Events, Firm Culture
Rebuilding Together Seattle: Board & Vellum Volunteers!
Last weekend, Board & Vellum teamed up with the local branch of the WSGR law firm for Rebuilding Together Seattle's "Spring Rebuilding Day"! A long day of hard work, teamwork, matching T-shirts, a protective onesie, and, well, a cute puppy, rounded out a good time helping a local homeowner revive her house!
May 5, 2016
This past weekend, Board & Vellum was fortunate enough to participate in Rebuilding Together Seattle’s Spring Rebuilding Day. Over the course of the project, we worked with the local office of the law firm WSGR to help a local homeowner achieve some much-needed home repairs she was unable to perform on her own. This effort allowed desk-bound co-workers to prove their worth by actually constructing things in the real world.
We are very lucky to have several staff well-versed in different areas of construction here at B&V. From a general contracting role, to finish carpentry work, we were well-equipped to navigate the list of jobs that needed to be accomplished on build day. As House Capitan, my first job was to strong arm (politely ask) anyone with experience to help, and was lucky enough to have an enthusiastic response. We had a site visit, identified projects, and created a scope of work that generated a project list, which left me thankful I had people who knew what they were doing to tell me I was crazy to do some of the things that seemed simple in theory. (How come we can’t replace a door in an hour, people?!)
We arrived in the early morning in force, with supplies, and tools, and the will to finish by 3:30pm, so everyone could collect on my Drink Incentive. I can’t say enough how impressed I was with the B&V crew who showed up ready to work!
Sandler with a Puppy
We also showed up ready to snuggle puppies, a service we are always happy to oblige, free of charge.
As is common with any home improvement project, we ran into complications: the toilet valve was leaky and required replacement, the doors weren’t quite a standard height, and a guard rail we thought was only moderately damaged required a complete rebuild due to rot. An hour into the build, we were already adjusting, and sending runners to the hardware store on a bi-hourly basis!
Still, throughout the day, we managed to rebuild a guardrail, finish a retaining wall, patch a roof, kill hornets, build a gate, re-tile a bathroom, insulate a crawlspace...
...replace a garbage disposal and gas range, and hang a whole lot of doors.
Artisinal Mortise
Diane even got some hand mortised, artisanal doors out of the deal!
How Many Architects Does it Take to Flip a Door
I promise you, that’s Ryan Champagne’s elbow, not a knee.
We also managed to help Diane, our homeowner, make her home feel whole again.
As a House Capitan without a large amount of building experience, I also learned a lot about the construction process, and what it takes to complete any given task. I fought hard for replacing a door and a window but learned quickly these wern’t one day projects, so we switched gears to make sure we could get through all our projects. Flexible, creative alternatives saved the day, and we left at the end of the day tired, but happy in the knowledge we were able to complete almost every item on our list!
Participating in Spring Rebuilding day was an amazing experience, and one I hope Board & Vellum will continue to support in years to come. Coming together utilizes our collective project management and construction experience, and was a great way to expand from our design realm to the real world, for a great cause.
