TCG Blog (or Salt) November 9, 2015 @ 1:20 am
Welcome to the Blog section of our website. To start out with, I think it important to identify the raison d’etre for this blog so that readers will have an idea of what to expect when they visit. The TCG Blog will be a virtual space where insights gleaned from the job site will be shared and explained. When new materials, methods, and systems are encountered, one can expect to read about it here. I hope to share with you tips and strategies for navigating a construction project in the hope that your next project runs that much more smoothly. I will write about the importance for structured change management, how to avoid the pitfalls of scope creep, price creep, and schedules that run way out of control. (more…)
Avoiding unscrupulous contractors and storm chasers November 9, 2015 @ 12:20 am
Consumer advocates appear to make regular business chasing down unscrupulous trades people who take advantage of home owners. Often the victims of these scammers are the most vulnerable members of communities. The victims can be those recently affected by localized flooding, wind storms, ice storms, or other disasters. The media has identified a group of scam artists who follow these disasters and offer services to the home owners affected and then victimize them once more. These scam artists take a deposit and disappear, or do sub-standard work at highly inflated prices. (more…)
High River Re-build November 9, 2015 @ 12:20 am
Over the last couple of months we have joined the legion of construction professionals working at re-building in High River, Alberta. For our part, we were contracted Scotiabank to put their branch back in order. The site had been flooded with standing water eighteen inches above the floor level. This was somewhat surprising as the entire mail level sits over two feet above the street level! At the point where we were brought in to re-build, the building’s interior had been stripped back to the bare steel studs, including the walls separating the bank from the furniture store next door.
Despite the deluge of building permit applications that the town office surely has had to deal with, complicated further by the temporary facilities that the town office currently resides in, High River’s building department turned over our building permit in less than forty eight hours. Six weeks later we were pleased to turn over the re-instated Scotiabank to the bank and their clients. In a small way, the lives of the residents of High River take another step towards normalcy. A full recovery from the devastating effects of teh June 2013 floods in Southern Alberta seem impossibly far away. Yet we know, from history and from our contemporaries elsewhere, that we shall both recover and grow from the experience.
We wish better fortunes for all all of those effected by the June Floods.