Bird Blog: Week 13
Every week, Jennifer Mankins, owner of the Bird boutiques, tells us about the new 2,500-square-foot store on Grand Street in Williamsburg that she’s getting ready to open. Up this week: Contractor Walk-throughs. For a larger set of plans, click through. Two weeks ago, Ole (architect), Mark (LEED specialist) and Stephanie met with four different general…
Every week, Jennifer Mankins, owner of the Bird boutiques, tells us about the new 2,500-square-foot store on Grand Street in Williamsburg that she’s getting ready to open. Up this week: Contractor Walk-throughs. For a larger set of plans, click through.
Two weeks ago, Ole (architect), Mark (LEED specialist) and Stephanie met with four different general contractors to walk through the space and talk about the bid process. Ole had prepared the preliminary pricing sets an initial set of design plans for the space, which include most of the materials that we have picked out. They are similar to what are called ‘bid sets’, but less detailed. The main reason we decided to do this, to go with a less detailed set of drawings, is time. While the contractors begin to look at the design aesthetic, the major building themes and materials, and become familiar with the LEED requirements, Ole and I can settle on the finer details. Plus, this first phase may actually narrow the field after reviewing the plans and learning about LEED, some contractors may not still be interested.
Because the LEED specifications are so new, three of the four potential contractors have never completed a LEED certified job, and Mark’s concern is that these contractors really don’t know what they’re in for in terms of management and paperwork. To facilitate the bidding process, Mark put together an extensive booklet outlining the LEED requirements particular to our project and specifying exactly how we wanted the bids formatted. This will make it easier to compare the different bids, and ensure that the contractors have addressed all the issues.
We scheduled the walk-throughs for an hour apart, starting at 2 pm. The first to arrive was Danny, a contractor we had previously met during the bidding process for our recent 5th Avenue store renovation in Park Slope…
Although we didn’t end up hiring him for that job, I liked his demeanor. Patient, unassuming and attentive, he listened to all of Mark’s exacting details of the bid format. He measured his words and questions carefully, admitting his lack of experience with green building, but pointing out that he was eager to get more sustainable work under his belt. There was much more to go over than the 55 minutes allowed, but I felt sure Danny would do his homework and take Mark’s suggestions to heart.
Second to arrive, casually late with a tiny paper cup of espresso in hand, was Bill, the contractor who did the demo. He is smart and confident and very familiar with the intricacies of the space at this point. I also like that he speaks fluent Spanish with his crew. I admire his sense of egalitarianism and don’t doubt he can do the job and do it beautifully, having seen examples of his work at a showroom in the city. I do, however, wonder at his ability to play by the rules, specifically the LEED rules. He bristled at Mark’s repeated insistence on going over both the LEED requirements and our bid requirements, interrupting often to debate the necessity of this or that.
Our third potential contractor, Sam, is a believer, dyed-green-in-the-wool. Having never met any of us (he was recommended to us by a blog reader), he was eager to prove his unwavering dedication to environmentally conscious building practices. He bragged about running an entire construction site on solar power and dismissed other contractors’ excuses for being late as lame, saying they wouldn’t have to worry about traffic if they just rode their bike everywhere. The work I’ve seen of his (his wife’s store/café, Get Fresh, in Park Slope) is creative and beautiful, and it’s clear that his first-hand knowledge of green building is extensive.
At the end of the long, very hot day, Evan arrived, calm, cool, and collected. He was even-keeled and very professional, and I could easily imagine working with him. He and his crew just finished a LEED certified carpet showroom in Manhattan, and he seems more than qualified. He efficiently got the information he needed from us and said he wanted to come back later with his engineer after further reviewing the plans and the bid specifics. Perfect? Maybe. Affordable? Maybe not. I guess we’ll know in a couple of weeks.
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Green has become big business. It now exists so people have something to talk about over dinner parties, blog about, or charge more for it being “green”. Like organic farming, is it really organic if the neighboring farm uses chemicals? Is it green when wood is salvaged from a brooklyn factory and trucked to North Carolina where it is re-milled – then sent back to NY? what about all the fuel that is consumed doing this? Not to mention all the exhaust that is produced. The non-green list grows… . There are plenty of people building green, just do it – no need to talk so much about it. You can give yourself the pat on the back your looking for. That would be pure green.
Seems like an overall good marketing plan. It’s generating interest. The question is will it generate revenue? Either way, kudos for getting it out there.
Curious as to why you scheduled 4 separate walk-throughs. Normally on a contracting job you invite everyone to the same walk-through so that everyone hears exactly the same thing, and each contractor learns from the questions that the other asks, and so on.
I have to second cmu’s thoughts on this. I’m not sure what the advantage is for you in pursuing a LEED certification. It’s really only a recognition from an independent 3rd party that you followed a general goal of “green” building and documented it to the degree required for the cerification. I’ve worked on a number of LEED projects and most of them are looking to attract investors or tenants. The press and PR value of the certification for a clothing store seems minimal.
In my opinion you would be better off spending the money on actually building green than getting the certification. Then make yourself a little plaque that lists all the great stuff you did and mount it on the wall. Much more informative to your customers and cheaper for you.
sorry to be a downer, but this bird blog puts me to sleep every time…. and i’m a freekin LEED accredited architect!
(Post needs a somewhere)
I’m actually fascinated that such a small project would go LEED; what’s the thinking there? As far as I know, LEED certification is expensive, requires extensive documentation and, particularly for renovations, difficult. The upside is not clear…you can get some press “first Gold-LEED store in Brooklyn Heights,” not much else.
I don’t mean to imply that “green” building is not important (it’s sort of my area, in fact,) but that the onerous LEED certification process is typically bureaucratic and probably keeps more renovations from going green than anything. US Green Building Council, the keepers of LEED, are getting some competition from the National Green Building Standards (like LEED, always plastered with the tm symbol.)
It’s the typical problem…how do you certify something without having exacting standards which require meticulous documentation (or else go the self-certify route and you know where that leads…)
Did you have a budget estimate for the LEED overage?
Why is all of brownstoner in italics??
The new Park Slope store looks really wonderful.