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You can't start any project without the
right people. This is my trusty "side-kick". This is
the guy that makes sure that the people on site are doing what
they say they are. Be it at 3:00 am, on the weekend, or until
"dark-thirty", hiring Roy Weisinger was one of the
best moves we made. With over 50 years experience Roy proved
to be a major asset as contractors sought his advice and site
workers took his direction without complaint.
Here Roy has mounted a digital camera on
the end of a PVC pipe. He's set the timer on the camera to snap
after 10 seconds. Inserting the camera down into the boring holes
he took pictures of the conditions near the bottom where light
wouldn't shine so he could insure that the footer had been reamed
properly.
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When
I took over the project the entire 54 acre tract was wooded pasture.
Cows ran the property and the landscape ranged from swamp to
gullies. The carcass of a dead calf and mother cow led me into
a wooded area where the long dried bones of other dead cows was
scattered throughout the thick underbrush. Surely the surveyors
had seen these bones but no one seemed interested. My interest
was that as this property had long been used for agriculture
purposes for running cattle I didn't want someone to later say
that we had harmed their cows. (Actual picture not shown because
it would upset my granddaughter.) |
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During my original review of the property
I found evidence of an old telephone line. The easement only
ran a few hundred feet and then terminated near the middle of
the property. Practicing "due diligence" and just for
good laugh I called the Operator and asked for "Enterprise
9800." (For those too young to remember, phone numbers were
typically spelled out so they would be easy to remember. Our
home phone back then was "Rockwell 9..."
We did eventually get a release of the
easement for legal purposes because it continually showed up
on the plats causing problems with getting later easements that
were necessary for our electrical service.
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Proving that you have to keep an eye on
everybody. I had ordered all 54 acres completely cleared. As
the excavators and bulldozers were nearing the end of their clearing
stages this one tree stood out day after day. I asked the operators
why it was still there. Answer, "We didn't want to clear
it because it "spoke to us."
My answer was to ask, "When it spoke
to you, did it offer to sign the check for your services?"
Needless to say the tree was gone the next day.
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The
property had been surveyed a few years earlier but I considered
it my responsibility to know every inch of this project. Using
the survey map I walked to every marker. Once found I placed
my own marker and tape so that I would know and could be confident
in pointing out where the property lines were. This helped tremendously
as both County and State inspectors and officials came to the
site later in the project to determine our status of construction
and to fulfill their roles. |
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With
the land cleared we held a ground-breaking ceremony. Not once,
but twice. The first was for county dignitaries and longstanding
customers. |
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The
second was for the employees whom the owner attributes much of
his success. (Who wasn't in this picture? As a matter of fact,
who wasn't in almost every picture? Your truly. I was the one
taking the pictures.) |
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With the property finally clean the back-hoe
operator covers the fire pit.
Picking a location where no buildings would
be built a deep pit was dug. During the clearing process trees
and brush were piled for several weeks to dry out. Under coverage
of a county burn permit the brush was burned in the pit under
controlled conditions.
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Here
the property is finally cleared and ready to begin construction.
During the process of clearing and making the ground ready there
were many meetings and details to attend. Working with the Civil
Engineers, Architects, banking officers, nearby property owners,
and MUD (Municipal Utility District) officers were just a few.
Not included in this summary is that the center acreage was part
of a TCEQ cleanup which affected every aspect of this project.
While the details would make for good reading they cannot be
disclosed for obvious reasons. |
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After
all permits and plans have been satisfied with the county the
laying of storm sewer is usually a hidden process. I say "hidden"
because folks passing the site don't see the workers. They are
down in the holes. There were quite a few times that someone
at management level would comment that nothing was going on at
the site. A LOT was going on, they just couldn't see it. |
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As
a fisherman I say, "Pollute it here..., eat it there. A
good reason to be diligent." This was just the first of
half a dozen truckloads of underground conduit and junction boxes
that are typically buried below any commercial buildings or parking
lots. A site that was once capable of absorbing rainwater now
has to shed that water and do it so that it does not create flooding
conditions elsewhere around the property. The amount of water
has to be calculated and then diverted to receiving areas of
run off. Typically ditches or other forms of drainage systems
that are all part of the regional flood control program. During
and after installation the project is monitored by county officials
to insure that the plans are followed to a T. In addition to
run off, the plans must be reviewed to insure that there are
no avenues for pollutants to migrate from the manufacturing process
into the water courses since this water ends up in our rivers
and bays. |
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In
the form of a very basic explanation, one aspect that we don't
typically think about is that the parking lot has to be designed
so that run off is equal in all directions. Based on the amount
of water expected from a rain event and then starting at where
the water enters the drain the remaining components must be positioned
so that the last place the water leaves at the last drain is
at or lower than where it started from. Otherwise, water backs
up into the drain causing stagnation and foul smells to constantly
waft from the holes. |
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Because
this factory building and office is so large each column requires
a pier with footer. These holes and the concrete are typically
drilled down to "load bearing" surfaces. Sometimes
it is rock. Other times (as in our case) it is packed clay down
between 10 - 14 feet. |
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To make the process more efficient three
crews work together. Referring to the plans the drilling crew
first digs the hole using an auger. They then move to the next
hole while the bell crew reams the bell at the bottom of the
hole. Once that is done they move to the next hole location and
the concrete crew follows immediately behind. In this shot the
belling crew is barely clear before the concrete truck is positioned
to start pouring.
