Message from Doug...

What standards have you lowered in your business and life since 2006? How have you had to change your services or offerings from what they used to be? What are you doing now that you wouldn’t have done five years ago?

At Herbert Construction Company, we are constructing foundations for additions –something we worked hard to get away from between 2001 and 2006. Now, we gladly accept those projects and thank our clients for the work.

“…when it comes to right and wrong, there is still a set of standards that must endure – regardless of the economy.”

A builder friend of mine told me he installed a few mailboxes recently. In year’s past, he wouldn’t have taken on this kind of work – let alone do the work himself. Many of my Trade contractor friends have gone from doing strictly new home construction to performing in-home services for homeowners.

While we’ve modified our project standards for the types of work we’ll take on, we will not compromise our ethical standards - no matter how bad the economy gets. I believe a person can modify what they will do, as long as it is in line with their ethical and moral standards.

We recently turned down a job that was not in line with our ethical standards. It was a large house foundation along with a free-standing retaining wall. A nice, big job. We had a gap in our schedule so the timing of the job was perfect. We’d completed our CAD plan for the project and were all set to begin.

However, when we went to lay out the footings, the client insisted that we put the concrete retaining wall near the property line and dangerously close to a dirt bank. The dirt bank had already caved in at multiple places along the excavated area. More cave-ins were guaranteed. To make matters worse, boulders had been placed above the dirt bank, adding unstable overburden weight to the bank.

To put our men that close to that dirt bank would have been very, very dangerous.
So, I met him on the site and explained how dangerous the situation was. I suggested four different solutions to the problem.

He insisted that the wall be placed in the same location and I told him we’d like to help him out, but we couldn’t put it there. I explained that it would be very dangerous to our employees. I felt certain there would be more cave-ins.

In a scenario like this, the biggest danger is while we are stripping the forms after the wall has been poured. A person can get pinned between our new, immovable wall and the falling dirt bank. Our men have families they need to go home to every night. I won’t ask them to put their lives in danger.

Our client was unmoved (unlike the dirt falling from the bank). We parted ways. I imagine he was able to get a desperate concrete contractor to do the job. Overdue mortgage payments will make some men do bad things. For others, it won’t.

During these tough times, it may be tempting to cut corners or accept jobs and situations that none of us would have accepted five years ago. However, when it comes to right and wrong, there is still a set of standards that must endure – regardless of the economy.

I’d like to hear what you have to say. What projects have you taken on that you wouldn’t have done in the past? Have you had to turn down projects that weren’t in your best interest, or were out of line with your standards? Let me know what you think by dropping me an email at Doug@HerbertConstruction.com.

Note: For a  few over-the-top examples of things you just shouldn’t do, check out our International Redneck Engineering Awards on the back page.

Take care,

Recent Referrals—Thank You!

Most of our new clients come from referrals by existing clients and friends. Almost all of our clients have referred at least one person to our company. Some have referred many. We greatly appreciate the confidence placed in us through these referrals. Here are a few outstanding people that have recently referred our company:

Brad Tasker at Concrete Management Services – Flatwork Contractor, 678-910-7912

Chris Castillo at Piedmont Grading Company, Inc. – Grading Contractor, 770-560-2726

Tony Reaves at Intown Builders Group., Inc – Homebuilder, www.IntownBuildersGroup.com

All of us at Herbert Construction Company thank you for referring our company.

Featured Basement Option – Safe Rooms

A popular option that our clients choose with their foundation is a concrete safe room.

 

“A safe room is the place to go during a tornado warning or severe thunderstorm warning with high winds.  It is a fire proof and disaster proof room used to store many items.”

Safe rooms are an inexpensive way to add a special feature to your house. At times, this is one option that can convince home buyers to choose one house over another.

Safe Room Location
A safe room   is a four-sided concrete room with a concrete top (ceiling). It is most often placed in the space below the front porch. The front porch foundation walls already create an enclosed area. Instead of filling that area with backfill material, you can add this valuable space.

To create a safe room in this area, you add a door opening in the concrete wall, pour the floor with the basement slab, place a corrugated metal pan on top of the concrete walls, and pour the front porch slab on top of the metal pan.

Another great location for the safe room is below the garage slab. You may need to add one or two walls to create this room. Here, you are not bound by the size and shape of the front porch. It can even be as big as the garage itself.

