Trade craftsmanship and construction material in Calgary - a complex topic

Often the 'old times' are referenced when it comes to construction and how good it 'used to be'.  I don't actually know much about building before the late 90's, however I have torn down a bunch of houses and they were, without exception, awful. True, they had better lumber back then, but mostly the homes I have destroyed were about 60 years old and just nasty, defective, smelly relics. 

The building code is far more stringent and the materials vastly superior today. For example, wiring, furnaces, appliances, cabinetry and countless other products are designed with technology and materials unheard of in the post war period. We now feature LED lighting as a standard in our pot lights, this was cost prohibitive just a few years ago. 

While materials are far better, what about craftsmanship?  Today's fast pace and the pressure to get stuff done can frequently interfere with getting the material installed with the care and attention the client deserves.  For the most part we have been able to hire good crews and we are impressed with the technical work that is done.  Here is a good example of the electrical panel we had recently completed. Not likely possible 50 years ago! 

Master bathroom update - house 2

Lots of progress to report at house two. With tile grouted, shower glass installed, and freestanding tub in place with tub filled, we are nearing completion. Here are some photo updates from today 

Project Retrospective - threeplex

With our first unit of the threeplex project complete, many inspections passed and our first very successful open house hosted, now is as good a time as can be to do a little project overview.

This post is sort of a follow up to our most highly read post to date, http://rebuildcalgary.blogspot.ca/2015/03/why-does-it-cost-so-much.html where we describe in some detail why it is so costly to build inner city homes in Calgary.  In summary, we put forth an argument that house building costs so much because the authority in our society wants it to be so, due to its self interest.  In addition, the non construction related costs of the project are high, and increasing, and add little value to the end user that inevitably has to pay the higher cost of the project.

Below we will lay our a few categories of the project, and self evaluate ourselves in terms of how we managed the project.

• Design and layout  - Grade B+.  Much of the credit here has to be attributed to our design team which consists of Inertia (Trent) - drafting and permitting, and Denca (Mikaela) - cabinetry design and creative assistance.  Without these two our product would be far inferior.  We can give ourselves a little credit here for issuing the design brief upon which the team was able to generate the plans, and for our careful execution of the construction.  Even getting this project approved by the city was a major blessing, without the design experience and negotiation skills of our team the project could have stalled or been rejected.
• Budgeting - Grade B.  Remarkably we have stayed on budget, and we have invested regularly in budget update and forecast sessions with our accountant to stay on top of changes.  Our vigilance here has paid off and we put more effort into budgeting and forecasting than we did previously.  We have worked tirelessly to remain on budget and this led to some very tough decisions and broken relations when we said goodbye to a bunch of trades we had come to rely on.  Essentially we woke up to the reality of a recession faster than many of our trades did, and some had to be let go.  Our early budget proved to be weak and we got off to a poor start.  We encountered a city requirement that couldn't be overcome without some geotechnical engineering and foundation shoring.  This costly exercise eventually proved futile, but by then we had spent $15k, which represented half of our project contingency fund. We stared down an ugly reality that we had hardly started the project and had burnt half the budget safety net.  To combat this we tirelessly attacked other project elements to seek out savings and economies. To our credit we restored our contingency budget by about the halfway point of the project.
• Supervision - Grade B -.  Unfortunately here we fell into a trap again, where slow framing had a major cascading impact on our schedule.  Losing a month here very nearly cost us the ability to finish the exterior of the building on time and to get the landscaping inspected and approved before winter set in.  Another problem became slow house wrapping and stucco prep that delayed the stucco, caused all kinds of landscaping delays and added a lot of mess and cleanup problems that could have been avoided.  We have suffered from slow framing on multiple occasions now, and it appears we just are not learning our lesson.  Expect major changes here in our approach next time.  On the other hand, the bulk of the schedule has run smoothly.  Many of our trades have pleased us with their performance, including some of the new crews we have brought on.  Our supervisory execution has been harmed in part by circumstance beyond our control.  Due to the change in the economy we have taken on more hands on construction work than we had planned.  In fact we took on too much, and this led to some difficulty in performing the supervisory duties such as advance ordering of material and timely material delivery.  
• Interior decoration - Grade B+.  Based on early reaction to our design and material selection, it appears our design scheme has been very well appreciated by visitors to the site.  Many favourable comments have been received about the quality and appearance of the flooring, cabinetry, and tile.  We really worked hard here to come up with our own signature style.  Full pictures are available here.  https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B4SACAcBIaNIWmxYYWctZV9fTmc&usp=sharing
• Time of build - Grade B.  This is similar to the supervision category.  We could have removed a month of construction time from the project had we been able to finish the framing and exterior sooner.  Otherwise the schedule has been followed closely.
• Marketing - Grade B.  We switched to marketing through www.newinfills.ca. It has proved to be a good choice and they have provided better marketing tactics than we have had in the past.  Unfortunately the market is weaker so no presales were possible.  In a stronger market two of the units likely would have sold long ago.
• City inspections - Grade B+.  We had some very challenging details to execute and thus far the inspections have passed without major difficulty.  We hope this continues into the final occupancy inspection.  

