Easterday Construction

Culver Academies Boy Scout Headquarters

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CEF Boy Scout Headquarters Under Construction
Culver Educational Foundation Boy Scout Headquarters under construction at the Culver Academies Woodcraft Camp

This year is the 100 year anniversary of Scouting in America and as a tribute Culver Educational Foundation has contracted Easterday Construction Co., Inc. to build a new Boy Scout Headquarters in the Woodcraft Camp at Culver Academies.  The structure is a scaled down version of a woodcraft camp cabin.  It is a modified post and beam construction built nearly entirely out of cedar.  The original cabins were designed to sit on piers so that they could be moved if necessary.  There are historical pictures of the original cabin being moved from one location to another on campus.

CEF Woodcraft Camp Craft Pavillion
Culver Academies Woodcraft Camp Craft Pavilion under construction in 2008

Easterday Construction has been responsible for the construction of many projects at Culver Academies over the years and family legend has it that our founder, my great grandfather, Russell L. Easterday, began his construction career with James I. Barnes Construction on a project for the Culver Academies back in the 1920’s.

CEF Woodcraft Camp Counselor's Cabin under construction
CEF Woodcraft Camp Counselor's Cabin near completion of construction in 2008

In recent years at the Culver Academies Woodcraft Camp we built the new Boys’ Showers, renovated both the old girls’ showers and the old boys’ showers, built the new Craft Pavilion and a new Counselor’s Cabin.  All of these have had coordination issues due to accelerated time schedules, environmental preservation regarding site requirements, aesthetics necessary to fit the existing facilities and sensitivity to the safety, security and needs of the young children the camp serves.

On this project as well as the Counselor’s Cabin and Craft Pavilion pictured, we were assisted by Scearce Rudisel Architects with design issues and obtaining the State Plan Releases.  Mary Ellen Rudisel Jordan and her staff have been helpful and responsive on these projects and the fact that she has a former Woodcraft Camper a Chipmunk from the last graduating class of Woodcraft Chipmunks on her staff hasn’t hurt!

The Remnant Trust

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We are about to start a project for The Remnant Trust in Winona Lake.  This is a small remodeling project that has some extremely tight specifications due to the delicate materials that will be stored here.  Humidity and temperature fluctuations will have to be kept to a minimum.

We are working with Scearce Rudisel Architects on this project and look forward to working with them and The Remnant Trust.  We are pleased to have been selected for completion of this work.

Safety Update

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We just filled out our OSHA 300A form for 2009 and I’m pleased with the results.  The OSHA 300A form is the summary of work-related injuries and illnesses.  We had one reportable injury with no lost days.  Not bad for all of the hours logged last year.

There are multiple categories including Deaths (0 Whew!), Total Number of Days Away From Work (0), and Total Number of Days of Restriction (0).  Injuries and illnesses break out a lot of things other than injuries, including Skin Disorders (0), Respiratory Conditions (0), Poisoning (0) and Hearing Loss (0).  Zeros across the board on these issues. 

This form will be used internally for training purposes.  (The one reportable accident has already been discussed with those involved as well as others that weren’t there in order to prevent similar incidents in the future.)  It factors into our insurance rating.  It is also a factor in our STEP rating.

Congratulations to everyone at Easterday Construction Co., Inc. for another safe year!

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas!

This is the last post before Christmas and I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  I don’t know if having everything coated in ice qualifies as a white Christmas, but there’s some snow under there too.

The Christmas Pug was stolen from a card we received from Cal-Pro Fence.  Thanks guys.   Becky and I used to have a pug, though we would have never gotten A.J. to sit still long enough to wear a hat for a picture.

This has been a tough year for everyone, but I want to thank the clients that have stuck with us.  I also want to thank the ECC staff that have worked hard this year.  Here’s hoping next year is a better year for all of us!

Merry Christmas to everyone and Best Wishes for a happy, healthy, prosperous New Year!  Safe travels for those of you that will be out in the weather.  To the rest of you, be safe at home.

Kevin

Metal Buildings and “Green” Construction

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Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings (PEMB’s) are one of the most environmentally friendly forms of construction for large scale projects. Almost by definition, the PEMB is optimized to provide the required building function with the minimum of waste. Couple that with the fact that steel is a recyclable material and this adds to the green aspect of PEMB construction.

 We recently received a letter from Butler Manufacturing Company (BMC) talking about the new EcoCalculator and how it applies to PEMB construction. The letter included the following quote: “Our type of construction customarily instills a level of predictability in terms of cost, erection time and quality,” said David E. Evers, PE, vice president of research and development for Butler Manufacturing and chairman of the Energy Committee for the Metal Building Manufacturers Association. “The growing interest in applying metal building structural, roof and wall assemblies to ‘green’ buildings has led to their inclusion in the development and acceptance of a tool known as the EcoCalculator for Assemblies developed by The Athena Institute, in association with the University of Minnesota and Morrison Hershfield Consulting Engineers (http://www.athenasmi.org/tools/ecoCalculator/indec/html). This remarkable software provides architects, engineers, contractors and others instant access to Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for hundreds of common building sections, including a number of typical metal building assemblies.”

Metal Building construction is one of the “green” ideas that makes sense. Easterday Construction Co., Inc. has been a Butler Builder for over 30 years and has always been pleased by the quality of the BMC product. This is one of the construction ideas that was “green” long before green grew to its current popularity!