Another aspect of this level of new construction
as might be seen later is represented by this picture. Any time
you move dirt you have one of two options. (1) reuse it, or,
(2) relocate it.
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Having preplanned the location of heavy
factory machines the workers begin digging out squares where
thicker concrete will be poured. This is a monolithic slab where
the thicker concrete sections are poured at the same time as
the floor. The thicker concrete provides much needed support
for the heavy machines that would break the standard concrete
floor. It also allows anchor bolts to be drilled and firmly seated
so that the machines do not "walk" as might be caused
by machining vibrations.
These particular monolithic pours are much
shallower and very different from the machine foundations shown
later.
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Once
the monolithic slab holes are dug the rebar has to be specially
fitted to include the additional concrete. It appears obvious
that drilling into the concrete for the purpose of installing
anchor bolts would be hampered by all the steel. |
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The general contractor decided to pour
segments lengthwise rather than across the shorter width. In
the beginning I didn't see where it made any difference so I
observed the process very closely thinking I was going to learn
something new. In the end, I still say it didn't make any difference.
So, in the terms of project management
this is one of those times when you simply don't make an issue
of it and let the GC work the way they want to.
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It's 3:30 in the morning. As I said previously
Roy Weisinger is on scene ahead of the concrete trucks. They
are ready their pour - but, within minutes Roy has a sample of
the concrete and immediately calls a halt.
These chunks of concrete rip-rap were in
the mix. This just proves why you have someone on site, and why
you take samples of EVERY load run.
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In addition to the concerns of underground
runs for your own site services you have to make certain to include
those services that come from outside resources such as the Electric
Company, the Telephone Company, the Gas Company, and Water/Sewer,
etc. The reason I make this point is that you might or MIGHT
NOT have been involved in the planning work of a particular utility
service provider. They might THINK that you were involved and
aware.
Point: As the project manager you have
to make certain that YOU are in charge of every service run,
that you know where they are coming from and where they are going,
and how they plan to get there. You cannot leave it to chance
nor can you leave it to them to figure out and do as they please.
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Part
of this project included the development of Thrustmaster Drive.
First slated to be a county road along private property with
an easement that would have provided a payback, the city and
county planners both eventually got involved. What started as
a simple road to allow access with large truck traffic turned
into a major county road with. I addition there was another intersecting
road that went nowhere except to split the property into two
sections. Literally, it was only planned for the future and did
nothing for the next 20 years. The owner then decided to pay
for it himself and in exchange, had the road named according
to his desire. |
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Hurricane
Rita heads for the Gulf Coast. Needless to say construction is
put on hold as workers from around the Houston area turn their
attention to taking care of family and homes. Our family covers
from Orange County to Harris County so regardless of where the
storm hits, we are all going to be affected. And we were. But,
thanks to the Lord that no one was hurt we all pulled through
and within a couple of weeks were back up and running full steam. |
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Thrustmaster
decision makers pull in a MEGA-GENERATOR and connect up to the
main power. Manufacturing keeps running for days as this monster
pumped out the kW's. Those tanks in front are diesel fuel which
was consumed at about 250 gallons per day of operation. |
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Finally,
the first steel is erected! As you can see in this photo the
first column on the north-east corner goes up without much fanfare.
