The Final Build: A Builders Reflection on His Greatest Undertaking (The Beginning of a Monumental Journey)
About 7 years ago, The Final Build: A Builder’s Reflection on His Greatest Undertaking,we started what turned out to be the biggest undertaking of my life as a builder. It combined most of my skills and all of my passions over about 4 years into one pretty goodized project. I got to say, it nearly killed me, but it was worth it. And I hope you enjoy this little time-lapse overview. If you want all of the details of this whole undertaking, you can check out the series because we have over 140 videos of the whole marathon process where we documented every single step.
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Early Challenges and Mistakes
Dexter Henry is the man operating the excavator in this footage and he’s placing the basalt boulders, rip wrap as they’re called. And I’ve got to say, there’s just no one any better. The problem was through a series of communication breakdowns, part of which were my fault, we installed these things at the wrong slope, just too steep. So, we had to remove them and reset them at a shallower angle. This was mistake number one.
So, right now, if you’re thinking that there are at least twice as many guys as we need for this little footing pour, you’re right. And the reason is because of my mistake, another communication breakdown. I scheduled accidentally two place and finish crews on the same morning. And I just didn’t feel right about costing three men half a day’s pay for my mistake. So, we kept everybody and had an easy day.
On-Site Decisions and Practical Constraints(The Final Build: A Builders Reflection on His Greatest Undertaking)
Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Maybe the most common question in the whole series was why didn’t you sheet those walls on the ground? We sheet the walls on the ground. You’re saving so much labor. And yes, but there were several reasons. One of them being 10-ft ceilings, one of them being the access around the outside and the size of our crew and the considerations around putting the joists in. And so I just decided on the first floor to sheet the walls once they were standing up. You’ll see that in the second floor though, it was taken care of while they were laying on the deck. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
The Work Behind the Camera
My son and partner Nate did all of the camera and editing work on the whole series. So, he was stuck staring through a camera all day and then staring at a computer monitor and editing and clicking and moving the mouse around all night in order to crank out the videos and be ready to film what was going to be happening again the next morning. Had to do that and keep up so the content could be fresh and accurate. It was its own giant undertaking. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat.
The Toll of Time and Aging
So, I was 60 years old when we started this project and I’m 67 now. I can tell you as I watch this and as I work today that this project is going to have to be my last really serious structure. The years add up and I think I’m a lot weaker now than I was then. But boy oh boy, I’ll tell you what, even though it was a real strain for an old man, I’m sure thankful that I got to do it. Heat. Heat.
A Love for Roof Stacking
So the blessing of my work life has been the variety of things that I’ve had a chance to do and I’ve got a chance to do a lot more concrete. than roof stacking amongst everything else. But I think my favorite aspect of construction has been stacking roofs. That is cutting and installing the rafters and dealing with the trusses and putting the frosting on the cake, which is what a chopped up roof can be. I just love it. There’s math, there’s risk, there’s production, there’s fitting it. I just stacking a roof for me has been one of the sort of most fulfilling aspects of being a carpenter.
Essential Tools and Innovations
Now, I’ve worked on plenty of jobs that did not have the luxury of a reach machine, a teleahandler. But when Nate and I got this lot purchased and thought about the house plan, we realized that the size of the lot and the steepness and the location and no place to stage meant we had to have a te teleahandler. And it helped us every day in so many ways I couldn’t even make a list. But at the end of the job, if I look back, I would have to say that this old white machine definitely gets the MVP award. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. N. screaming.
Final Thoughts and Gratitude
I’ll try again. If you’re still with me and you’re watching all of these things happen in time lapse, but have questions about the details, let me just remind you that you can go to the playlist, check out the individual videos, and hear everything described in great, sometimes exhaustive actually detail. Well, that’s just about it then. And I got to tell you, it’s sort of bittersweet watching this video now. I’m just so grateful that Nate and I had this experience.
I’m so grateful for all of my subcontractors, friends really, who are so professional, so patient, so diligent, excellent craftsman to a man. Thanks, guys. The new owners, I’m happy to report, are pleased with their house, and I hope and pray that every family that ever lives here will grow and thrive and maybe appreciate a little bit the sweat that was needed to build this thing. Maybe this is part of what our old world needs a little more of. Just a little more appreciation for all of the hard work of all of the folks that came before us. Thanks for watching, Essential Craftsman, and keep up the good work. Heat. Heat. N.
