August 01, 2008 Progress Report
Today’s view from across the bay is beginning to draw more questions and excitement from the community than ever before, especially when considering how things looked last summer!
Over the past few months, we’ve developed a trend of establishing a monthly theme word. Sometimes it was more obvious and deliberate than others; at other times, it just sort of developed on its own. We’ve talked about the “Wow” effect, buildings having their own “character”, and most recently, “Opportunity”. Now we have a new theme for Bear Dance. Well, in reality, it’s more like a condition or syndrome, but it’s happening all the time. It’s called “I can’t decide which one I like best!” And it isn’t just occurring in people who take tours – we’re finding that the dilemma has been hitting each of us as well!
Actually, we should clarify something first: this new ‘condition’ is really not that new, and we even hinted at it in last month’s report. But it’s been a growing phenomenon that has hit a level warranting documentation. We saw just a hint of this last fall, when we gave a few tours to some prospective buyers. At the time, though, only the Boulder and Yellowstone residences had been framed up, and the five-plex only had a wall or two in place; but as they walked through Boulder, then Yellowstone, they said, “We love it! But we don’t know which one we like better!” So they promised to come back after the winter had passed. When they did, not only were they unable to decide between Boulder and Yellowstone, there were five more residences in the five-plex to ‘worsen’ Today’s view from across the bay is beginning to draw more questions and excitement from the community than ever before, especially when considering how things looked last summer!their predicament! And they’re not the only ones having this crisis of decision. We hear people say this after every tour, and we find ourselves in the same situation. The architectural details, the craftsmanship, the masonry, the stucco, the roofing materials…all of these are contributing to this new ‘theme’, and it’s exactly what we hoped would happen. We set out to create a village of condominiums, but they were to be condos in name only, and only in the most technical sense. Otherwise, the idea was to have a cluster of custom homes that would seem like they had been built over several different generations, by several different builders, but all of whom had been influenced by the romance and aura of a European mountain village.
So… on with our progress report!
The title of “Most Character-Building Subcontractor” has been tightly contested this month in several different areas, and this has been the chief contributor to our “Can’t Decide” condition we’re seeing so often. The crew from Flathead Masonry & Tile has continued to work on the chimneys of the five-plex, and we’ve had a few people stand on Gallatin’s rooftop patio, look around at all the chimneys, and exclaim: “I feel like I’m in a scene from Mary Poppins!” Each chimney has its own character and unique design, and with the completion of our two new chimneys on the south-facing rooftop, we can’t wait to begin installing our finish roofing materials. In most cases, a rooftop is not given the same thought and character given to the rest of the building, but this five- plex, when completed, will stand alone as a gem because of its so
Three of the eleven five-plex chimneys viewable from Gallatin’s rooftop. Could next month’s theme be ‘The Mary Poppins Effect’?
many eye-catching features. This is not to imply that the rooftop alone has been the only part of the five-plex with dramatic aesthetic changes this month – our remaining two carpenters from GT Builders have been putting up pre- finished siding along the south-facing walls, visible as you drive up. The board-on-board of Big Horn and the traditional vertical planks of Madison were each stained and painted in a layering process, and no one can tell the wood is all brand-new. The different colors complement each other perfectly, and it’s only served to make us more anxious for the stone and stucco.
Madison’s decorative
chimney, nearly completed and
ready for unveiling
Speaking of colors, Smith Painting is another crew vying for the Character Building crown. In addition to the above- mentioned siding, they’ve been all over this site, staining and finishing the exposed timbers and soffit with our special “Bear Dance Brown” mix – something Vernon Smith concocted especially for this project. They’ve also worked their way down the east wall of Missouri, finishing the wood siding in the same aged layering process as the pre- finished materials. All of a sudden, we’ve gone from a fresh wood-tone everywhere to these beautiful deep browns, and the response we’ve heard several times is, “Where did you get all these huge, old beams?” Exactly what we wanted to hear.
Big Horn’s ‘old’ wood siding and ‘old’ beams with barge rafters – fooling everyone thanks to Smith Painting
Of course, not everything that goes on here is purely aesthetic. There’s a ton of progress in other areas, decisions being made, and planning already for winter (yes, already). We stepped back and made some big-picture decisions based on the fact that we’re only looking at one more month of summer, then depending on what kind of fall we have, perhaps not that much nice weather after Labor Day. So even though we have Boulder, Yellowstone and Swan ready for plaster, paint and masonry on the insides, we’re keeping those subcontractors working on the outside while the weather is cooperating. This will not only allow us to accomplish outside work during good weather; it will also give our workers a nice dry place to operate once winter weather kicks in (which translates into better overall progress and efficiency). Last winter was fairly productive in spite of the weather, but this winter will be completely seamless from summertime weather, thanks to this schedule.
So what else has been going on? Taping and texturing are finished in Boulder and Yellowstone; the Swan and Flathead have all their drywall in place; and those same two have all their roofing materials nearly complete as well. We have plumbers finished in Missouri, nearly complete in Madison, and setting up boilers in our “root cellars” on either side of the courtyard. Arctic Heat has finished up Missouri, nearly done in Madison, and getting ready to install the fan to ventilate Yellowstone’s attic. Fontecilla Custom Interiors has been going like crazy on the exterior of these buildings, applying stucco in every spot that still lacked some sort of siding on the lower buildings. We’ve installed the central vacuum in the Missouri, and the electrical rough-in is in progress in both Missouri and Madison. Off site, we’ve had High Ridge Steel
Working on the stacked stone walls along our upper driveway areas. These walls have really given the project a much more organized look and helped us to look a little less like a construction site.
and The Metal Connection working on several structural and aesthetic wrought iron and steel projects for this property – safety railing for the upper driveways of the five-plex, decorative steel flashing, and hanging straps for the Swan catwalk. Finally, Zavala Excavating spent a good amount of time towards the end of the month, finishing what they started at the end of June: stacked stone retaining walls in the upper driveway areas, giving a much more organized and clean feel to the property. This also set up our major hardscaping very early in the project, which will allow for settling and shifting through a full winter and spring before landscaping starts.
All of these things – both the subtle and the in-your-face – are what make our jobs fun, and more importantly, they’re what make people have that response, “I can’t decide which one I like best!” We’re on the home stretch of the summer, and like this month’s theme, we can’t decide which part of this upcoming project we’re the most excited about! It’s also nice to look back and see where we were a year ago, maybe one of the most rewarding aspects of construction in general. We hope you enjoy the process (and progress) as much as we are!
August 1, 2007, one year ago today. We only had a week of framing under our belts, one grade beam in place on the east side of the five-plex, and not a drop of concrete on the west half of the five-plex. And look at that smoky air!