The Site Survey

Things got started today.

I met at the site with the architect, a few of his engineers (structural, mechanical, ...) and the contractor he is recommending. The purpose of the visit was to get measurements of the space (including all the obstructions in the high ceilings), and discuss the project in more detail. The measurements will be shared with Eldorado so they can get going on the climbing wall design. It was also a chance to meet the contractor for the first time, show him the space, and get his impressions. We were discussing all the non-climbing parts of the construction (i.e. everything except the climbing structures that Eldorado will build, and the padded flooring system I'm still researching).

It was an exciting and stressful meeting. The building is old, there are no existing plans, and there are some "interesting" issues:

• the lack of adequate plumbing in the space
• the need to remove some girders from the high ceilings to open up more space for walls to go up and around in there
  
• some questions about the existing heating system
• the need for air conditioning. I am convinced I need to install it; the others were thinking about ways to avoid it. None of them have climbed to the top of a 36' wall in a hot gym in Toronto in August; I have.
• the time line is tight
• I have set aside a good chunk of change in my budget for this work, but I won't know for a few weeks how much it will really cost. The contractor did not allow me to tell him how much I have in my budget for this work, because he doesn't want that biasing his bid.

I learned a lot about industrial construction today, and it will take a little while to digest it all. And then I'll have to learn a lot more. Three years ago I acted as the general contractor for a major renovation project on my house. I gutted and redid the kitchen, took out 2 bathrooms and installed 3 new ones, replaced the furnace and A/C, redid all floors, replaced most of the windows, upgraded the plumbing, replaced every light fixture and painted the whole house. Almost all of that got done in about 2 1/2 months. I know this project is bigger than that (and a lot more expensive), but I didn't think it would be terribly more complex. I'm starting to think that it might be, because so much about industrial construction is different from residential. Good thing I really like to learn.

I'm a little anxious right now mainly because I am not busy enough yet. I've spent much of the past few weeks waiting for the loan to be approved, and now I need to wait a little more for the CAD drawings to be done, and then we get to iterate on the design of both the climbing and other areas of the gym. That should be the most creative part of the project. In the meantime I'll finish negotiating the remaining details of the lease and get that signed. And I'm sorry for being paranoid enough to probably wait until the lease is signed before going public with the fantastic location. It will be worth the wait...