#5--Scheduling the Masses--Mansion in May

Yesterday I met with the primary contractor for the showhouse project, Frank Scheppe. Frank has been building projects with me for the past two years. His work is flawless and we've been able to complete some very complex projects together. We did the show house in Rumson together last spring and it was a great experience. The space ended up being a permanent addition to an already beautiful property. There's an image of the brick and turf steps and garden that we built below.

So back to the schedule. We had to figure out who, what and when, working back loosely from the end date of April 24th. Since the spring weather is so iffy and all of us are super busy in April we decided to start next week. Frank's delievering his excavator today so calls had to be made about that so we can start moving stone and cleaning up the piles next week. Large stones that will be stood on end will be selected, stones for the arch will be set aside and the central area will begin to be moved. Both Frank and I are concerned about what might be living in the burrows so I have to call local animal control to see what we can do to relocate any possible critters before the fact.

I called Dan Lupino, dry stone waller, to let him know that he can start building his arch the weekend of March 8. That will take him a few weekends I think and I want him to be able to work on his section undisturbed. I also had a conversation with Mike Deo who is designing the passive solar system that will power the lighting and gave him a heads up. I have to figure out how to hide the 12V battery and charging regulator within the rocks. I don't want to add another material to the mix.

I'm thinking about removing the existing turf areas around the garden and seeding with a no mow meadow mix. I'm on the fence about that one.