Your Own Personal Work

[jamesrough]

I wanna start creating a business related to machineries or even constructions..Its totally fun just like one of my cousins business is about repairing and maintaining elevators as well as escalators.. This business is so good that they have actually supplied Visayas and Luzon (Philippines)..Their name is ELEVATION SPECIALISTS INC.

it is actually a HUGE business, but it started SMALL.

[Tony]

Originally Posted by jamesrough

I wanna start creating a business related to machineries or even constructions..Its totally fun just like one of my cousins business is about repairing and maintaining elevators as well as escalators.. This business is so good that they have actually supplied Visayas and Luzon (Philippines)..Their name is ELEVATION SPECIALISTS INC.

it is actually a HUGE business, but it started SMALL.

huh?

[SLO]

true viking......

Outstanding finish out. Must be fun to work on those types of projects. Ive always done houses......which I love, but Ive been a skyscraper fan since I was a little kid, and used to always draw buildings. I'd love to do some commercial or hotel work at some point....

[SLO]

This thread is getting a little stale.

This is a house completed last year, sorry the landscape was just installed and is dormant (winter), and the photos are atrocious. Makes the colors all washout.

It was a fun project though, the developer required strict adherence to their guidelines including no modern materials. Not a huge deal; real stucco, stone, clay tile roof, wood windows, even the front drive is decomposed granite. The home is in an older 20s/30s revival type neighborhood.

The renderings were done for the client and developer prior to construction drawings....

[plinko]

^Interesting. Very Southern California-ish.

I did a Pool Pavilion recently that is quite similar to the one you posted in the 2nd to last shot. I did a fireplace inside and pulled the BBQ off to the side.

BTW, I really liked that basement wine storage you showed earlier in this thread. Any more photos of it?

[SLO]

Originally Posted by plinko

^Interesting. Very Southern California-ish.

I did a Pool Pavilion recently that is quite similar to the one you posted in the 2nd to last shot. I did a fireplace inside and pulled the BBQ off to the side.

BTW, I really liked that basement wine storage you showed earlier in this thread. Any more photos of it?

Thanks. It was intentional, they wanted Spanish revival. I tried to lead them to white stucco with the renderings, but they couldnt do it. I'll have to get some better pix this spring.

The other wine cellar was pretty cool, its actually built into the hill side, feels subterranean. Ive got just a couple shots, the game room is outside of the iron doors that go to the wine lobby, and then the next shot is the one I previously posted of the wine lobby, then the last one is just inside, the coolest part was the "tunnel" off to the left, leads to another small space.

[plinko]

^Really nice. I have a small private winery under construction right now (just the storage buildings) but I'm hoping that eventually I'll get to do a public tasting facility at the site.

[plinko]

Something a little different. Over the years I've been asked to design a number of steel awning/canopy structures at office buildings, homes and a couple of stores. Early in my career, these were the pieces (sometimes my only contribution) that I got to add to the design of the building. As I've learned over the years, sometimes they become the defining element.

Here's a few photos of some of them:

[SLO]

Very cool. I like them all. I can see how they can be the defining elements. If you have any pix of homes with them I'd love to see.
Texas is such a traditional market, but all of a sudden Ive got two projects where the clients are wanting a light contemporary.
I saw the red iron on the ground shots, are all of them just red iron and then field painted? And are any of the parts components, or are they custom fabricated every time?

[plinko]

^I've only done one other residential canopy out of steel and it was years ago. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it and the firm is now defunct so I likely never will.

My approach to these is to use standard steel sizes (bar stock, tubes, beams) and connection rods wherever possible, but the designs of all the components are always custom. My first job out of school was at a firm that did alot of these types of things on commercial buildings and so I got pretty good at detailing steel. In my experience, while a factory applied finish is desired, these things tend to be far too complicated to construct in full and then set in place. There are just too many adjustments to be done in the field with welds and fitting and whatnot. So they are usually delivered just primed and then field painted. On that last orange canopy I did for GNC the contractor (cheap bastard) really pissed me off because he had it hand painted. It looked like hell so I made him do like 4 coats. It still doesn't look right but unfortunately the owner didn't care. I'm probably the only person that will ever notice.

BTW, rolling is absurdly expensive for something like this but occasionally you can get a client to pay for it. Using a little bit of geometry by rotating flat pieces you can get pieces that appear to curve or have some fluidity though.

SLO, I'm curious...have you worked long enough yet to have one of your projects demolished?

[SLO]

Originally Posted by plinko

^I've only done one other residential canopy out of steel and it was years ago. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of it and the firm is now defunct so I likely never will.

My approach to these is to use standard steel sizes (bar stock, tubes, beams) and connection rods wherever possible, but the designs of all the components are always custom. My first job out of school was at a firm that did alot of these types of things on commercial buildings and so I got pretty good at detailing steel. In my experience, while a factory applied finish is desired, these things tend to be far too complicated to construct in full and then set in place. There are just too many adjustments to be done in the field with welds and fitting and whatnot. So they are usually delivered just primed and then field painted. On that last orange canopy I did for GNC the contractor (cheap bastard) really pissed me off because he had it hand painted. It looked like hell so I made him do like 4 coats. It still doesn't look right but unfortunately the owner didn't care. I'm probably the only person that will ever notice.

