Becker’s Blog #6: Lines on Paper
To keep my house in order, here’s a timeline of events of 2009.
March 25, 2009
Duncan Stroik architectural drawings were issued for construction. This is the final set that determines our final price. Also, from this set of drawings, we would be awarded our contract
April 24, 2009
We sent our price for the stonework to Sioux Falls Construction. We broke the estimates into a dozen different sections, rather than one lump sum.
This is for two reasons – the first being that, with multiple breakouts, the owner can analyze where their money is being spent. Second (and more-important for us), any questioning of our prices can be referenced back to our budget prices.
May 17, 2009
We’re given the green light to start shop drawings. The client/contractor decided the floor would be installed before the walls, so our efforts are focused on the floor drawings.
This go-ahead means that we’ve been awarded the project. Finally, after 14 months of budget prices, mock-ups, jobsite visits, phone calls and emails, we can put the project on our books and show the project as backlog.
In 2009 contractors celebrate awards of projects not because of the type of project or prestige it may bring; instead, we can show the banks we have more backlog than we did yesterday. It’s all about staying in business.
It should be noted that the award included the floors, steps and walls –roughly half of the project. The remainder of the project, such as the altars, columns and communion rail will be awarded at a later date
June 7, 2009
Sioux Falls-based Sayre Associates start the surveying for the stone floor.
Before I talk about the surveying itself, let me explain why we’re doing this. The stone floor is fitting into an existing space, and thee space has walls and columns that we need to take into consideration.
Stone is expensive to cut. Replacing misfabricated stone is expensive. Our industry has not yet developed a stone stretcher. (I learned the hard way it doesn’t exist).
We had to decide on what was the best way to determine the floor stone sizes – whether to oversize hundreds of floor pieces and field-cut whenever we came to a wall or column, or do a thorough survey of the entire interior of the building and locate everything off of grid lines. Without much debate we chose the later. This survey would also determine all of the wainscot stone sizes as well.
Sayre Associates used a digital 3D scanner to locate the footprint of the church’s interior and measure the heights of the stone base we had to duplicate. The surveyor mapped out 30 to 40 specific locations in the church and marked the floor at these points. The 3D scanner was centered over each point, and slowly rotated 360°.
While spinning, the scanner continuously sent out a digital signal to measure the location of the walls. The scanner also produced a color video of each location. After each point has been scanned, the surveyor sat behind a computer and linked all the locations together to form an enormous digital scan.
Actually, it’s similar to camera-based digital templating used for countertops. In templating a countertops you might have a hundred points to digitally connect; with our project, there were hundred of millions to connect.
After the survey was complete, Sayre Associates produced an AutoCAD drawing that our detailer used to form the footprint of the stone floor.
July 30, 2009
We submitted our stone-floor shop drawings for first approval. This is also the first time Stroik Architects saw our intent on how we proposed to approach the piece sizes, dimensions and stone color locations.
I want to pause for a minute and talk about shop drawings. I’ve learned over the years that accurate shop drawings are as important as using a reputable stone fabricator and experienced stone installer. Combined, they form a three-legged stool; without one, the other two will fail.
With the exception of granite countertops, we outsource all our shop drawings to contract detailers. We most-often use former Cold Spring Granite detailers who’ve started their own businesses. Besides knowing these detailers for two decades, I also believe these detailers – coming out of Cold Spring – understand what they’re doing, and are the best trained in the stone industry.
October 17, 2009
Stone-wall shop drawings went in for first approval. This set of drawings included the large marble bases for columns in the nave of the church and two monolithic marble door surrounds.
December 14, 2009
Our stone-floor drawings are approved and sent to Italy for fabrication. It took seven months from the start of the shop drawing process until final drawings went to the fabricator.
December 31, 2009
We received our first project change order to add all the altars, columns and communion rail. By delaying the purchase of these items, the owner incurred extra costs due to the euro/dollar exchange rate. They knew the risk of ordering product from another country and paying the selling price the day you give the fabricator the order. Sometimes you can gain money if the dollar grows stronger.
March 9, 2010
Our stone wall drawings are approved and sent to Italy for fabrication. This time, it took five months from the start of the wall shop drawing process until finals went to the fabricator.
Whew! What a year! The past 12 months was all technical. We’ve started drawings of the big items and I expect this process to take until May 2010. Our first container with stone floor pieces is on the Atlantic, and is expected to arrive in Sioux Falls next month.
Until now, this blog has been a lot of text and not many pictures. This will change next month, when we start the installation.
Thanks for reading,
Joe Becker
Twin City Tile and Marble Company
St. Paul, Minn.
Joe Becker has been in the natural-stone business for 26 years. He started with Cold Spring Granite as a draftsman and spent time in their stone installation and estimating departments. He is currently Vice President of St. Paul, Minn.-based Twin City Tile and Marble Company and oversees their stone operations.
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