Back at it.

Three weeks have gone by since I promised that I would post every week but this project had some hiccups. We haven't even started building yet, only begun digging. So far we have over excavated, ground up the rocks and cleaned up the dirt. Some pictures below show the grinding. We will then throw back the mounds of dirt into the big "hole" and compact it for the foundation. Thats what we've done so far, not too much but important. After all, the building will stand on this dirt and its very important that it doesn't fall.

We ran into a small"complication" that has now been somewhat resolved. The sad part is that we ran into this"complication" because there are some folks who have nothing better to do but stir things up. (A phone call and hearsay does a handful of damage.) We call these people "NIMBYs" or  not in my backyard. These people love development so as long as it isn't in their backyard. 

Things are moving forward now and thats whats important. I have been running around from various LA County departments trying to push things, yes thats my job, pester people for approvals. LA County departments are scattered throughout the County and my poor baby is feeling it. My Mazda 3 is about to breakdown so I was thinking of getting a Prius sometime in the near future. I'm past the "I'm going to have a Porsche by the age of 23" days...I'm 25 and I have a beat up Mazda 3 and thats okay! I'm not saying I wouldn't happily take the keys of a Porsche if someone were to hand them to me. That will never happen though and I'm not strung up on it, as there are more important things in life, like donuts, friends and family! Love them donuts, friends and family. Well also important, this school!

We have many more unforeseen challenges ahead of us ( thats the nerd in me writing) but we will take them as we go! Below are some pictures of all that has happened, which isn't much, but we will be back a it tomorrow. Like I mentioned earlier, the mounds of dirt you see in the panorama will be thrown back into the pit and compacted and ready for the foundation. These mounds of dirt are probably 10+ feet high, photography tricks the eye.

Enjoy the pictures and thanks for reading!

Panorama 10.2.13

Teamwork: Just grinding some rock.

Chompin away.

Machinery.

One jumbo sized Caterpillar.

I always try to take pictures from different points of view, makes things more interesting!

I want to make this blog personal too so here are my notebooks.

Saving the best picture for last!

-BG

Introduction: Why Blog?

Epic Intro:
I never really appreciated what goes into building something, whether it be a bench, house, school, or skyscraper for that matter. I've never really been one to build things with my own hands, except for Legos or a popsicle stick house in elementary school. The way I see it there are really only two steps when it comes to building something successfully: Planning it and physically building it. Without planning you will have crappy results...for the most part. I'm sure an unplanned child is a blessing to many, anyways...simply put, this blog will follow the construction of a charter high school in Huntington Park.

What I would like to do with this blog is showcase the construction of the project on a weekly basis and give status updates so the reader can see what goes on behind the scenes when building a school. We have passed the predevelopment phase so this will solely be construction. This blog will also allow me have fun with photography, which is something I really enjoying doing. I promise it wont have boring detail just the fun stuff.

Boring Mini Bio:
Not to bore anyone, but I will give some background as to who I am and what my background is and more importantly why I am doing this blog. Throughout my life I have wanted "to be" many different things. In elementary I wanted to be an astronaut, in middle school I wanted to be a drummer, in high school I didn't know what I wanted to be and in college I wanted to be a photographer. I soon realized i was scared of heights and didn't want to get launched into space. I soon realized I must own a drum set to be a drummer. I soon realized that doing nothing really doesn't work out. Lastly I realized that I had bills to pay and I would have to get a job and taking pictures of flowers and my dog wasn't going to be sufficient. I sound pessimistic but i'm really an optimistic person and will definitely start off as an optimist for this project. I just hope I stay optimistic and will put one of my favorite song lines to the test: "Isn't it funny how ones compassion diminishes when his or her own perils rise?" - The Devil Wears Prada ( the band not the movie...)

Long story short, I was recruited my my brother years ago to file binders for a non-profit organization that developed charter schools in Los Angeles for charter school operators. Since then I have gained some knowledge of what it takes to build a charter school and I now have a charter school project which I am managing for a charter school organization. I feel lucky and blessed to know that my boss fully trusts me in taking the lead in managing this project and seeing it be completed come June 2014. I never saw myself building schools and I have never really had the pleasure of building one myself so I can bluntly say I am taking a lot of pride with this one.

Project Information:
Here is some project information along with some renderings and a panorama of the empty lot.

Location: Huntington Park, CA
Type of School: Public Charter High School
Number of Students: 960
Number of Classrooms:18
Size of Property: 34,000 sq. ft.
Previous use of Property: Car Repair Shop
Completion of School: June 2014

Empty lot prior to grading

Thanks for reading and I will post another update soon since this one should have been last week. We have started tearing the asphalt and concrete apart since last week so I will edit my photos and add them in my next post.

-BG