Super Storage
A safe room is the place to go during a tornado warning or a severe thunderstorm warning with high winds. It is a fire proof and disaster proof room used to store many items. Some of the items that can be safely stored and secured are:

• Important paper documents
• Antiques
• Guns and ammunition
• Jewelry
• Photographs
• Electronic storage devices (computer backups)

In addition to a room for storing valuable items, here are some other uses we have seen for safe rooms:

• Wine cellar and wine tasting room
• Food storage room
• Panic room (a place to retreat during a home invasion)
• Gun display room
• Cigar room (humidor)
• Flooding Prevention

An important thing to keep in mind when storing valuables in a safe room is this: keep them off the floor.

You actually run a greater risk of a water pipe in your home leaking or bursting – causing flooding in your home – than you do of getting a direct hit from a tornado. You should always store valuables at least 8” above the floor.

Depending on your use of the space, you can store items in large plastic containers (purchased at Walmart for $5.00). These work well and don’t have to be elevated from the floor.

Larger items can be raised off the floor with wood blocks, pedestals, or even cmu blocks. If you raise a gun safe or document safe, bolt it to the vertical concrete wall behind it for added security.

Door Options
Choose a door that matches your use of the room. Here are some door options, along with their pros & cons:

Wood, hollow interior door – Poor resistance to tornados or burglars. A good framework for creating a concealed door.

Wood, solid exterior door – Decent resistance to tornados or burglars. Can be dressed up for a finer room such as a wine cellar.

Metal, hollow exterior door – Excellent resistance to tornados or burglars. This is the type you see in schools and commercial buildings. UL fire rated doors are also available. We can pour the frame right into our concrete wall. Additional dead bolts can be added. Not well suited for a wine cellar.

Metal, safe door – Superior resistance to tornados, burglars, or rampaging rhinos. This is an actual safe door similar to those used on gun safes or bank vaults.

Iron, custom entrance door – Typically very poor resistance to tornados or burglars. Mostly for decoration only. This is a custom door designed to enhance the entrance of the wine cellar. Some can be locked, which would be a good first step against burglars (or teenage sons trying to get to the wine).

Secret Door

Safe room door concealed by bookcase door.

Bookcase door opens to reveal safe room.

Bookcase door swings inside the safe room.

You may want the safe room to be hidden. You can do this by building the door into a bookshelf. We gave a builder friend an article from a carpentry magazine. From that article he made an excellent door concealed by bookshelves (see photos).

Another option is to hide the door behind a large object. It can also be accessed through a bedroom closet or seasonal coat closet…hidden by hanging clothes.

Two Critical Tips
Over the past 30 years, we’ve learned two important things about safe room design. One can save your life; the other can save you money. However, we’ve run out of space in this issue. If you’d like us to give you the two critical tips, then send us an email to Tips@HerbertConstruciton.com. We’ll email the two critical tips right back to you.

Giving Back

Our boom truck was a big hit at the charity fundraiser.

My daughter, Ella, and me with our truck at the Touch-A-Truck event.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Last month I brought my daughter, Ella, and one of our boom trucks to a charity Touch-A-Truck event. It was for the Sandy Springs United Methodist Preschool program. The fundraiser successfully raised money for their scholarship fund – for families that cannot afford preschool.

It was a beautiful day and there was a fabulous turnout of families from the community. The kids had a great time climbing in the various trucks, turning on the lights and honking the horns. This is the second time we have participated in this fun event.

International Redneck Engineering Awards

Aerial Platforms/Lifting Category

It’s time for our International Redneck Awards! The category is: Aerial Platforms/Lifting.

These are the International Redneck Awards because redneck ingenuity is universal.

The four nominees are shown here. Determine which photo displays the finest example of redneck engineering. Then, place your vote by emailing the contestant number that you think should win, to: Sales@HerbertConstruction.com

To determine the winner, the votes will be carefully and scientifically tallied using our super high tech desktop calculator.

Disclaimer: None of these photos were taken from a Herbert jobsite – though we can’t vouch for our competitors.

1
Two forklifts are better than one (reallly?).

2
Poorman’s bucket truck.

3
Don’t mind the water

4
Tractor-powered forklift.