Old job, new job, new pics

[Ben Grunow]

This is a basement finishing job we did in 2005 (bar/theater, wine cellar, exercise room, billiard room and powder room) and a mudroom/cabana space in the same house this year (finally pics of the bar, remember Per ?).

Basement stain grade millwork was subbed to a shop but all painted trim, cabinetry and mahogany coffer cieling was done by me and 2 other guys on my crew.

Theater walls have panels of acoustic fiberglass wrapped in green fabric except where the speakers are hidden (7 speaker surround, center, 2 subs, 2 front, 2 mid, 2 rear- makes fillings fall out :)). House is 13000 square feet and basement is about 2500. Projector comes out of cieling on lift. Bar has Viking keg fridge, ice maker and dish washer. 42" plasmas in exercise and billiard rooms. Brazillian cherry floors with radiant heat under go throughout.

Mudroom was all subbed out except running trim/doors by me.

We also built a 2000 bottle wine cellar with insulated windows, climate control, mahogany trim and granite pillars between the racks but it was locked to keep owners kids out so no pics.

All it takes is money. Nicest clients we have ever worked for. Invited us to the black tie, catered, valet parking party for 250 people when it was done. Check it out.

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2 boilers, 600 amp service, foyer with new floors (subbed out, I'm too old for flooring at 32). Foyer has 35' cathedral ceilings. What a house. The gas meter sounds like 747 when you get near it, if you dare.

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[Tim Malyszko]

Wow. That house is awesome. That is by far the biggest freakin' electrical panel I've ever seen in a residential install. :eek:

[Richard Wolf]

Very nice work Ben.

Richard

[Kyle Kraft]

Awesome work Ben! The basement is bigger than my house and garage combined! Make sure you take a grip of business cards to the black tie shindig.

[Bill Lantry]

Whoops. Shouldn't have shown that to Doorlink. Now she's saying we should we should do things like that...;) Yikes!

That's some beautiful work! Wow!

Thanks,

Bill

[lou sansone]

fantastic work .... what a great job.. the photos will never do justice to your work and craftsmanship. very well done.

what paint do you like to use for the painted cabs ?
lou

[Neil Lamens]

Really nice work Ben.......Neil

[Mike Waddell]

Wow. Beautiful and inspiring!

Mike

[Bryan Read]

Truly awesome work...

[Ted Miller]

That electrical gear looks like controls for audio equipment as well as cat5, phone and lighting stuff and maybe a generator somewhere. Nice wood work as well...

[Bart Leetch]

WOW someone has lots of money & knows how to spend it.

[Travis Hirst]

WOW. That basement is one serious "MAN ROOM" if ever I saw one.

Great work!!

Travis

[Jason Roehl]

Hey, Ben, I'm 32--I'll still do flooring! You need to take it easier on yourself!

Very nice work! We don't have many houses that size around here. The biggest I've worked on was ~7700 s.f./$1M, and that was slapped together by a tract home builder...at least the paint job was good! :D

[Ben Grunow]

Thanks fellers. I work with my father and he is a master coordinater when it comes to these types of jobs. He sets the schedule for our crew, all the subs, cabinetry, custom doors, hardware, custom mouldings, deliveries and all the different items that make you nuts. THis allows me to do what I do best, and what he taught me, turn wood into stuff, sometimes dumpster liner but sometimes not. These jobs come along every few years and they are a lot of stress as far as the coordination and variety of tasks compared to the average job but when they are done there is no level of satisfaction that compares. Especially when you have a client who understands the work and planning involved and lets you know.

We do our own rebar and concrete, most framing, cornice, windows/siding, insulation, trim and built ins (paint grade cabinets) and that is usually enough.

This job was in a walk out basement where access was over 200' walk on a 3' path on the side of a rocky hill so we rented a crane and had 2 full lumber trucks make the delivery when the crane was there to fly it all down to our staging area outside the doors. Pretty kewl and saved us about 100000 trips down the path. We did build a wood walkway over the path so we could take debris out (we had to gut the basement to do the job) in wheel barrows.

The cabinets were painted with latex brushed on by the homeowners poor painter (poor quality not financially poor). That was the only shortcoming. At least it wasnt on the tile and hardware.

Yes there is a 25 KW generator that runs on nat gas.

7 Bedrooms, 8 full and 3 half baths, 2 laundrys, 10 zones of hydro air/ac, 4 radiant zones........ not my gas bill.

When I was in junior high my father built a 22,000 square foot house for a 65 year old couple as a third home. He made his money making t shirts for Kmart and the like. He never had a hot dog in his whole life. We changed that for him though.

Glad you liked it and I will post more pics when the next one is done.