Building Update – January 11, 2019

< Back to Office Project Page

I wish I had better news for this week’s update. We hold regular meetings with Highland Builders every two weeks on Thursday morning. This Thursday, Jan. 10, we held our 31st meeting. The building superintendent for our project informed us that there have been some additional delays. This was not the news we had hoped to hear. He recounted the weather delays that began last fall and have continued into the new year. We lost 16 workdays in September and October because of more than 30 inches of rain—the wettest September and October on record for the North Texas area. This pattern got better in December, but it was still very wet. Since Dec. 1, we have lost an additional six workdays due to rain. And it wasn’t just the days lost due to rain, additional time was lost because of the wetness of the ground. All in all, we have seen more than a month of delays since we began the project last year.

The good news is that we are getting really close to the completion date. In our contract with Highland Builders there is a definite date for completion, but that date is movable if there are delays beyond the control of the builder, such as the weather. The contract date is important because of a financial penalty the builder must pay if the project goes beyond that date. With the latest delays, our new contract date is Feb. 19. Highland feels confident they will meet this date barring any additional weather delays, but in reality the weather is less of a factor now that the building has been closed in. We now hope to move in between Feb. 15 and Feb. 19. And since our landlord requires that we pay for a full month at a time, we have an additional 10 days’ latitude for the move. Our goal now is to be fully operational in the new building by March 1.

While it is disappointing each time we deal with a delay, we are doing just fine. We can continue operating from our current office through the month of February if needed. Our landlord was gracious enough to allow us to extend our current lease by one more month. Originally, we were due to be out by Jan. 31. Now that date has been moved to Feb. 28. This means that the video studio will be shut down at the end of January. We must disassemble everything—green screen, equipment, stage and lights—and reassemble it all in the new building. In order to make this work, we will cease all recording during the first three weeks of February. We hope to begin recording again with In Accord on Feb. 28. That should be exciting—our first video effort from our new studio!

We are learning a lot about patience with this project, but that has not dampened our enthusiasm. Each week when I go by the building—or when I drive home in the evening and view it from the freeway—I get excited.

I hope that over time many of you will be able to visit us here in the Dallas area and take a look at the building. It is an office building, not a place of worship. It isn’t ostentatious, but it has many beautiful, high-quality features. After almost three years of planning, we are ready to move in! Please view the drone footage from this week to get a good overview of what has been done.

Jim Franks