One of our previous customers, M/M "W", called on us to make another addition to the home we built for them just 2 years ago. They're bringing in "mom", but I don't think they want her right on top of them, so they bought the lot next door and are building her her own quarters.
"Quarters"? It's a good sized house all by itself.
It was about a month ago that we began construction, drilling 33 piers (steel reinforced concrete shafts that go down to bedrock) to support the foundation.
Then we put in all the PVC drain pipes and copper water lines, inspected it, and covered it with a moisture membrane.
After the foundation set-up was then inspected and approved by the design engineer we brought in the concrete pumper truck and things got interesting.
This is how the concrete comes out the other end of the hydraulic pump 60' away from the truck.
It's kinda cool to watch as it slowly oozes down into the deep beams, rather like molten lava flowing downhill.
After the concrete had cured for a week and the cables had been tensioned (stretched), the carpenters began framing. This is where we were as of yesterday.
It's funny how a home seems to grow larger in size as work progresses. The slab frankly isn't very impressive, but when framing starts and you can get a sense of perspective, it blossoms. From this angle it seems to stretch for a city block. (That's the existing home we're tying in to.)
My job in all this? I walk around with a clipboard and a set of blueprints under my arm. Occasionally I unroll the plans (making sure I have them turned right-side-up....appearance is everything, you know) and look critically at something, then roll them back up.
I also walk around, nod, smile, and say "Hola" a lot. They call me "patron", which I think means "the one who brings the donuts".
I think I have the work / retire ratio just about right. When either starts getting a bit tedious I switch over to the other for a while. Right now the work is good. Maybe in a few weeks / months I'll retire again for a while. One nice thing about working....you learn to appreciate weekends again.
Speaking of weekends, have a great one all you fellow working stiffs. :)
S
