Steve McKee – Page 15

3 12, 2006

The revenge of the unpaid carpenters (and other true stories)

By Steve McKee|2006-12-03T04:36:33+00:00December 3rd, 2006|Random observations, Uncategorized|Comments Off on The revenge of the unpaid carpenters (and other true stories)

You hang around enough jobsites you hear things. The following incidents came to me from various builders or homeowners and are recalled here as best I can. The dog and the pier hole One of the best foundation systems a house can have is a concrete “pier and grade beam” system in which eighteen-inch-wide holes are drilled about eight or more feet deep into the ground at various intervals along where the foundation is going. These holes are temporarily covered with octagonal plywood hole covers but are still hazardous enough that an effort is made to fill them with concrete [...]

29 10, 2006

A house move for the ages – PART 1

By Steve McKee|2006-10-29T04:38:22+00:00October 29th, 2006|Phil Joy's big house move, Uncategorized|Comments Off on A house move for the ages – PART 1

On a recent Friday evening Melody and I visited Benicia’s next architectural treasure, and we went to the Napa countryside to do it. Because I wanted to see history in the making, we accepted an invitation from house-mover Phil Joy and his wife Celeste to come visit their latest project in mid-move. After a drive along an obscure access road towards the Napa River we could see it: A three story Victorian house looming out of place in an empty field surrounded by some parked trucks and tractors. It was up on beams on a big flat bed trailer which [...]

24 09, 2006

My best five seconds at design school

By Steve McKee|2006-09-24T04:40:21+00:00September 24th, 2006|At the School of Architecture, Uncategorized|Comments Off on My best five seconds at design school

As a student of architecture at UCLA it was always a nice surprise when the little lightening bolts of understanding somehow occurred within me. I loved those “ah-ha” moments when things sorted themselves out and, for a time, the design world became my oyster. It was grad school and the academic climate was actually less regimented than my undergraduate studies had been. No more was it all about a lot of required reading followed by quizzes. Instead we were more on our own to make the most of things, to do our own research, and just be open for insights [...]

17 08, 2006

Getting bids: “The rules”

By Steve McKee|2006-08-17T04:41:44+00:00August 17th, 2006|Before you begin, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Getting bids: “The rules”

In a perfect world, sealed bids for your construction project would be delivered before noon on a designated Friday and then opened at three o’clock and read aloud to the small crowd of assembled builders hoping to get your job. Actually, now that I think about it, that sounds a little too rigid and uptight for the world I want to live in. But the scenario I just depicted actually is the way it was done on huge school remodels that my old boss would do. After many days of effort assembling their bids, the builders really had a lot [...]

23 07, 2006

Benicia’s growth rings

By Steve McKee|2006-07-23T04:45:26+00:00July 23rd, 2006|Benicia, Remodeling a Southampton home, Uncategorized|Comments Off on Benicia’s growth rings

While meeting some new clients in their home on Mills Drive I recognized the house as the same model as one I had worked on recently on White Chapel Drive and also like one I knew on Ardmore. It was as if there was a strata of these homes along this band of the hillside. So this was the extent of Southampton in the seventies, I thought. At that time a group of new homes was being built along this section of the various streets creating a swath of growth that expanded the outer limits of Benicia. The [...]

18 06, 2006

The well-considered window seat

By Steve McKee|2006-06-18T04:46:45+00:00June 18th, 2006|Elements of Design, Uncategorized|Comments Off on The well-considered window seat

What is it that’s so darn lovable about window seats? The name itself conjures images of a house that has its act together. If you pay attention to window seats that you come across you’ll notice there is quite a broad range in the quality of experience offered by these different seats. Some really deliver the goods, while many seem more like mere afterthoughts, eye candy at best, a place to stage an arrangement of pillows. Even without being able to list all the particulars that go into a successful window seat, I think most people can recognize a good [...]

About Steve McKee

The revenge of the unpaid carpenters (and other true stories)

A house move for the ages – PART 1

My best five seconds at design school

Getting bids: “The rules”

Benicia’s growth rings

The well-considered window seat