May 16, 2008 Progress Report



Bear Dance Village

Items Accomplished

GT Builders

Finished all of major framing that required a full crew (approx 8 framers) and cut down to a skeleton crew. Expect to have this skeleton crew for the foreseeable future to take care of pickup items and design details from Camel Committee meetings.


Bear Dance Village
Installed a knee brace in place of the column that supported the northeast corner of the Swan’s overhanging roof. This will allow a better traffic flow around the north end of the building, giving us a much greater area for a continuous patio from the kitchen and great room doors. After the meeting with the Olsons last week, we have a good overall plan in place, and they’ll have a nice, open patio for entertaining all their friends (they told us they don’t have that many friends, to which we responded: When you finish this project, you will!)

Continued to take care of an assortment of framing details that enhance the village’s look at every turn: fireplace surrounds, chimneys, art niches, arched doorways…all sorts of framing elements which, when covered with stone, stucco, brick or plaster, will help each of those surfaces stand out even better.

Flathead Masonry


Bear Dance Village
Finished the interior stonework in the Yellowstone living room. The stone is the same as the outside veneer, and when viewed near the windows, it gives the stone the appearance of continuing straight through from the outside, and the wall appears to be a solid stone wall, thirty inches thick! This really helps carry the theme from the outside to the inside – that first impression of an imposing, thick, fortress-like wall. And even if people don’t pick up on that transition, the simple aesthetics of those stone columns next to the reclaimed beams on the ceiling is fantastic!

Began installing the stone on the Swan chimney. Needed to get this done so the roofing crew would be able to show up soon and begin installing the composite slate on the Swan.

Rainmaster

On site to complete the drying-in of the five-plex. This had been completed already, but in the weeks since then, we added 5 or 6 more chimneys, and it was necessary to cover all the crickets and add flashing around the base of each one.

Arctic Heat

Working on rough-in of the HVAC system in The Swan.

High Ridge Steel

Preparing railing in his shop (off-site) to be installed between the columns at the top of the flat roof of Yellowstone. One might think these columns couldn’t be improved upon with all that stone, but with a section of the railing already installed (and not even finished in its black coat yet), it’s the perfect compliment to take the attractiveness even further.

Touris Plumbing

Installing rough plumbing in Missouri.

Constructed a temporary drain pipe to allow the floor drains for the Gallatin rooftop patio to deposit somewhere other than on the interior floors below. This will get a more complete and permanent solution when the plumbers reach that point, but until then, we simply needed to protect our windows and doors below, and the plumbing crew was quick to help us out.

JK Electric

Meeting with Carol Nelson to determine the remaining electrical layout for Missouri. Upstairs was completed already, but the downstairs was still necessary before they could begin with their installation of can lights, switch and plug boxes, and light fixture boxes.

On site to run wiring for steam shower units in Boulder and Swan master showers.

Anderson Masonry

Installing the remaining porch fireplaces for the five-plex. This was a final critical step to allow the masons to have completed chimney chases and fireplace surrounds, and thus be able to move forward in applying the brick veneer to the chimneys. We want to finish this portion so their work on the roof is complete, and once the roofing contractor is finished with The Swan, they’ll be able to move right up to the five-plex.

United Drywall


Bear Dance Village
Began hanging drywall in Boulder! Amazing to think we’re already to this point, but here we are. Worked hand-in-hand with Hank Fontecilla (stucco and plaster) to figure out which hanging techniques would work best for each finish. Since some rooms will receive an old-world plaster, and others will receive a simple hand texture, the technique for installing the drywall is slightly different. This was also critical to coordinate due to the complex curves, architectural elements, and exposed timbers that needed to be dealt with. Thankfully, the lead man of the installation crew (Tim) has 37 years of experience, so there’s not a whole lot he hasn’t seen! On the other hand, he readily admitted that he’s never seen anything like this project! Kind of makes you scratch your head, but in a good way!

CM Quality Insulation

Sprayed the interior of The Flathead cabin with urethane foam. The roof was done entirely in foam, because the design wouldn’t allow it to breathe adequately; and the walls received just two inches. Then, just like Boulder, the remaining 3½ inches will be fiberglass batts. Also of note, he jumped over Yellowstone because the masonry work wasn’t quite complete. He’ll be back in Yellowstone next week.

J&J Carpentry

Jay Goetting, owner of J&J Carpentry, is Ron’s finish carpenter, and he was on site going through the Swan, just the way he did in Boulder and Yellowstone. A quick recap since it’s been awhile: He goes through the whole building – after framing is complete, but before insulation begins – and checks all the exterior doors and windows that have already been installed. This check is to ensure the drywall planes evenly with the window jambs, which allows for a nice, tight fit of the trim when he’s working on that stage. Fixing a window (or interior doorway) prior to drywall takes about one- fifth the amount of time it might take after drywall is in place, textures and finishes are done, and painting is finished. Ultimately, the monetary savings are tremendous. Many general contractors are unwilling to do this because of the up-front cost, but to Ron’s credit, he realizes (likely because of years of frustration) how much this saves in the long run.

Ron Incoronato & Co

Met with Mat Jaeger from Arctic Heat to determine locations for all their air-conditioning and HRV systems in the five-plex. This will allow us to go ahead and build all the utility catwalks in the attic spaces of each residence, prior to any of the rough-in work beginning. Not only does this make for an easier rough-in process for Arctic Heat, JK Electric and Touris Plumbing (giving them an easier way to walk around in the attic); it also is more efficient and cost-effective for the framing crews, since they’re not having to work around everything already in place.

Continued to work with the Camel Committee to get through the five-plex, going one residence at a time, and developing the theme for each one. This also involves looking at each and every space and determining whether the space has been maximized for looks and for practicality. Sometimes it requires some slight tweaking of the original framing plan, but the end result may be all the difference in a potential buyer walking in and falling in love because of that particular element. But that’s only a small part of it; we’re also discussing how these elements work with the trim detail, the kitchen layout, wall paneling, vaulted ceilings, flooring materials…everything has to be considered so the final product has a perfect harmony.


Bear Dance Village
Worked with the Masons to ensure the proper look and techniques are being used in applying the brick veneer to all our chimneys. As mentioned before, these chimneys are being treated as a critical element in the overall look of this place, and we’ve gone to great length in researching different design options and ideas for how we apply the brick – just having a straight brick face isn’t good enough for this one. The picture to the right is not one of our chimneys, but just an example of the pictures we’ve been finding as inspiration to remain creative.

Next Week’s Agenda

Leaving this section blank due to the fact that this weekly report is a week late, and “next week’s agenda” will be listed in the accompanying document! Sorry about the delay!

Selections/Decisions Needed

Old: Need to pick the stone types for the entire five-plex ASAP. With summer coming up and demand being high, we need to maximize this large masonry crew we now have and get the material ordered.

Old/Updated: Need to go through each unit of the five plex and, in the living rooms and on the decks, determine the style of the surround of the fireplaces. These will need to be drawn up and finalized before the framing crew leaves the project for good, so it’s imperative that this happens in the next two weeks. UPDATE: Missouri is complete, Gallatin is complete (see Keith’s interior rendering), and Madison and Ruby are forthcoming from Carol Nelson and Keith Beck, respectively. Only Big Horn remains.

Old: Colors and finishes for units in the five-plex have been discussed, and we have a good start and direction now. Our meetings in the coming weeks will focus on ironing out all those details. Also will go through the five-plex and, using these decisions, pick out trim styles and sizes, flooring styles, and any final design details.

Old: Need cabinet drawings from Carol Nelson Design for remainder of five-plex. Missouri is done, so Madison is next.