Gary Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

REDMOND, WA -- Dad's Contruction Company® was honored Saturday by an overseas visitor, Christopher Mitchell. Mitchell and his wife Lisa Mitchell own the Redmond, Washington residence currently under renovation by Dad's.

 

Mitchell flew in from Copenhagen on unrelated business. This was Mitchell's first visit to the site in seven months. Both Mitchells keep track of progress through shared photos and video conferencing.

 

Gary Johnson, CEO of Dad's Construction®, and project manager Janis Gane-Johnson led Mitchell on a tour of the project. Johnson pointed out details and shared background stories about various aspects of the remodel. 

 

"It looks really different," said Mitchell.

 

Johnson and Mitchell discussed plans for completion of Phase 1 projects. 

 

Mitchell announced the possibility that both Mitchells might return to Redmond by year's end enabling them to better oversee the remodeling project's completion.

DAD’S CONSTRUCTION CO. 

is pleased to announce the 55^th birthday of its illustrious founder

& industrious chief executive officer  

GARY JOHNSON  

All employees will earn a holiday bonus! 

 You are invited to join the celebration June 18, 2007 at Red Robin Restaurant

“We measure once, cut twice”

 

It has been awhile since I last posted an update to the "Extreme Makeover-Mitchell Edition.  I guess there are two personality types: the "talkers" and the "doers". I haven’t been doing too much talkin' lately as I’ve been busy with the doin'.

I have never kept track of how long it really takes to complete a project. For this makeover project, I decided to keep a journal, recording all the steps, tasks and daily progress. Projects always take longer than planned. This is a fundamental law of projects. Many times projects become bigger during the construction phase due to unforseen factors or design changes. I heard this phenomenon is called ‘scope creep’.

To refresh my memory for my blog entry, I checked my journal this morning to review the recent accomplishments and the man-hours put into the project since I last posted an update. There has been significant progress during the last month.  It was satisfying to review all the steps on the "to do" lists that had been completed. While keeping my head down working in the trenches, I seemed to have lost sight of the achievements and lost track of the time spent on the remodeling project. My journal revealed that I had spent 21 straight 8+ hour days working on this labor of love.

I won’t list details of the individual tasks along the way, but I will say the entire master suite is becoming transformed into our interpretation of  "Traditional Northwest Zen". It will have the look and feel of brand new construction.

I am very excited about the project and the progress. Coming from a Norwegian, that's saying a lot!

Measure, cut and hang; measure cut and hang; measure cut and hang. You do it enough times and you've got a room. Twenty-four 1/2"x4'x 8' sheets of drywall were part of Wednesday's Home Depot delivery. My goal was to get all of it installed berfore Saturday. Although I have installed drywall single-handedly before, it tends to go a lot faster with a two-person crew . Imagine the chaos of one person lifting, positioning and then trying to secure a 4' x 8' sheet of drywall 8' above their head. Two installers working as a team is definitely a better plan. Both can carry and lift the drywall sheet into place. Then, one person holds the drywall sheet while the other person secures it with drywall screws. Yes, two installers were definitely needed to meet this agressive intallation schedule. Gary "Measure-and-Cut" Johnson & Randy "Screw-It-Up" Gane were this highly tuned installation team. It didn't take us long to get our work rhythm going. Time and time again I took precise measurements, made exacting cuts and like an artist sculptured each peace of drywall to an perfect fit. Time and time again Randy and I carried and positioned each sheet into place. Then, without exception, Randy would screw it up. Pure and simple, Randy was a cordless drill gun-slinger. In the blink of an eye, he drove countless drywall screws into place in a perfect nailing pattern. What a team and what a great job. Mission Accomplished. I'm going on vacation.