BTW, rolling is absurdly expensive for something like this but occasionally you can get a client to pay for it. Using a little bit of geometry by rotating flat pieces you can get pieces that appear to curve or have some fluidity though.

SLO, I'm curious...have you worked long enough yet to have one of your projects demolished?

Good stuff, that makes sense. Information like that is invaluable, you can only learn it having done it at least once. I wondered about finishing, sometimes seeing aluminum or what looks like stainless steel, I guess those may be different. I love rolled steel, the only steel Ive had rolled is lintels for cast stone, wide eyebrows or elliptical arches. I'll have to scan a picture for you sometime, the detail was from the cast stone mfr, but basically we rolled steel angle iron installed it and bolted the cast stone from the top, hiding it with the finished masonry. The result is hidden steel and no linear seems in the cast stone. I thought it was a cool detail.

I dont know of any projects demolished that Ive done. Remodels, for sure, but no demolitions that I know of. Why, have you had that happen recently?

[plinko]

Yeah, but it was small. I did a facade remodel in 2002 for a large store in a big strip mall. Put on a slick roof entry structure (which amazingly I have no finished pictures of) built out of steel, wood and concrete columns. It wasn't super special, but the landlord really loved it.

Two years later I went to go photograph it (it was about 150 miles away) and it was gone! They had sold the shopping center and begun an overall upgrade of the entire facility.

It's just a weird thing because I figured that the things that I do would stand at least 30 years before somebody took them down.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by plinko

Yeah, but it was small. I did a facade remodel in 2002 for a large store in a big strip mall. Put on a slick roof entry structure (which amazingly I have no finished pictures of) built out of steel, wood and concrete columns. It wasn't super special, but the landlord really loved it.

Two years later I went to go photograph it (it was about 150 miles away) and it was gone! They had sold the shopping center and begun an overall upgrade of the entire facility.

It's just a weird thing because I figured that the things that I do would stand at least 30 years before somebody took them down.

That would be crazy. Probably more common in the commercial world.

The one awning that is steel and glass....what is that exactly? Is it a tempered glass?

[plinko]

It's not glass! It's actually a UV reflective screen. I had it ordered from this company out of Colorado.

The rest of the structure is just small tubes and channels.

[plinko]

I have a project under construction right now that will eventually be a working ranch, with grapes, orchards, hay, cattle and possibly horses. Currently under construction are three really nice agricultural buildings (a workshop, a utility structure, and a huge barn) along with a 3.5 acre reservoir for frost protection (but also for recreation). At one point I designed a 4-module worker house and a 12,000SF main house for the site, but those won't be built. The owner ended up buying the property next door with a house already under construction. There will be worker housing later.

This project was a great deal of fun in that Ag buildings are a totally different typology than I usually work on and designing a lake (especially of that size) is a totally unique opportunity.

The current master plan:


An overview of the site:




the 5,000sf barn will be used for wine storage and an office for the site:


the 2,800sf workshop will be filled with all sorts of fun equipment and vehicles:


we clad everything in clear sealed cedar, which will weather really nicely:








designing the trusses was challenging but worth it for the final result:








it's not an outhouse, it actually houses the well pumps:




white sand beach? Why not?




this is the view from the main house:


I can't wait until the landscaping is all in and the buildings are 100% completed. This site is just gorgeous.

[tele75]

Awesome!

[Swinefeld]

Really nice, Plinko. Beautiful photographs too. Taken by you?

[Illithid Dude]

I love the wood cladding, Plinko. Really great stuff.

[SLO]

Originally Posted by plinko

I have a project under construction right now that will eventually be a working ranch, with grapes, orchards, hay, cattle and possibly horses. Currently under construction are three really nice agricultural buildings (a workshop, a utility structure, and a huge barn) along with a 3.5 acre reservoir for frost protection (but also for recreation). At one point I designed a 4-module worker house and a 12,000SF main house for the site, but those won't be built. The owner ended up buying the property next door with a house already under construction. There will be worker housing later.

This project was a great deal of fun in that Ag buildings are a totally different typology than I usually work on and designing a lake (especially of that size) is a totally unique opportunity.


I can't wait until the landscaping is all in and the buildings are 100% completed. This site is just gorgeous.

Very nice, I like the smooth cut cedar. And it looks like you had very good carpenters on the job.
What feeds the lake? They do those here a lot, they are usually fed with groundwater runoff and or wells. Of course there is more water here.
Great job, I recently did my first barn. I'll post pix soon, my customer wanted a traditional red barn after driving through the mid west last summer....

[Jasoncw]

Yeah, it looks like a fun project.

It's a shame they bought the house next door though.