In the Home Stretch for Construction

We are now in the final week of the construction project schedule. Except for those darn lights that we took forever to pick, we should be very close to finished by the end of this week.

Last week the floor preparation contractor worked all week diamond grinding and polishing the concrete floor. Below are in progress and after pictures. To no fault of the contractor, this is the first part of the final product that we are unhappy with. Turns out the concrete floor has endless amounts of cracks that radiate out from the pillars. They were filled and hidden by a year of construction dust, but became very visible once the floor contractor did their magic. Apparently the concrete contractor that was used for the original construction was subpar. So, now we're hoping that the store fixtures will cover up lots of their poor workmanship.

Today was the day for the main switchgear which was installed in the basement of the building last week to be hooked up to the main power feed from SDGE. This will provide the electricity to our store and was a very large project that required what seemed like endless involvement by SDGE (they have lots of hoops for jumping through). Fortunately our electrical contractor rocks and handled most everything.

This morning all of the power to the building, including the 100 residents, had to be shut off by SDGE to make the connection possible. I'm sure there are a few people unhappy with us today, but it's not really our fault as it is something the landlord should have installed during the original construction. Must have been handled by the concrete contractor.

Lots of other activity today, including return of the plumbing contractor to install the bath fixtures. The paving system for the outdoor Patio Living department arrived and installation will begin tomorrow (see picture below - it's an interesting erector set). HVAC contractor completed their install today, and will return later this week to fire up the system and do the air balancing. Most of the electrical work inside the store is now completed, except for hanging those darn light fixtures. The breaker panels are now installed in our service room. Yesterday the fire inspector came and gave us our final sign-off.

Tomorrow is our final day of the mentor program - it was a very informative program, but took a lot of time away from other priorities each work day. We've got stuff to do - it will be nice to start accomplishing some things again instead of having files, catalogs, emails piling up.

Looks like we will be in good shape for the store fixture installation to begin on Feb 16...if our darn light fixtures ever arrive.