    This concludes our project overview post.  Stay tuned for more project news as we complete the other two units and move into the sales phase of the project.

Threeplex real estate advertisement is posted

Note that this project is sold and we can no longer use the link below

http://matrix.crebtools.com/Matrix/p?L=1&k=883113XTK2P&p=AE-101636-705&rn=0&portalAction=item

This is the link to our new show suite.  We are very pleased with the outcome of our threeplex project. Visitors welcome. 

Stylish hardware

With the first houses nearly complete it became time to install the final handrail for our stair locations.  We selected a square oak profile along with a modern steel bracket. Our glass infill panels also arrived thus with the safety railing complete we can move toward occupancy inspection. 

Final clean underway

With construction largely complete we are now focussed on getting our show suite ready.  This means the difficult task of getting all the construction dust out of house.  Essentially any possible area that dirt and debris can collect must be painstakingly cleaned by hand.  Here is an unveiling of our first complete kitchen. 

Plumbing final

The last fixtures have been set in the first unit and we are cleaning and preparing the bathrooms for the eventual mls listing. Our homes feature excellent fixtures by maax and Grohe. 

Freestanding tub and Roman tub filler combo are now complete. 

Electrical final

Our electricians are back on site finalizing the first of the houses.  This means all the  code related items are done in the mechanical room at the panel and the light fixtures are set. We had some tricky moments connecting our led under cabinet lights in the kitchen.  Not enough space was left to make it easy to connect the wires.  Next time we will have to execute a smarter design. 

Appliance install

At this project we are heavily dependent on the plumber to connect the appliances 

Fridge - water line connection by plumber

Oven - gas connection by plumber 

Dishwasher - water lines again by plumber 

That just leaves the range hood which we previously installed ourselves and the microwave oven with its built in trim kit. Unfortunately it didn't fit properly. This is typical of appliance install day. One appliance has to give problems. At issue is fastening the trim kit to the face of the cabinet box.  Our design requires the trim sit tight to the overhanging quartz counter.  Unfortunately this would mean the screws for the trim kit can't be installed so it won't work. We have a plan b as always to deal with this but it will first require a chat with the cabinet shop. Stay tuned the house is almost done and ready for cleaning and photography. 

Eavestrough and downspout

At this time of year the many freeze-thaw cycles and frequent precipitation makes having Eavestrough completed on site an important safety consideration. 

With the work complete we can now direct water away from our sidewalks and onto soft surface landscaped areas. 

Custom glass for shower

Our supplier was able to provide the first shower door for our master bathroom. The custom detailing of the shower is nicely done. 

Exterior almost complete

The outside of the building is almost finished at the threeplex site. All that remains is some minor landscaping details. 

Fence building

We were able to get the last of the fence up at the threeplex despite the soggy conditions.  

Carpet install

Our carpet crew arrived and in one long day was able to install all the upper floor and basement material.  It is always impressive how, when you choose the right crew, a substantial impact can be made on the jobsite in such a short time. 

