It’s a strange part of our industry that we always come to buildings before the work begins and rarely see them at the end of the project. We see buildings in all states of disrepair ; abandoned buildings where the gangs and homeless people fight for space with the fleas, rats and pigeons, multi-family units where the tenant doesn’t want us to come measure and the client won’t tell us why we are measuring, swanky homes that you can’t even imagine need re-modeling , nice family homes where the momma has so many excited dreams of expansion for her growing family and retail spaces where all the shopkeepers eye us suspiciously or straight out accuse us of being responsible for the next hike in their rates. Hundreds of as-builts a year that blaze through your memory, building after building – we meet so many people, hear their stories and pick up the vibe of being in a place for a week at a time and then it as all just shelved in the job completed folder as we forge ahead to the next as-built project.
That is why it is so fun when we do see a place we measured at the end of its remodel. We recently had a client from 2009, Amod Chopra, send us his link (listed here), a review of the launch of his new restaurant “Vik’s Chaat Corner” in Berkeley.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/t-magazine/03talk-epicenters.html
For me it was very exciting to see the remodeled building looking so good and classy. I looked in the photos staring past the intended focus of the photos to see the building elements that still remained and to try and relocate my brain into the building I remembered. I can’t wait to drop in on Amod to say hi, so I can sit there and do even more of this. It is also very fun to see that the remodel worked out for him. He was a very nice man, super enthusiastic about the process and (as they all are) in a mad rush to get the as-built portion completed, so he could get on with the remodel and finish and get on with the real business of running an expanded and already successful eatery. The good thing is that it seems he made his timelines – as-builts, architects and contractors all in a year! I encourage everyone to go and check his place out – very tasty authentic Indian food that he tried to feed me complimentary every day I went to measure and left him disappointed when I only took him up on it twice!