Upon returning from the Feast of Tabernacles, we were truly excited to see the progress that’s been made on the building! The roof has been completed, and the air-conditioning units have all been installed. Throughout the building, the air-conditioning ductwork has been installed, along with the sprinkler system. Most of the preliminary wiring is complete, and we are waiting for Oncor (the power company) to install the transformer. When that is done, we will have electricity throughout the building.
Most of the inner walls have been completed as well. You can now walk around in the building and go from room to room. We were all impressed by the size of our new conference room. It will be more than double the size of our current one and should seat 40 or more people comfortably. Currently, we have trouble getting all 23 employees into the conference room for staff meetings.
Everything seems to be on schedule. There is still a lot of work left to be done: all the stone and masonry must be put on the outside of the building; glass must be installed in all the windows, doors and the main entryway; the black tile for the seven pillars in the entryway must be attached; all the interior tile and carpet must be installed; and the landscaping must be completed. All of these jobs will begin shortly. The completion of the building is scheduled for the last week of December, but because of the Christmas holidays, we anticipate that the city won’t release the final occupancy permits until after Jan. 1. That is okay with us. The lease in our current building is good until the end of January.
With only a few weeks remaining, we are getting estimates from various moving companies to relocate everything the 6 miles or so between our current building and the new one. We are also looking at some new furniture (or used furniture, depending on the best price) that will be needed in the new office. For the most part, we plan to simply pick up what we have, move to the new building and begin working right away. We will only purchase new furniture and equipment as we have need.
The video below is from the end of last week, but it gives you an idea of how far we have come just since we all left for the Feast. I hope you are enjoying watching the new building come together. We are getting close to its completion!