Deck staining

Using the last of the mild weather we were able to stain out exterior cedar decks and stair landings.  The building is now nearly ready for the condo registry process. 

Hardwood tile transitions

Having a seamless transition between flooring surfaces is generally the preferred approach. The skilled tradespeople we hire know exactly how to do this, and the tiled foyer to living room hardwood transition is a classic example. 

Hardwood is now complete in the first unit. Next up is finalizing the tile and the plumbing. 

Permeable paver install for visitor parking stall

The city issued a requirement that the project feature a permeable geotextile material be installed as the driving surface of the visitor parking stall. 

To deal with this requirement we located a new supplier that stocks the material and began the install today.  First the parking stall was levelled and bladed with the skid steer. Crushed material was added and compacted and raked. Finally the ecogrid blocks were put down.  Later we will purchase some pea gravel and fill in the ecogrid material. 

Hardwood install begins

The installer has started laying the hardwood. Because it is wide plank engineered oak, it must be glued and nailed.  The large pieces means that the install goes quite quickly. 

Kitchen backsplash tile

Our kitchen backsplash is tiled and ready to grout 

Grouting tile

Our Tilesetter crew is now completing a few rooms and applying the grout. Hardwood flooring is booked to begin tomorrow. 

Landscaping begins at the threeplex

Taking full advantage of the warm autumn weather we were able to start the landscaping process at the threeplex.  In the rear area two deciduous trees and a variety of shrubs were dug in and generously surrounded with a compost loam mixture.  Cover will be added in the form of a mulch later.  

Natural stone shower base

Our master bathroom shower will feature a natural stone base. The variety we often use is a flat cut pebble.  It features a very natural stone appearance with a surface that is comfortable on the feet.  

Quartz countertop

Our first house had the countertop surfaces templated last week. The material was delivered today and installed along with the three bathroom sinks and the kitchen sink. All sinks we are using are undermount style which makes for a much nicer finish. 

Stucco completion

Under ideal weather conditions our acrylic stucco was completed today. The smooth finish complements the quality work done by the prep crew to endure such a nice outcome. 

Stucco acrylic application

Our crew has returned to apply the acrylic stucco to the cured sand and cement scratch coat.  Significant progress was made on day one and more than likely the job will be complete tomorrow. This final exterior stage allows a total site cleanup to take place and for landscaping to begin. 

Tile prep

With the kitchen complete in the first unit we can now begin the tile. Our crew is prepping the water proof walls in the shower in the basement and will soon be installing the custom tile we selected. Ditra underlayment material is also installed on the basement floor. 

Kitchen install underway

Our crew has largely assembled the kitchen cabinets and will soon be moving onto the bathroom vanities and the closets.  The second kitchen is due to be delivered at the end of the week. 

Kitchen delivery

The first of our Denca designed and built kitchens has arrived to the job site. Our install crew will arrive tomorrow to being the assembly of the kitchen, bathrooms and fireplace unit. 

This is kitchen design 

Door and trim paint

Our first house has now received the spray lacquer for the doors and trim (baseboard, casing and wall cap). With this complete and the drywall touch ups underway we can do a quick clean up and have the kitchen delivered.  This is one of the best stages of the project since we are now deep into the final finishing material. 

Stucco underway

With ideal autumn weather all week our stucco crew has arrived and our job is nearing completion. This is a large and difficult job and we are again well served by our stucco crew.  

Stucco prep and soffit

Our stucco job has been delayed numerous weeks however we plan to begin next week. The elevated soffit areas are underway and the custom trims we have ordered are ready for install. 

Garage progress

So far we have poured the garage slab, framed, shingled, wired, insulated, Drywalled and now installed the overhead doors. Remaining work includes taping, stucco, soffit and Eavestrough.  This work should be done in the next few weeks before it starts to get cold at night. 

Finishing package delivery

POur supplier has shipped the first finishing package. With this on site and the carpenter delivering his tools later today we are advancing on schedule into the finishing stage of the townhouses.  

Ceiling texture and wall prime

Our first of the three townhouses has received a wall prime and the ceiling texture. With this stage of the house complete we can move on to delivery and installation of the first finishing package.