this is a tale of excess….
about 10 years ago…. a lady contractor bought this waterfront property.. tore down the old red ranch house and built a $2million dollar home… a lot of money for 1995..
anyways.. she sold the house and the next owner , supposedly, never lived in it.. but the heat froze and there was major damage..
so.. last fall… a large office trailer was moved on site… you know the 12×40 type
then they moved in $250,000 worth of pipe staging and built a structure right over the house.. then they shrinkwrapped it…
next they did the same thing to the in-ground pool on the south side …
then … they stripped all the loam and paved the lawn… so the tradesmen could park..
they installed a gate house.. and a gate guard…. they leased the soccer field a half mile away so they could have more parking..
when the on-site parking lot is full ( about 50 trucks ) the rest park at the soccer field and the shutle bus transports the workers..
they now have three office trailers on site just like the first one
here’s some of the off-site parking and the gate house and gate guard
that’s the guard & the gate house is on the left
Edited 4/5/2005 11:26 pm ET by Mike Smith
Replies
the building inspector tells me when it's time for an inspection, they make the appointment... pick him up at the satellite parking lot..
the Project supt. and his assistents, and the cameraman all accompany the inspection, with the required subs..
there are so many tradesmen working there they are practically elbow to elbow..
they have torn down the stone fireplace and moved it 3 feet, the pool has been expanded 5 feet.. the roof has been reframed.. all of the room partitions have been moved..
they are running 3 shifts.. and there is a catwalk over the shrink-wrap tent across the roof
a friend who claims to know the owner said that last month's payroll was a million bucks
this is all being done by Project Management by a large firm out of Providence.
here's a long shot of the shrink-wrap tent and the catwalk over the roof
View Image
and another shot of the on-site parking lot
Edited 4/5/2005 11:35 pm ET by Mike Smith
smells like the Vanderbilts are back in town.
Is the building inspector talking? The filed plans should be subject to public view, so anybody can go take a look at 'em.
I'm curious why the building inspector goes along with this. A permit provides implicit authorization for the inspector to go on site at will. Unless he's been told to lay off.
Next time you drive by, toss one of my cards through the fence. I want a piece of this action. You never know, they could need me.
Scott
it's veddy interesting...
i'm thinking the BI is doing just fine..
what i'd really like to see is how they marched it thru Coastal Resources and DEM (septic system )Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
New Federal Detention Facility for all those white collar miscreants.
People's dreams are made out of what they do all day. The same way a dog that runs rabbits will dream of rabbits. It's what you do that makes your soul, not the other way around.
- Barbara Kingsolver
what i'd really like to see is how they marched it thru Coastal Resources and DEM (septic system )
Regulations and laws only apply to regular folks, not rich folks. So while you won't be able to get a permit for a septic for your 2k sq house, the rich folks can have theirs for their 20k sq house.jt8
Don't accept your dog's admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful. -- Ann Landers
Looks like someone is building a secret evil fortress !!
You better hope yer not too close when the good guy spy finds the place, and the evil maniac pushesd the self-destruct button !!!
The person you offend today, may have been your best friend tomorrow
It is easy to be friends with someone you always agree with.
Reminds me of a scene in the movie "Caddyshack", where the rich old lady spots a Baby Ruth candy bar floating in the pool and thinks it's something else. Next thing you know they have the pool drained and two guys in space suits sanitizing everything.Some people do things differently...
yeah ...
but do ya think they paid for the proposal or went "free estimates" ?
Jeff
Buck Construction
Artistry in Carpentry
Pgh, PA
the CM firm is called Parker-Thompson.. or some such..
there are at least 5 brand new fords with the logos comming and going all day long..
i think they got paid comming and going
i think the 3 office trailers are all overhead and there 's profit on the overhead..
i think they didn't know how to define " conspicuous consumption" so they created this project to define itMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
I think it would be fascinating to see what the CM outfit is really making. Their architects are usually pretty savvy at pushing profit and overhead down when they manage the bidding, and guys working for owners like that had better drive brand new trucks even if they're three months behind on the lease payments.
