Time Lapse TerraPlana, May '14 to Mar '15

The project was supposed to be done by now, but we probably still have a few months of construction left.  That's making for a very long time lapse video.

Finally some real progress!

It has been a really frustrating winter for us. The project was moving along pretty nicely until October, but then the contractors got into a dispute and work almost stopped. The general contractor decided to switch one of the main subcontractors, and the switch gave us a big delay. Nothing got done in December and January, and it has taken a long time for the new team to get up to speed.

The good news is that things are moving again. This week the interior walls are almost complete, the utilities are in, the mezzanine has been constructed. Next week the windows and exterior doors should be here, giving the building some security.

Every time I go to the house, the addition of the new walls makes the space feel a little less open. We always knew we were working with a small space, but now we can feel it. The decision to remove part of the first floor and open the overhead space above the bar area was genius. Without that choice the bar would have felt like a cave. As it is, it will be a long and thin space, but there will be multiple environments focused around the double high ceiling and looking onto the bar. Now that we can walk around the space and see how it feels we can start on some of the details of decoration.

Outside of the house, we have been hard at work designing the physical bar furniture and equipment layout. We have some restaurant experience, but none of us have worked in a bar, so we are doing our homework to make sure the space is set up right.

And now, some pictures:

Some Progress, and an Oven Move

The utilities and walls are now mostly finished. Almost all the walls have been framed except for one because the pizza oven needed to be moved first.  When when we originally brought the oven on site, we used the crane, but the crane could only get it to the first floor. Moving the oven from the first floor to the ground floor was left for another time.

The oven is REALLY heavy (1,000 kg), and cannot be disassembled. It is so large that it wouldn't fit though the door which is why we used the crane to put it inside before the roof was finished.  Having it inside was an important step, but we still had to move it to the ground floor (about 4 meters down). We discussed several possible solutions, but ultimately decided on a simple chain hoist, and 5 people to push and steady it with ropes.

I know in the world of engineering, 1,000 kilos is not really a lot, but it was enough for me...  I wouldn't want it to fall on my head!

We had to attach the chain hoist to a second position to get the oven down to the ground. There were some nervous moments, but ultimately, we got it down without even a scratch.

Getting Busy, Inside and Outside

Construction continues on the house.  The have been framing walls and putting in utilities in the apartment above the bar. Some pictures below:

Outside the house, we have started to get very busy preparing to open the bar. Meetings with the accountant, lawyer, and distributors - also shopping for furniture, equipment, decoration etc.  It's a lot of work, and it's not always easy, but every step we take brings us a little closer to opening the doors. As we nail down more and more details, the look and feel of TerraPlana is starting to become more clear to us, and that is exciting. Although there is still some uncertainty about when we will open, we are moving, and as long as we do not run into a major unforeseen issue (or tragedy) we should definitely be serving drinks by the end of summer (maybe at the beginning).

Delays, Reasons and Frustration

It has been a frustrating year end for us at TerraPlana. The construction work was targeted to end in November, and although we could see for a while that that date as not going to be met, we did not expect work to stop for nearly 2 months! It was all due to some serious issues with our contractor's main supplier.

Although our contractor has done a good job of keeping us in the loop, it's still been a very frustrating time. Our dream of having TerraPlana open for New Years is clearly passed (unless we are talking about Jan 1, 2016).

The good news is that the New Year has gotten off to a fresh start, and the work is underway again.  The roof is FINALLY sealed to the elements with the final two exterior wall segments added.

With these walls added (and the elements sealed out), the pace should pick up nicely.  I was on site today, and they had already framed most of the interior walls.

So, while we greatly regret the delay, we can at least report that TerraPlana is back on track towards a mid 2015 opening.

TerraPlana is Already on the Music Scene

We haven't even opened, but we are already on the music scene.  Last month, this bill showed up:

For those who don't know, Dead Combo is a very good contemporary Portuguese band from Lisbon. We went to the show last night, and they were awesome. The band consists of two fantastically talented guitarists. They play in a style ranging from folk to rock.

Their music is right in line with the feeling we want to create in TerraPlana, so it was strangely appropriate to host their poster for a few weeks.

The Roof is ON

First, sorry about the long delay getting a post up.  I've been busy, and even out of town since the last update. Work on the house has continued, and the pace is actually increasing now that the roof is on:

There was a little delay getting the roof tiled because we have started to have a lot of rainy weather, which is normal this time of year. There are still a few walls to add upstairs and that will require some dry days, but in general the weather's effect on our schedule should be limited now.

Inside the house, there's been a lot of work on the ground floor and walls.

The water pipes and electric conduit for the ground floor are all done.  Gas is next, but it looks like that may be a little more complicated then we had originally planned for. Next week we will have some meetings with the technical engineers regarding the gas connection. It turns out that our new oven will require some special work, and we are hoping it doesn't set us back too much time (or money).