Prepping & Pouring Concrete

Things are starting to come back together next door, so we have lots of photos to share. The latest project has been finishing up the plumbing and pouring concrete.

This is the Showroom entrance from the Service drive. Before, it had a step up on the side and was much steeper. They demolished the old ramp,

and poured concrete for the new ramp. We'll use this ramp to bring in the vehicles for the showroom floor.

To give you an idea, this is what it used to look like-

 They also poured short walls for the sides of the ramp,

and put up forms for the ramp and the step at the bottom. The step will face the door to the cashier and Retail Parts counter, and the end of the ramp will be towards the Service write-up area

 As you can see, the ramp continues around the corner, and ends by the Service Department

They finished plumbing the drains for the Customer Lounge bathrooms and the drinking fountain.

And then on Friday, they started pouring the concrete for the bathrooms.

The plumbing for the Coffee bar was also installed, and the concrete will be poured soon.

After all that demo work, it's nice to see things starting to come back together!

Painting the Parts Room & Preparing for the Ramp

Just a quick update on what's going on next door -

We painted the walls in the Parts Department white, now it's bright and cheery.

The stairs were removed in preparation for the handicap ramp which will connect the Service Department and Customer Lounge to the Showroom floor.

Next week, the crew will be working on the plumbing. It'll be nice to start seeing things come back together.

Building Permit Arrives!

This was an exciting week as our Building Permit arrived!

Here's the current view from the shop with the wall removed from the Service Write-up area to the Customer Lounge. There will be a ramp installed with access to the showroom.

The door has been removed between the Cashier area and the Customer Lounge.

The tile has also been removed from the cashier area. The tile still there on the left will be for an office.

The showroom is all cleared out and looks pretty empty. We can't wait to fill it up with new cars!

As you can see, we're close to beginning the remodeling phase. We've even selected and ordered the new furniture!

The Latest on the Demo

The demolition is wrapping up over here, and we're getting ready to start the next phase. It's going to look great!

Here's the progress that's been made in the past week.

The walls for our Service Manager Rob's office have been removed,

BEFORE:

AFTER:

as well as the wall behind our future coffee bar.

This is looking into the Finance Office.

 They are making a cut in the floor for the pipes for the new coffee bar.

Concrete is being removed from the floor in the bathroom area to run new plumbing so the pipes will extend to the back wall. 

I know we keep saying this, but he bathrooms are going to be huge!  

 In the shop, Gordon removed the technology wires from the pipes (with the half wall gone in service),

and Tommy and Brian sorted through the old wire we’ve removed. It is going to be recycled for copper. We have about two truckloads worth of wire!

As you can see, the demo is close to being done. Most walls are removed and the the wall covering on walls to be reused. We are currently working on the electrical bids and light fixture type and bids. The duct work is being engineered and will be bid after we receive the new design. Other bids we are waiting on are the floor tile and glass walls and doors. We are also working on furniture layout and prices.

The Demo Continues

If you looked in our new showroom lately, this is what you'd see.

What a mess!
Breaking up all that tile was a BIG project.

We got all that tile cleared out, and now we're taking the walls down to the studs in preparation of moving some of them.

This building has been added on to and altered multiple times since it was first constructed. The HVAC, electrical and phone lines are a mess, so we'll be redoing a lot of that as well to make it more efficient.

The bathrooms are coming out as well to make way for larger ones.

It looks a little scary now with stuff hanging from the ceiling and the walls taken down to the studs, but soon we'll begin putting it all back together.

We keep reminding ourselves that it's going to look a lot worse before it looks better!

Meet Encore (by Buick)

Clason's recently received our first shipment of the NEW 2013 Buick Encore. This vehicle is considered a "small crossover."

Meet Encore, the latest edition to the Buick family. This is now the fifth model in the Buick line-up.

It's about the size of a Pontiac Vibe, which was very popular before the Pontiac line was discontinued.

The interior features a standard power driver's seat, leather-wrapped steering wheel, and heated mirrors!

Also standard is a rearview camera, and Buick IntelliLink with a 7" high-res full-color display radio featuring CD/SiriusXM Satellite Radio (2 months free)/USB, voice recognition, and Bluetooth phone and audio.

 

Lots of cargo capacity, especially with the back seat folded down (up to 48.4 cubic feet of storage space with the rear seat folded).

The Encore is super quiet with standard QuietTuning (engineering approach to minimize vibration and noise) and Buick’s first use of Bose Active Noise Cancellation technology. Come by and try it out for yourself by taking the Encore for a test drive!

Read more about Encore here.

Destruction!

We have the building permit, and demolition has begun in preparation for the renovation of our new building!

This area will be our new customer lounge. There will be plenty of room to relax, read a magazine, and catch up on your Internet browsing on your smart phone (yes, there will be free WiFi).

The restrooms will be much larger as well, even if we have to move a wall and a pillar or two!

Upstairs, they're starting to remove the tile on the showroom floor. There will be lots of room for new vehicle displays, and the new tile pattern is going to be really eye catching.

This has been a long process already, but we're excited to take a course that will have very little inconvenience for our customers. When the renovation is complete, we will just move next door instead of working in a construction zone for months.

Since we won't be working in the new building yet (and it won't be open to the public), this blog will be one of the best ways to keep updated on what's going on next door!