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As published in the North Bay Business Journal, Feb. 21, 2005: Sonoma Country Day School As commercial construction projects go, schools are special. First, they involve elaborate infrastructure and a high degree of finish work in virtually every room. Second, they require great attention to details of building safety and reliability. Finally, they have to be scheduled around the school year, and planned so they have little or no impact on classes. All those were challenges to be met when Jim Murphy & Associates took on construction of the brand new building for the Sonoma Country Day School at its north Santa Rosa site. "We knew we had to be finished in time for 250-plus kids to start school in September 2000," remembers Dave Bartle, who was project superintendent for the job. The school had already given up its lease on space at the Luther Burbank Center, so delays were not going to be possible. But school, as they say, is for learning. And this project proved to be a learning experience for the JMA team. Work began in spring 1999. A month into the job, a problem with project-stopping potential was found: The anchor bolts for a column that supported the theatre balcony and roof were located in the wrong position. "Think of this as a three-dimensional box," advises Dave. "Except that this box was going to have the supporting columns going upward in the wrong place." A subcontractor's error in measurement meant that the pieces of the box were just not going to fit together. Fixing the misplaced bolts would have been easy if they hadn't been in a 12ft x 12ft x 3ft block of concrete. The JMA team knows that errors happen on any job - and that taking responsibility for fixing problems caused by errors is what separates good contractors from the rest. With the client's needs in mind, the JMA team worked with the subcontractor to solve the problem quickly. It didn't make sense to demolish the foundation and start over. They had to stay on schedule. After a little creative brainstorming, the JMA team decided to move the footing 8 inches, retaining the anchor bolts holding the columns in place but repositioning them for the proper fit and support. They excavated three sides around the footing, and then placed steel shoring plates against the excavation to resist pressure from portable jacks that would push the concrete into the correct location. Then JMA brought in a crane. The crane lifted the 65,000 pound (yes, 32-and-a-half tons) foundation slightly, easing the load, while the jacks pushed against the concrete, moving the entire foundation eight inches. The anchor bolts were now in the correct position for the columns. Once the foundation was in its new location, concrete was poured into the remaining holes surrounding it to ensure a solid footing. The JMA solution had the support of the project architect, soils engineer, and the structural engineer - and, of course, the concrete subcontractor, who was saved the money and hassle of having to redo the foundation work. "We worked together on this solution, and we continue to work together today," reports Steve Ronchelli, who was project manager for the job. "We're only as good as the teams we put together. We've had a long relationship with this subcontractor, and it just didn't make sense to point a finger at anybody." With a properly aligned support system, construction continued. And the school was ready for occupancy when the kids arrived the following September. Well, most of the school. "We continued working in the 750-seat theatre for another three weeks after school started," remembers Steve. "Once we were done, the Jackson Theatre, as it's named, turned out to be a beautiful space, with professional-grade theatrical sound and lighting systems, that is used for many community purposes as well as school events." Quality workmanship is featured everywhere at Sonoma Country Day School. Its classical architecture is matched by high-end finishes throughout the building. The main entry has soaring ceilings and marble floors. Solid wood adorns the walls and ceiling of the reading room adjacent to the library. The final campus, including a gymnasium that JMA came back to construct a year later, is more than 77,000 square feet, with 16 acres of landscaping and site development (parking, play areas, athletic fields, and outbuildings). Quality work, dealing with a problem head-on, and devising a creative solution delivered maximum value for the client. The JMA team proved once again that advocacy on behalf of clients is a role that fits like a glove for Jim Murphy & Associates.
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