If you look closely you can see that there is a lot of concrete
on the ground. |
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With
the foundation established the frame structure begins to move
very quickly as the frames and beams were all pre-fabricated
to fit. It is far from an erector set which has holes strategically
placed to allow for a variety of assemblies. In this case if
a set of holes are off my mere inches there is going to be trouble
down the road. Either the holes have to be fixed on site, or
the holes have to be fixed on site. In other words, when you
start assembling this kind of structure there isn't much choice. |
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Out
front the factory office building continues at a much slower
pace. In part because the same workers and equipment needed for
the office are working on the factory. Part two, because the
office building is far more complex in the amount of "layers"
it will take to build it. |
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Finally!
The steel for the office building arrives. In this photo I pulled
one of my no-no's and accidentally got my shadow in the picture.
The four truckloads were the first round of three more deliveries
that would come over the next two weeks. This photo was taken
on Jan 15, 2009. |
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Second
no-no. Did it again! Or did I? One "tell" is the date.
I don't include the date on my photos because it is in the hidden
data. This photo was taken by Roy. This photo can also indicate
the approximate time. If you know that (1) Roy is facing west
north west, (2) the sun is rising directly behind him, and (3)
the long cast of his shadow you can tell that the sun is just
coming over the horizon so it's very early in the morning. This
is the condition of the site on Jan 21, 2009. |
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On
Jan 21, 2009 you can see progress of the factory. More
importantly for us, after the hurricane our electrical service
was put on the back burner by Centerpoint as their crews were
tied up repairing downed and damaged power lines around Harris
and Ft. Bend counties. This photo shows that by mid January we
have the poles and hardware in place, however, the service is
still not ready. Throughout this time the general contractor
is working with one single electrical service point between the
buildings. The extension cords are getting too long so generators
are deployed to supplement the lack of electrical services. |
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A
concrete pump truck moves into position. In the background you
can see that the building is coming together. This is on February
12, 2009 and the second floor is getting ready to be poured.
One thing about this project is that the General Contractor kept
things moving. When we couldn't work on the building, or he had
an excess of manpower he put them to pouring or getting the site
ready for parking lot pours. |
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Finally,
Centerpoint arrives with the the main factory transformer. These
transformers have to be ordered 6-9 months in advance so when
you start such a project you want to determine your anticipated
power usage and get the electrical provider on the line early
and get this one item ordered as early as possible. Another early
stage item is to understand the requirements for the pad, and
for the barriers. Here you can see that we've already set inserts
for the barriers so that we could pour the parking lot. These
barriers would be inserted into the sleeves and cemented in later. |
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Yours
truly standing with the pump truck operator as we pour black
concrete on the second floor. |
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The
factory is progressing quick although we would like to have made
it much faster. We were working against a production deadline
as well as a construction loan deadline and regardless of the
affects of the hurricane, we needed to be in and cutting steel
within the next 4 months. |
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Timed
with completing the roof the first phase of building a foundation
for a CNC Machining Center is built. The leave-out and resulting
excavation for this project was larger than my first home. |
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Workers
in this scene give a better perspective of the depth of this
tiered hole. The worker standing at the bottom represents where
a solid concrete monolith will be poured. This will serve as
the foundation for the machine. |
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The
form is being set for the first pour. That block will be isolated
by a 3/4" fiber shell and the next layer poured. Then a
third until the foundation is completed by the "apron". |
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A
contract sign painter outlines the unique Thrustmaster logo.
Not such an easy task on a corrugated wall. |
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The
Thrustmaster logo is finished. It was considered that we paint
that logo onto the roof so the next time a satellite passes to
take a photo and replace those on Google (TM) and such sites
the building could be seen from space. |
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Obviously,
in building construction the project is the entire building,
not just one floor. There is no such thing as any single floor
affecting only itself. Likewise, the elevator shaft, AC ducting,
chases for wiring and plumbing, and stairwells are examples of
the kinds of "multiple floor high impact" issues construction
projects face. Our design on this elevator shaft is to also include
the half-round stairwell between floors. This minimizes the amount
of space needing to be dedicated to both since they share the
same opening and footprint. |
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Barely
down 8 feet and we are seeing water in the clay. Our boring surveys
showed something else that made the steel pipe in the background
necessary for setting the piers. Throughout the area there were
layers of sand and silt that would collapse or sluff off before
we could pour the concrete. In this case the sleeve would be
inserted into the hole before the walls sluffed off. This allowed
re-bar to be inserted without worrying about hitting the walls.
Concrete would then be pumped into the sleeve as it was withdrawn
from the hole allowing that the pressure of the concrete would
push against the looser sand and silt while it set and prevent
the walls from collapsing. |
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