METFAB METALS, LLC
Retro-Clad/Retro-Fit Update!
Metfab Metals Provides All the Related SERVICES too!
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WE MAKE ALL THE NEEDED PARTS TOO!!!
In our September, 2016 Newsletter 1 we wrote that:
“Many new projects are actually re-builds of sound older buildings that need to be brought up to current standards for one or more of (many) reasons.”
These Retro-Clad/Retro-Fit projects require allied “services” from your metals supplier, not just their accurately made parts, usually for at least a new exterior building cladding.
Coincidentally, we are now in the midst of a classic example of such a “re-build”, across the river in lower Manhattan. This brick façade building is morphing into a glass curtainwall one, with all the ultimate savings and environmental benefits of new systems. But it’s in the middle of Tribeca, a bustling mixed-use area with a shortage of parking, only a few blocks from West St, highway and the mouth of the Holland Tunnel outlet to New Jersey.
We want you to know how we can help you deal with the day-to-day problems of such re-building (often with occupants and shoppers in and around the building, as the contractors work often in limited random areas at any one time), as well as our experience making the fabricated steel for this job! Let me illustrate:
[388-390 Greenwich St., New York city, NY]
“The renovation, which includes a curtain-walled makeover, will integrate 388 and 390 into one building with a single lobby, show a “town square,” a rooftop terrace, and a fitness center……… The building will also be LEED-certified. …..The transformation will be complete by 2019. ……..388 Greenwich Street……is a skyscraper which forms a complex with the neighboring 10-story 390 Greenwich near the Hudson River.” 2
No metal fabricator has more focused experience than Metfab Metals, LLC on the real-time needs of such jobs. Let me list a few such concerns at all such jobsites:
• Pre-construction metals plans/specs review (prior to actual production);
• Jobsite parking for deliveries (as you know, there is most often only limited street parking on such “jobsites”;
• Access to work areas;
• Storage of delivered/fabricated parts onsite/related costs;
• Partial deliveries (planned early, essential to a smooth work-flow);
• Area-“targeted”/limited deliveries (often floor by floor, as needed);
• Logistics (where, when, time-of-day to deliver???);
• Constantly adjusted specs/drawings to comply with building conditions, as found daily, as the building is field-measured;
• Flexible production schedules to meet found needs;
• 24/7 service availability for production and/or delivery;
• And so much more
As we have also said,”……..a “retro-fit” or “retro-clad” job can take many forms, all defined by the specs issued for the project…… it can be a more full-blown tear-out where the building is stripped down to its super-structure and every system, covering, cladding and finish is replaced, often to adapt it to a new use or purpose. Regularly….. the owners want to make the building far more energy efficient with power & maintenance savings offsetting much of the retro-fit costs…….” 3
[“Alexander Court”, in Alexandria, VA: Another Metfab Metals retro job, where we created job-specific
metal parts/assemblies for a new skin on a restored building to gain a more modern appearance and energy efficiency]
We here at Metfab Metals always focus on how we can better handle your job’s needs. Retro-cladding and/or retro-fitting mean we also tune into all the services you will need as we supply ALL these metal products for such a ”retro” project, but often only as you need them howsoever your project actually progresses.
This unified process requires planning, coordination, on-the-go adjustments and anticipating many of the real-life problems BEFORE the job starts and even after we start (partial) deliveries for the fabricated metal anticipated at the jobsite. 4
We always ask our customers to involve us more in the planning stage so we can take an early look at what metals are needed, when how & why they’re needed so we can give the Owner & Design Team a chance to take advantage of our hands-on, current experience as to what works best in our aspect of the plans. This can be an ultimately cost-effective way to qualitatively review your specs; identify potential problems before committing to building out all the fabricated steel your design calls for; and suggest services & ways to further job-efficiencies, and much more.
Metfab Metals has decades of experience producing all the various metal parts/assemblies, while mixing in the SERVICES, all equally needed for YOUR retro jobs. In this way, we can serve to make your jobs go smoothly from their earliest stages-----------------and end successfully!
Call us; you’ll soon see we produce.
Call me for ALL your METALS questions. If I can't answer it, I have all the needed "sources" to do so!
Jim Murray, C.O.O. 973-675-7676
1. See our website for this archived earlier article in our Newsletters section at www.metfabmetals.com.
2. As reported online in Real Estate Weekly, on June 17, 2017.
3. See our website for this September, 2016 article in our Newsletters section at www.metfabmetals.com. We reprised this in our January, 2017 Newsletter, stressing that we started such major retro-clad jobs more than 20 years ago citing our “51 Louisiana” roof enclosure or “ladder” in Washington, D.C, creating an enclosed courtyard with consequent energy efficiencies and other esthetics.
4. Building Design & Construction (online magazine) at www.bcdnetwork.com (September 16, 2009) by Mark Baker, Pres., IBA Consultants