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Throughout the Beach Cabana Construction Project, we will do our best to keep you up-to-date with significant highlights.
In the Board’s first update to the Barefoot Community, we did not outline our plan moving forward with construction of the Cabana. We apologize for creating the misimpression that the Board has no plan and the concern this generated within the Community. The Board does have a plan. While we did not provide the details, we did explain them to each of the Voting Members last week. This update will serve to give you as much information of the Board’s plan as our attorneys have advised that we can share at this time given the impending litigation.
South Carolina law provides for a sixty (60) day period during which the contractor, architect, engineer and the truss manufacturer, after receiving notice from our attorney and a copy of the report from our engineer, have the right to visit the construction site with their attorneys and experts. These parties are entitled to inspect the construction site and have, by statute, until the end of the sixty (60) day period to advise the Board if they want to exercise the right to fix the deficiencies detailed in our engineer’s report. Until this decision is made, all construction on the Cabana must stop and can only be restarted once the Board is advised they have decided not to fix the deficiencies detailed by our engineer.
When the Board is notified of their choice, we will move forward with the construction of the Cabana. The current construction contractor has exceeded his license, so we are moving to replace him during the sixty (60) days while construction must be stopped on the Cabana. Our engineer has found no problems with the masonry work, and that only the wood trusses and other wood work will need to be removed and replaced.
We have contacted other contractors and they are in the process of providing the Board with professional estimates to remove the wood trusses and other wood work and complete the construction of the Cabana. As the Board will soon be in litigation, we will select our new construction contractor with input from our attorneys. It is the Board’s intention to re-start construction on day sixty-one (61). When construction is restarted, we will be able to give the approximate date on which the Cabana will be completed.
The Board has reviewed the Association’s finances, and we have enough money in the One Percent Marketing Fund to complete the Cabana. For this reason, the Board will move forward with the construction of the Cabana while the litigation is ongoing. It is our intention to recover all of the funds the Board is required to spend above the original contract price of the Cabana.
We trust this update provides some answers to the path forward. As we move forward the Board will provide the Barefoot Community with updates. In the meantime, if you have questions, need to air your frustrations or just want more information, we urge you to contact the Board directly. We will give you as much information as we can without compromising our legal claims. Eventually, we will be able to discuss with the entire Barefoot Community all aspects of issues faced at the Cabana, and at that time address all of the rumors and dispel the incorrect stories which are circulating.
On February 4, 2019, the Association entered into a contract with D3G Architects to design the Beach Cabana. On April 19, 2019, the Association entered into a contract with JM Allen Construction to serve as the general contractor for the construction of the Cabana.
Construction began in early January 2020. Adam Buckler, Ponderosa Management’s Director of Maintenance discovered the hangers and truss plates were galvanized which differed from the structural plans which called for stainless steel. Therefore, on March 4, 2020, Terracon, an independent consulting firm hired by the Association to perform special inspections at the project issued a report stating that the truss hangers being installed at the project were not the type specified in the structural plans. The concern is that the truss connectors are subject to corrosion because they are not Hot-Dip galvanized or stainless steel. This report was provided to the contractor and architect.
Thereafter, the project architect, project engineer and contractor attempted to develop a plan to correct the use of the wrong materials without having to remove and replace the materials. The architect and engineer contacted the truss manufacturer and recommended a coating of the installed materials in order to provide the materials with the proper anti-corrosion properties. The general contractor began the coating process.
The Association hired Scott Coffman, P.E. of the engineering firm Construction Science & Engineering to analyze the existing conditions at the project and provide an opinion as to the coating process being utilized at the project. Mr. Coffman performed a site visit on April 8, 2020. After conducting a site visit, Mr. Coffman conducted research regarding the materials installed at the project and the materials being used for the coating process.
Following his research, Mr. Coffman stated that, in his opinion, the materials installed at the project were improper and not suitable for a coastal environment. Mr. Coffman further stated that the coating process being used by the contractor was not acceptable. As a result, Mr. Coffman has recommended that all metal plate wood trusses should be removed and replaced with proper materials.
Additionally, on April 2, 2020, the general contractor issued Change Order Proposal No. 9 wherein the contractor requested the sum of $694,991.70 in additional funds for “overages to the job cost” due to the inability to construct the project for the contract price of $1.5 million.
The Association has not accepted this Change Order. Furthermore, the additional amount of the cost of construction has caused the total project cost to exceed the general contractor’s license limitations and the general contractor can no longer legally work on the project.
As a result of the above-referenced items, the Association, after consultation with counsel, has terminated its contracts with the general contractor and the architect and is initiating claims against the general contractor, architect, engineer and truss manufacturer in order to recover the additional cost associated with the repair and completion of this project.
Thursday, March 5
We continue to make progress at the Beach Cabana. While there has been minimal slowing of the construction due to the rain, you can see from the photos below that we are moving along with the floor trusses and LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) beams.
Sunday, March 1
We have had a lot of rain over the last several weeks. While the contractor has not lost any time due to the rain, they have not been able to move ahead of schedule. We are still anticipating the construction process to be completed sometime in September 2020.
The block work is in the final stages and the contractors have begun to install the floor trusses. The framing work continues. There is a possibility that time can be gained during the framework construction.