A guy I knew worked south of San Francisco on a huge estate, built by a software tycoon... $100M was the number I heard. Check in at the guard gate, sign an agreement, no cameras, no radios, no eating inside, none of that riff-raff stuff.
"none of that riff-raff stuff."
what's the fun in working a project like that then? I happen to enjoy the riff-raff.
james
edited to add
and my cutomers always miss the group of "thugs" that i have working for me, I always warn then ( the cutstomers ) that they look pretty rough but are a bunch of kittens.
Edited 4/8/2005 3:36 pm ET by james
I worked at that house for a week.Had to park of site and ride in the back of a work van with 15 other tradesmen.If you didnt bring all your tools ther was no running out to your truck to get it.
They were way behind shcedule and were throwing money at it but it wasn,t working. I was assinged to the basement crew with at least 11 other carpenters ripping out framing and strapping that some other crews had already done,and doing it right. Did I mention the plumbers, electricians and HVAC people? Like I said I stayed a week and said adios.
tell me more....
the only guy i know who's been there is the BI
i know one of the guys who worked on the original house.. said it had some major flaws in the turret framing
are they changing the roof line ?
today they had a crane with a 100' boom taking the 40' trusses off the pool they enclosed so they could work all winter on it
the neighbor to the south is building a new house so he can boogey outta there tooMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
A friend who runs a steamfitting crew had to fire a guy for bringing a camera to the jobsite. Supersecret Big Bother job. Cars searched at the gate by MPs... Friend lives in West-by-God Virginia, but he couldn't tell me where it was without killing me after. Shame, he knew the guy he had to let go, and was positive he was only going to take pictures of the view...
Sounds like it might have been Camp David?
Jon Blakemore
The is the emergency govement control center near Greenbier and I think a couple of others.
Possible, but the way he described the scenery made it sound a little more pristine. I imagine that Camp David is pretty much built out. Something in the paper today about it being overrun w/ deer. Isn't Greenbriar the luxury hideaway for Congress, though now open to the public?
Edited 4/8/2005 6:27 pm ET by handymanjohn
Mike,
What's the big deal, in my neighborhood that's pretty normal. Tear down 2 or three decent (value well over a million ) nice homes and build a really big monster. Parking is often an issue so they use vans and shuttles to get to off site parking..
Two points over from mine I could show you pictures (if I could ever figure out how to post them) of exactly the same sort of thing going on..
I can't imagine things are much differant on Park avenue in New York Palm beach Florida, or in the Village in La Jolla.
Mike, I keep trying to tell you that the very wealthy are differant and thanks to recent tax breaks you can expect much more of that sort of thing!
It is a new non-union Walmart.
"this is all being done by Project Management by a large firm out of Providence."
That firm wouldn't be Gilbane, would it?
Bob
I'm guessing it's possibly Kirby Perkins if this is a residential job. Gilbane is a big commercial contractor... be surprised if they were involved in a residential project.
Shawmut is in Providence now... they'd be a long-shot guess.
there are only a very small handful of residential builders in NE who could handle a project of that size. KP does a lot of the big Newport Mansions. Great group of guys from what I hear.
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Edited 4/9/2005 7:58 am ET by homebaseboston
no.. it's a company i had never heard o f before this project...
i know all the ones you mentioned.. gilbane.. Kirby perkins..
this one is Thompson_Parkins or some such.. (the name is close.. i can't remember exactly)
you're right.. the CM company needs a a lot of controls and supervisors or this is just the fast road to hell..
it's obviously "fast-track", design/buildMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
Thompson Broulette... wow... shocking if it's them. Think this would be their biggest job by far, though they're a very reputable firm.
They may now be called Parker Thompson Broulette or Thompson Parker. I've heard Ian's Broulette is no longer with them, and (Glenn?) Parker has been a partner for a number of years now._____________________________HomeBase______________ LLC
Thompson-Parker seems like what i read on the trucksMike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore