All Forum Posts by: Chad Conrad

Good morning

@J. Lancaster

I am an Architect in San Diego and have a lot of experience in projects with modular construction. Matt Payne noted a project in NYC that is pretty well known. I know of two firms in the NYC area that you would want to contact that have a lot of Pre-Fab experience. See below:

Resolution 4 Architecture:

http://re4a.com/

Gluck Partners:

http://gluckplus.com/

You would do well with these two firms as they have done a lot of work in this area.

Chad Conrad, AIA

Good morning Victoria

I am also an Architect here in California. I guess it really depends on how you are going to be using the spaces. Do you have pets that could scratch the hardwood? Will you be moving furniture around frequently?

Frank is correct in the 'warmth' issue but that is directly related to what level these spaces are on. If you have a slab on grade that you are doing this on then this is something that you will need to consider. If these spaces are above a wood or metal framed floor level then the temperature difference will not be noticeable.

Personally, I really prefer stained, sealed concrete floors as they provide a rich texture to the existing concrete that you really have a hard time achieving with flooring and it wears better than any other material.

Chad Conrad

Michael -

I think it depends on how much CONTROL you want to have over the entire process. Like Daniel said above - he is correct. I am an Architect that also holds a General Contractors license here in San Diego, CA. Having a seperate contracts with each will give you more control over the design and what the vision will be for the project. if you give all of that to the GC with control over the design - you will get what makes them the most profit and you the least bang for the buck. This is my two cents but I have seen this many times here in CA. When you give the keys to the kingdom to them you often times do not get what you pay for or hoped to get quality of work or product in the end.

Chad

Paul -

Sounds like the project just got away from them based on what they originally wanted to do or had the budget for. Scope creep never happens.....;)

Good luck.

Chad

Paul -

I would have to agree with Colin in terms of what the options are. Hard to really understand what the overall issues are without much more detail but in every project you can have typically two of the following:

Scope, Schedule or Budget....

Sounds like a substantial increase in SF where the property is doubling in size. I do know that there has been an issue with finding sub contractors to perform the work as the economy is improving. So many people have left the AEC community due to the recession that this shortage may be a continuing trend.

Best of luck in completing this project but you will need to get together with the owner and decide where to cut SF and /or quailty of finishes.

Chad Conrad, AIA

Chris

Good morning. I would agree with all of the notes above as Modative has been one of the driving forces to define and explore the Small Lot Subdivision (SLSD) in Los Angeles. They have been asked many cities to assist them in writing similar planning zoning subsets - including my area here in San Diego.

A friend of mine recently worked for them but now is working for one of the developers who was a client of Modative. From what I understand there has been some push back from the public regarding the impact these SLSD have imposed on the neighbors. Not sure what has happened with that but just beware and do your own research.

Personally, I am a big fan of this zoning niche and will see it being pushed further in Los Angeles but in other parts of the country as they will want to push density higher in specific areas. I would contact Modative regarding the HOA issues as my friend Jesse told me how they get around this and it requires some specific deeding and work with the CA department of RE.

Chad Conrad, AIA

I am very curious to find out how this process works with the "double closing" with the transfer to the LLC. Would this be the same if you were doing small MF or Mixed Use properties?