Last year I started a new project the biggest one yet that I have designed and managed since I started on my own five years ago.
Before I get started I would like to say that this has been my best work yet for many reasons. I overcame many obstacles like many we have to face in life but this was unique to me. I have worked in retail for almost fifteen years and eight of them have been for a prestigious Italian brand from Florence, Salvatore Ferragamo. For the past eight years they have supported me through my schooling and career as a designer by employing me when I started college and scheduling me during non design studio days, late shifts so I can sleep after an all-nighter and time-off to prepare for finals. After I graduated they continued to help me by scheduling my shifts around client meetings, site visits, and around everything else scheduling wise that come with a design-build business. Oh and they paid really well on top of that, great don’t you think? Like I said before this project started in the Fall which is the busiest time to work in retail, yet another challenge to face during this time to start a project such as this one.
So where was I? … Last fall in 2019 I started this residential remodel for an international client, who operates their family business who sells railroad track switches. The vacation home is located in a suburban neighborhood next to a golf course in sunny San Diego and they wanted to completely renovate the interior and exterior of the existing 3,362 square feet in addition to converting the existing office to a guest room, add a new bathroom, rebuild the existing terrace (I’ll talk about it later) and build a pergola all in the time frame of four months and with a budget of $220,000 dollars.
One of the challenges facing this project was the time difference and the long distance communication when presenting to the client with photographs, videos and video calls when picking interior material finishes and colors as they just aren’t the same as when they are presented in person, so all the last decisions where made by me based on prior communication and ideas presented to the client. Another challenge that I faced during this project was learning how to communicate with the client and most importantly with what tone and with a level of confidence that everything was going as planned, the last thing I wanted is that they felt that things were not going the way that they supposed to and cause them stress. To aid with our communication I suggested that I would create a weekly picture log with descriptions of the items completed each week and in addition to the Gantt Chart for them to follow the entire project timeline.
So we begin demo in mid November …
During demolition period I started to draft floor plans to knock down a load bearing wall to open up the dining area, a new bathroom, and for a new twelve foot wide patio door, and during this time I also managed to design all five bathrooms. Demolition phase is a very important phase during construction because it can be on your favor or completely against any plan you might’ve had for the space and in my case we have a few setbacks that started affecting our contingency budget. During the demolition of the load bearing wall we find out that it is also a plumbing wall something that the exiting floor plans viewed from public records didn’t show, so in order to take this wall down we had to move the plumbing about five feet to the nearest wall (it actually worked out great). The other challenges where the hidden duct work located in ceiling soffits and closets that were removed during this phase, water heater B-Vent that was hidden inside a wall, return air ducts needed to be moved, cold/hot water plumbing, electrical wiring, alarm system wiring, vacuum system ducts, all to be moved relocated or cancelled during this phase all for preparation for the building phase.
Before I move on I would like to point out that during the demolition phase we as young designers, architects or general contractor that we have the responsibility to save our environment and be conscious as to how we dispose of our trash and debris we generate during construction. I will suggest that you sell or gift what can be reused by others or call a local charity like Habitat for Humanity to collect building materials that can be reused to build homes. They have a group of contractor who’s job is to demo with care so that they can reuse the materials removed and they will grant you a tax credit for the materials donated to them.
Peralta 