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by Rick Stryker, P.E.
"Think spring?! Either he's out
of his mind, or they put this article out six
months early," may be what you're
thinking. But actually, if you're going
to build anything in the spring, now is the time
to get plans prepared and permits lined up. Most
organizations struggle with the pretty tough
coordination and timing of getting things built
before camp opens, and there is a long list of
reasons for that. This month, we're going
to look at a couple of the most common and most
preventable.
Residential vs. Commercial — What's
the Difference and Who Cares?
Older camp facilities
that have residential-level appliances and workspace
often find it hard to attract and keep kitchen
staff, and to provide quality meals that keep
campers coming back. Why? Space, equipment, and
layout of a commercial operation combine to make
a much easier task than the same project in your
home kitchen. Even washing the dishes is faster
and easier. But all of that convenience comes
at a very real and substantial cost, which is
why most single-family homes don't have
the appointments of a commercial kitchen. And
who's ever seen grab-bars covered piping
in someone's home bathroom? If you've
visited with someone confined to a wheelchair,
you might have. But again, unless there is a
known need, few folks spend the extra money to
install such things in their home.
Imagine how
well your home would withstand twenty-five campers
and staff jumping up and down together chanting
"Little Red Wagon . . . ." The idea here is that
in commercial occupancies, the group to be served
and the activities that will be occurring in
a commercial building are likely to be much more
diverse than in a single family home and if your
facility is to perform well and safely, for a
long, long time, you need a customized solution.
The Differences in Design
In residential construction,
most state-approved building codes have tabulated
the likely loads, applied a safety factor, and
developed tables for builders to use when figuring
how to span a certain distance, whether on a
floor or for a roof. For commercial construction,
those tables simply do not exist. Instead, a
licensed designer (architect or engineer) must
take several steps back from that point, evaluating
the expected activities in each space and accounting
for the number of people, the furnishings, and
even the weather in order to develop an idea
of the loads that the structural elements must
accommodate. Often, the designer needs to go
so far as to tell the builder exactly how many
nails, providing a dimensioned pattern in which
they need to be installed! And since each upper
element must be supported by the elements below,
the designer must tabulate loads from top to
bottom and then into the earth that supports
the whole thing. So, although the final commercial
product may appear very similar to its residential
counterpart with studs and joists and plywood,
there is much more thought and planning behind
what you see. That's largely why plans
for commercial buildings are required by the
Codes to be sealed by a licensed professional
and why commercial building inspectors take a
very dim view of any deviations from the plans.
The code from which the design was prepared is
written in the language of building designers
and requires their judgment, which requires experience,
which in turn is required to earn a license to
practice.
So, here is the first reason why you
should be going "full steam ahead" on
your spring building intentions: Designs and
approvals for commercial structures take time
that residential construction preparation does
not. Often months are required for each part,
design, and permitting.
Where Do You Want to
Put It?
 There is another part to the construction
phase that most organizations don't consider
until they're already behind schedule.
Most camps are situated on tracts of property
that contain many buildings and sub-campus areas.
Frequently, the local government has jurisdiction
over such developments and requires that they
have opportunity to review and approve a "land
development plan." These plans will include
considerations for every facet of the development
and will likely include water supply, sewage
disposal, parking, lighting, Americans with Disability
Act (ADA) accessibility, and storm water management.
Even when replacing existing structures like
cabins, the land development regulatory authority
expects to see plans that are drawn to scale and
clearly describe the scope of the project. These
can seem like overkill and intrusive, but like
it or not, they are often the rules of the land.
Failure to follow them can (and often does) lead
to bad publicity and substantial project delays.
Nationwide, more and more small governments find
that they're targets of lawsuits from citizen
groups and disgruntled developers who perceive,
rightly or not, that the laws are being applied
inconsistently. Groups like camps that had previously
operated "under the radar," with
a proverbial wink and a nod from officials, now
must play by the same rules as the strip mall
or tract home builder. Those "good old
days" are largely gone.
Like the building
plans themselves, the land development plans
can take months to assemble, and just as long
(sometimes longer!) to feed through the regulatory
processes.
What Do You Have to Work With?
Backing
up yet another step, the consultant assembling
land development applications and plans needs
survey mapping to use as the base document for
the work. Maps recorded at the courthouse do
not contain sufficient detail (including the
location of existing roads, buildings, topography,
etc.) to design facilities that meet the requirements
of the local regulations. Although the field
survey and mapping process can be relatively
quick, a matter of days for a relatively small,
undeveloped, and well-contained site, surveying
work can be delayed by poor weather, and their
schedules are often made weeks or months in advance.
Now the project's been pushed back even
months more, and there's only six months
until spring! What to do?
How to Get It all Done,
Wasting the Least Amount of Time
The keys here
are organization and planning. First and foremost,
the more that you accomplish before you call
a designer, the better shape you'll be.
For example, if you're thinking about cabins,
you should have already assembled a written list
of features or components that will best serve
your organization and its program. Prioritize
it based on your program with "must-haves" at
the top and "like-to-haves" at the
bottom. Don't concern yourself with what
you think that you can afford at this point.
Let your designer bring options to you when that
time is right. At the same time, develop what
I call the "counter list." These
are items and imperatives that you specifically
do not want. These may be based on things you've
heard about or learned through experience simply
don't work for you. At a minimum, one or
both of these lists should include a specific
number of people you need to accommodate now
and at "full occupancy" (whatever
that may be for you), architectural style (do
you want to continue what you have going or will
this be a new look altogether), finishes and
materials (metal roofs or log siding, for example),
and features (bathrooms, porches, and interior
look like open studs or oriented strand board).
Pictures of other facilities, as examples of
what to, or what NOT to do, will go a long way
toward conveying what you're after to a
designer.
Next, remember that the building design
can be happening at the same time as your site
development plans and that a survey can precede
both by months or years. So if you know that
new facilities are in your future, find a surveyor
and get that work going as early as you can.
By having this information already waiting, the
site designer will be able to hit the ground
running. Incidentally, it's important that
the surveyor deliver both paper maps for you
and digital files (such as AutoCAD) for the designer
to use in developing the site plans.
Finally,
the best thing that you can do to plan ahead
and communicate with the consultants you engage.
Go out of your way to explain your needs and
desires and show your program to them. Then listen
closely as they provide you the guidance and
information you need to make smart, forward looking
decisions which will serve you and your organization
for years to come and get you the most bang for
your facilities dollar.
So if you think that
you're going to build in the spring, this
is the time, now today to get the ball rolling,
before the snow covers the ground and the surveyor
can't map it. Step in to spring a new way
in '09 with all of the plans and permits
in hand, and ready to break ground.
Originally published
in the 2008 September/October issue of Camping Magazine.
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