Rivals Unite in the Name of Construction

Beanie Wells escapes the grasp of Michigan linebacker Obi Ezeh to score on a 59 yard run. Photo courtesy @photogoofer

It's no secret that the Ohio State - Michigan football rivalry is one of the greatest in college sports, in fact, the clash has it's own wikipedia page dedicated to the annual contest. ESPN has gone as far as to dub it the greatest rivalry of all time back in their 2000 End of Century rankings. The contest has taken place every year since 1918 and typically occurs at the end of the season (with the exceptions of '42, '86 & '98). This end of season grudge match has affected the conference title outcome an incredible 49 times as well as multiple national championship results.

You're probably thinking, "What does all of this have to do with construction?". Contract Lumber was recently selected as a partner on a very large student housing project at a prestigious Midwest institution of higher learning. While this is always welcome news we were faced with the prospect of traveling to the state up north to get these buildings erected on the campus of the University of Michigan - Dearborn. After much introspection, heated internal arguments and deep contemplation we decided it was the best move for the company to execute this project. It certainly helped matters that our general contractor client (also based in Michigan) has turned out to be one of the best we've had the chance to partner with in recent years.

The project is roughly 180,000 square feet of construction and we've been trusted with multiple turnkey scopes including framing, exterior trim and siding, roofing, commercial doors and hardware and interior trim. We've been blessed with a better than normal winter as far as Michigan goes, but when it's cold it's COLD.

Most of our engineered I-Joist floor systems on all three buildings are now installed. Our unique engineering approach was a great tool for the construction team to be able to capitalize on the high performance capabilities of today's engineered lumber products. Our in-house structural engineering team was a key component on this project as it relates to the floor systems. We were able to save the project over $50,000 in construction costs by re-imagining the layout and products used in the design.