Leg Up Farm
The job meetings for this project started with this quote- “This project is about the children who will enter these doors”. The building is the 3rd phase of a complex that is built specifically for the use of special needs children. Smucker Company has been fortunate to be a part of this phase and the previous phases of this project. It’s very gratifying to witness 1st hand the impact this project has, and will have for years to come, on these children and their families.
Because this is the 3rd phase addition onto an existing building, there were additional challenges that were created by working around the children, their families and the staff of Leg Up Farm. All of our employees had to check-in on a daily basis to ensure that the GC, Hogg Construction always knew who was on the jobsite. All of the workers also had to have State Police and Child Abuse background checks. Our workers had to be vigilant and aware of vehicles and children in the parking area and around the site. To the credit of Leg Up Farm and Hogg Construction, the ongoing safety of the children was of utmost importance and was very well monitored at all times.
- Client: Leg Up Farm
- Location: Mount Wolf, PA
- Project Type: Specialty Projects
The schedule also created a challenge for us. Our work was completed on a very tight time frame to ensure that the building would be ready for occupancy in August, 2013, just in time for the fall school year. One particular challenging area with schedule was the indoor therapeutic pool. Our exterior walls supported the roof trusses and the roof needed to be installed before the therapeutic pool was complete. We built three sides of the therapeutic pool area and then created temporary supports for the roof trusses so the 4th side could be left open for access for the construction of the therapeutic pool. All the interior finishes were completed by all the trades before we were able to close in the 4th side. After the therapeutic pool construction was completed, we built the 4th side load-bearing wall, removed the temporary supports and then all the other trades completed their work.
In the 2-story classroom section of the building, we built the 1st floor bearing walls and braced with temporary structural bracing. The tube steel, bar joists and the floor for the 2nd floor were then installed before we could proceed with the load bearing walls on the 2nd floor. The process was then repeated for the 2nd floor walls, which were used the support the roof trusses. This step by step process was a scheduling challenge because we had to stop and start based on when the other trades completed their work. Hogg Construction was able to coordinate all the trade efficiently and the job was completed on time.
Another challenge for our workers was working outside in the extreme heat of a very hot summer. Our Job Foreman, George Green, was constantly monitoring the temperature to make sure our workers had the proper hydration for these extreme working conditions.
George Green was also able to pair up some of our experienced framers with some inexperienced framers and we had very valuable one to one craft training happening daily on this project.
Smucker Company is happy that we were able to overcome all of the challenges and obstacles of this project and still not compromise quality or safety. We are thrilled that we had the opportunity to be a part of such a memorable project and to help build a building that will impact so many lives in the future.