Western Construction Group’s home office had a Friday field trip this summer to visit a St. Louis branch project site.
The purpose of this field trip was not only to give employees a morale boost with this fun, end-of the-week excursion, but also give them a first-hand look at the masonry restoration services we provide to our clients.
Once everyone was outfitted with the proper safety gear, hard hats, proper foot wear and protective eye-goggles, we were off to the bus.
The “Freedom Place” project site near the Central West End in St. Louis was an abandoned building that is currently being renovated into a residential community for veterans.
Our Western Specialty Contractors’ St. Louis Masonry division was called in to work for HBD Construction Inc. to help bring this building back to life.
Department Manager, Jason Holtman was the on-site tour guide, conducting the walk through, describing the details in the scopes of work, and answering our questions.
Holtman went into detail describing to us the many different restoration challenges the branch was tasked to complete. Some of the main tasks were:
1. Clean all exterior elevations: Using a special cleaning detergent, Western will clean all the brick, terra cotta and concrete removing dirt, debris and graffiti from the walls.
2. Tuckpointing/Brick Replacement: 100% of the exterior joint, brick and terra cotta needed tuckpointing, and 3,000 bricks will be replaced with new or salvaged bricks.
3. Apply Clear Water Repellant: After the bricks and terra cotta are cleaned and replaced, Western will apply a protective breathable water repellant to prevent premature masonry deterioration.
4. Wall Repairs: Western will rebuild and repair 24 damaged walls on multiple floors of the building.
5. GFRC Installation: Western replaced over 100 missing or damaged terra cotta pieces with replica GFRC. New baluster posts and caps, totaling over 40 pieces were also installed.
Everyone from the Home Office was very excited to have this in-depth look at the operations side of the coin. Each Home Office department provides our field operations with support resources to help them deliver the best service to our customers. This opportunity to have a better understanding of the field’s daily operations helps us to assist them more efficiently.
If you’d like to speak to a St. Louis Masonry Branch representative about a building project or estimate, please contact Regional Manager Bill Hohmeier at (314) 773-8813.