Building Update – July 6, 2018

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Officially, we held our 18th meeting with Highland Builders on Thursday, July 5. This is the 18th meeting since we signed a contract with Highland in December of 2017. We spent most of the previous year purchasing land and working on the floor plan for a potential office building. I can’t even tell you how many internal meetings we had during those days. 

After months of work and multiple meetings, we are beginning to see real visible progress. This week the concrete for the driveways and parking areas was poured. We now have a concrete foundation, two driveways and most of the parking completed. Very soon now we will begin to see the steel structure go up. From the beginning, we determined to build a modest, but functional office that will serve the needs of the Church for many years to come. Our total square footage will be 17,000, with plans for expansion when needed.

The major news this week is the weather. We are well into the heat of the summer. Unfortunately, temperatures in the 100-degree range can have an adverse effect when pouring new concrete. Most companies will not pour when the temperature exceeds 95 degrees because of the potential difficulties with the end product. When the temperature is this hot in North Texas, concrete is poured at night or early in the morning. The city of McKinney will not allow us to pour at night, so we must do all the pouring early in the morning before the temperature exceeds the 95-degree mark. This has caused some delay.

If the city had not delayed us more than two months at the beginning of the project, we would have been at the stage for pouring concrete in March and April, instead of June and July, and would have avoided the extreme heat. But we are all very happy to see the concrete in place and the building taking shape. We can’t wait for the steel to go up. Current plans are for the remainder of the steel to be delivered by July 16, and the construction of the actual building to begin on that day.

Current plans also call for the building to be completely enclosed by the first week of September. After that, it will be the interior finish work, and then sometime around the first of the year, occupancy! Of course, there can still be delays along the way. We must pass at least two more city inspections (fire and final occupancy) before we can move in. If we can catch a break and get everything working well together, we could still finish the building before the end of the year. But as things currently stand, the date we are looking at is the first week of January 2019. That will be a truly great day!

Please be sure to take a look at the attached video. Kelly Cunningham is doing a great job chronicling what is going on at the building site. In this edition, he has drone footage and an interview with the project superintendent, Kelly Bradbury. I believe you will find it very interesting.

Our next update will be in two weeks, after our 19th meeting!