Culver Garden Court Trusses Arrive

July 9, 2011 by

Beam in Hall Above Entrance to Community Room

Wednesday and Thursday at Culver Garden Court were spent preparing for the arrival of the roof trusses. The walls were braced and squared. Beams and columns were installed. All the little things need to be prepared such as setting anchors at the columns and connecting anchor bolts at the exterior walls. The beam shown in the picture to the right is pre-engineered laminated wood designed for the load at this location. It is heavier and stronger than a dimension lumber beam of the same dimensions would be. The column shown below is dimension lumber. It is anchored to the pier below with a Simpson fastener designed to not only stabilize it, but to prevent uplift when high winds pull at the porch roof structure. Upon completion this column will be completely hidden under a decorative facade.

Bob Cooper, our site superintendent for this project, and I have been looking over the framing to determine where adjustments need to be made. We’re generally pleased with the changes that have been made to the panel design since LaPaz Garden Court, but we noted a few areas where we think additional improvements can be made. We noticed some areas where we think we can combine headers in the future and reduce the wall studs required for support. Wherever we can remove a stud, we not only save the cost of the stud, but also increase the space available for insulation. Bob was also the superintendent for LaPaz Garden Court so he is quite familar with how this project will come together.

First Load of Trusses Ready for installation

The balance of the trusses arrived on Friday. There are two semi loads like the one in the picture to the right. Trusses will be set using a combination of extend-a-lift forklifts and a crane. This installation is planned for Monday. Weather permitting, we are still on schedule for the main framing to be complete Tuesday. This should include not only the trusses but also the roof sheathing. Some minor interior framing will come after the roof is in place, i.e. soffits, blocking and adjustments to non-bearing walls.

Once the roof sheathing is in place, we will be installing shingles on the roof. This will allow us to be 90% weather tight. Windows will follow, further closing the building envelope. Completion of roofing will also allow installation of secondary electrical wiring rough-in. Installation of plumbing rough-in for all supply lines will begin as well.

Culver Garden Court – What a Difference a Day Makes!

July 7, 2011 by

The framers arrived yesterday morning and by the end of the day most of the walls were standing. (See picture to the right.) The panels come with the exterior sheathing in place. You can see a mix on the sheathing where some of it is an insulation board, but OSB sheathing has been substituted at the corners as diaphragm framing. Often diagonal steel straps are installed at corners in order to avoid breaking the insulation barrier, but in this case there were windows too close to the corners for the strap bracing to work.

We are constantly trying to improve the framing on these structures to be more efficient, both in the use of lumber and in insulation barriers. Thus the change to insulated sheathing from 100% OSB sheathing used on previous Garden Court projects, the use of laddered T- wall corner connections at interior walls and the use of California Corners.

These efficiencies are important to us during construction as they reduce material and labor costs. Since these projects are HUD funded, the budgets are limited. For the owner, Garden Court, these efficiencies will result in savings on utilities over the life of the project.