Friday, April 25, 2014

Real estate class at UT Arlington III

We went at Texas Orthopedic Specialists at Bedford, Texas for site visiting on construction industries. As 5 million project, Ridgement Company is doing design built for owner. They build two story building with steel beam and column structure with eight month construction periods. The imported stone wall material is looking impressive for the visitors. As called Turn Key, design construction contract is that owner contracts a single firm for both design and construction. The construction company hires local architect and has responsibility of financing, design and construction of the project and hand over to the owner as ready for occupancy. The benefit is saving both time and cost for the owner, but single company should have all responsibility of the project. At the second floor, we have the chance to see the material and structure in more detail. For hospitality usage purpose, this building has more advance ventilation system and safe structural method like steel beam and column. When finishing the construction process during final communication, contractor makes the request for information to make clear of omission and error of drawings. The daily report helps keep the date, on-site activities and important information. Finally, the request for payment that contains schedule of values, lien wavers, clear indication of retainage and any approved charge to contract.
Other site visiting, We went to sprouts farmers market job site at Hebron in North Dallas. With tilt up wall prefabricated system, they save time and materials at field. As reinforced concrete wall, they precast on the ground floor slab of the building and lift with a crane to its position. Since the connections of tilted up walls buildings are critical, embeds in panel and slab-on-ground are connected together through weld plates. Then we went to single family houses at Highland Park. With concrete and steel materials, the house was made with flexible custom design with the pool at second floor. In the living area, transparent glass makes outdoor yard as part of indoor space. However, many segmented spaces make people feel restricted and confused to find directions.