Weekend Crews at McDonald's

The steel erectors & masons were hard at work on Saturday. I played hookey, while Woody went on in to check on the progress. The masons are making great headway. The trellis work will be complete by Monday.

Weekend starts NOW....

It's Friday and it's already after 7pm. We've had a busy day. The steel erectors are installing the trellis. They will return to finish tomorrow. The masons are packing up to leave now. They, too, will be back tomorrow. Woody is exhausted & we've had to change our evening plans. It's been a productive week. But we have at least three to four crews that need to work this weekend so that we are ready for decor and kitchen equipment Monday & Tuesday. Right now we're absolutely starved...so we're off to dinner. Tomorrow Woody will meet the crews out here and get some work done before we head out to see SPEED RACER on the IMAX screen! Yippie!!!

TROOP 713 Visits McDonald's on Belt Line, Irving

Going from job to job, we seldom have the opportunity to see young people. It was exciting and refreshing to have Cub Scout Troop 713 tour our job site. The boys are working on earning another badge. They had a floor plan of our building and we gave them an inspection card. Ted Young, our Senior Project Manager, brought hard hats for our young inspectors. Woody enjoyed the opportunity to show them around the building and give them some construction information. The funniest part of the session for me was hearing one of the boys question Woody. What was funny is that while others were curious about placement of tables, grills, and why things were being done certain ways, this particular boy asked the more important question: "HOW MUCH DO YOU GET PAID?" Very interesting that this youngster was curious to know how much the position paid. Perhaps he's already thinking ahead, no need to get to excited about a position that may not pay what he wants to earn! It was just wonderful. Ted Young questioned them about various construction terms. It was a real treat and a great way to wind down our day. THANK YOU TROOP 713!

McDonald's: Full House & It was HOT!!!

Electricians are installing switches and outlets. Verizon pulled in phone lines. Ceiling tiles are being installed. Electricians can lights are installed in dining area. Toilets were set in restrooms. The stone work is coming along. The bollards were set around the fire hydant. And the CT can has been installed. WHEW! It's Friday, and we have crews working all weekend.

McDonald's inspected by City of Irving

Above tile in crew room, beverage center with crewman installing ceiling tile, lights in dining room. Today, the city came to do what we call a cover up inspection and a gas inspection. Both went well. We now have the ok to install the ceiling tiles in all areas except the kitchen. We have also been given the go ahead for having the gas meter delivered. Excellent! The masons have been doing stone work. It looks really great. When they complete the brick work it always looks so good, hard to imagine why it would be covered. But when the stone goes on the effect is just awesome. The concrete crew was able to come by and pour the piers for the menu boards in the drive thru area. The electricians continue to make excellent progress, but they got started late in the beginning so they are still trying to get on schedule. They are doing good work, however. The tile crew came in for a while today to finish up some work in the crew room and do some finishes. They should be back to finish all tomorrow. Finally, we have one crew still working inside this afternoon installing ceiling tile! Below pics of the stone work in progress.

22 Days til McDonald's OPENS @ Belt Line & 635

Excellent day! Plumbers finished gas lines to water heater, electricians finished lights in dining room, masons skim coated the arcade wall for stone application, and decor sent two men out to core drill the dining area!!! The day was cloudy, overcast, and it did rain, but work was able to progress. For the first time in several days, the tile crew did not come in. They are scheduled to return tomorrow. Of course the rain has delayed the pattern concrete drive thru to be poured. Woody is trying to schedule this now for Friday. Tomorrow the City of Irving should be out to do the electrical cover up inspection and the gas inspection. Later in the week we should also be scheduling a plumbing inspection and CT can inspection. So we are midweek and so far scheduled work is progressing. We have two weeks left to complete all contracted work.

McDonald's NOW HIRING All Shifts

Woody is now flying the flag that Vincent brought him. The pole wasn't tall enough to continue flying both the American flag that Woody usually flies and the McDonald's flag. So for now he'll be flying the McDonald's flag. Woody also temporarily had the McDonald's hiring sign mounted. He'll move it to another location once the stone work is complete. Applications for employment can be taken from a temporary box he's assembled onsite for anyone interested. We are now two weeks away from turning over the project. It's about now that we start getting a lot of inquiries about employment. Thank you Vincent for providing the banner & flag! For those of you inquiring about website for application try the following: http://www.mctexas.com/ . Good LUCK!

Rainfall delays progress at McDonald's, Irving

Rainfall today delayed the stone work, but the tile crew was able to continue tiling in the building. They are starting the work in the crew room & continuing the work on the beverage bar. The crew room will be an identical match to the dining area. The electricians were also able to continue their work in the building. Rick Mathews of McDonald's stopped in for his site inspection. McDonald's had scheduled a crew to come drill for decor in the dining area. They did stop by but didn't stay to work. Forecast is calling for storms tomorrow as well. This could further delay pouring the drive thru area and setting the stone.

OSHA INSPECTS JOB SITE

MONDAY! What a day! The crews all took a day off yesterday. We'd worked seven days a week for a few weeks, so we had finally managed a break. Today, however, started busy and never let up. We had many visitors today & an unscheduled inspection from OSHA. Our Project Manager, Michael Sawyers came by to do a site inspection this morning. Overall, he was pleased with the progress. Steel erector stopped by to check progress and schedule his crew for next week. The freezer/cooler also arrived in the morning. Crews working were the electricians, plumbers, masons, and tile setters. While the OSHA inspector was here the McDonald's Operator for this site, Julie, stopped in to meet with the landscaper. They are pictured here with Woody. Shortly after they departed Vincent, also with McDonald's, brought another McDonald's manager to inspect the site. Vincent brought a banner that we will place on the building to attract potential employees.The landscaper will start irrigation work on Monday. The tile crew started the beverage bar area, while the masons prepared the arcade wall for the stone application. The plumbers were able to set the water heater and the electricians continued pulling wire and setting lights. BUSY DAY.

McDonald's: CLEANING HOUSE

I tease Woody a lot about how he exhausts his "FINGER" daily just pointing at what needs doing. He's also a walking, talking billboard for Parkway Construction. But to be fair Woody knows that it takes more than giving orders. As the pictures reflect, Woody is not above getting down and doing some manual labor. And the results are excellent...

NOTICES POSTED at McDonald's 635/Belt Line

With just a few weeks to go, we posted signs at 14 locations through out the building. Woody first made sure that the HARD HAT requirment notices were still in place. We made necessary repairs and adjustments to those notices. Then we posted approximately 12 NO SMOKING signs. We posted about 6 signs stating inspection deadlines and another 6 signs reminding crews to CLEAN UP after themselves daily to prevent accumulation of construction debris. This Saturday is a relatively light duty day. Aside from posting notices, the plumbers came in to repair the sewer line the concrete crew broke yesterday. These things happen and while it can sometimes cause a delay in progress, the plumbers cooperation has been a blessing. Of course there is no delay due to this breakage considering that Rick Mathews came out again yesterday and made changes in the drive thru area for at least the third time. These changes will again delay the progression in the drive thru area. The masons also came to work today. They are working on the trash enclosure. I've shown some pictures here of the notices we posted as well as the trash enclosure work.

FRIDAY! Crews Continue Construction @ McDonald's

As a Superintendent, Woody's greatest task is making sure the job stays on schedule. He must organize and schedule tasks so that they can be completed in a timely manner. It also is important that the work is per plan and that the work is top quality. Although the electricians are a little behind schedule they should be able to get on track next week. The plumbers are running on schedule. The the hvac crew, tiling crew and masons are also progressing on schedule. The painting crew, which is also hanging the wallpaper, should arrive next week and be able to get back on schedule in no time. That leaves the concrete company. We are still needing to pour the drive thru area. This will be stamped concrete. The pattern and colors have finally been selected and agreed upon. The engineering rep came out with Rick Mathews of McDonald's to lay out the drive thru. Then Rick returned and made changes. But today before we could continue with the drive thru, Rick stopped by to make another change. This will hopefully be the final change. But for now we will be delayed in further work on the drive thru this week. We will reschedule for next week, but forecasted rain may prevent progress. Michael, the Project Manager, will be on site early next week. We'll spend the remainder of the weekend preparing for his inspection.

McDonald's Sets Opening for May 27th!

Today we begin our final month of our project. Before the month ends they should be flipping burgers and serving those delicious ice coffees to their customers. On the construction end of this, we are doing all we can do to complete our scheduling of construction to finish smoothly as equipment and decor crews will soon be on location. Today Rick Mathews, McDonald's ACM, stopped in to review the progress, lay out final changes for the drive through, and confirm pattern concrete design and color. Overall, we had a good visit and construction continues on schedule. It's been very windy and possibilty for rain tonight or tomorrow. The masons are almost finished with the south side wall and will be able to do the stone work. The stone veneer finally arrived today. The tiling work continued in the restrooms and grouting in the kitchen. Early this morning the excavating crew came out and did some grade work on the east side of the lot. Then the concrete company sent a crew to finish the form work for the sidewalk. Later in the afternoon they were able to pour the east side sidewalk. It's hard to believe the week is almost gone. Wallpaper arrived and will be hung either this weekend or Monday. Trellis work is scheduled for next week along with landscaping work. The picture on the left is of Mr Rick Mathews of McDonald's. The picture at far right bottom shows the advancement the masons have made on the south wall. The other two pictures are of the east lot sidewalk.