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View Full Version : How would it be.....



Curt Fuller
06-17-2007, 10:18 AM
Every now and then in the mundane life of a cement truck driver you get a chance to be part of a building project that really takes you out of the everyday life most people live.

We've started delivering concrete to a house for a fellow named Howard Hawks. I haven't met him but those on the job say he's just a super nice guy. I believe he owns a company called Tenaska Energy and apparently he does a very good job at what he does. The building lot for this house is 200,000 acres, basically the entire mountain. The house sits on the very top at about 8,800 feet in elevation. The driveway is 7 miles long from the gate to the house. They've just started pouring footings so far but at just under 300 cubic yards we've only done the equipment shed and a footing for a retaining wall between the shed and the house.

These first two pictures are the view from where the house sits. The first is looking straight west. The mountain in the distance is Snow Basin ski resort, where most of the downhill events of the 2002 Olympics were held. The second is looking northwest into the Ogden valley at the towns of Huntsville, Eden, Liberty, and Pineview reservoir.

Jim Becker
06-17-2007, 10:20 AM
Enjoy that job! Wow what a view!

Curt Fuller
06-17-2007, 10:37 AM
This next group of pictures is from the jobsite. The first is looking across the excavation showing the size this house will be. The material from the hole is being crushed at a portable crusher just over the hill and reused in the site and on the road. The actual house is over 6000 square feet, will have 10 bedrooms and bathrooms, and will be large enough for his entire family and use for clients. It will have 24 fireplaces. That's not the biggest house I've seen but it definitely is the biggest "cabin in the hills" I've ever seen.

The next shot is the footing for the retaining wall, 14 feet wide 3 feet thick, and that's 3/4" rebar. The uprights are two rows 6" apart and on 4" centers, a little over engineering there maybe?

The last shot was taken standing in the excavation watching the sun come up. It gives a little perspective to the size of this project. The contractor said this will be in the $25 million range. I was just guessing but I thought the road into it would have probably cost a couple million. I have no idea what it would cost to run the underground power but it has power running along the road. I'm not sure how they'll be getting water to the top of the mountain.

Thought some of you might like seeing this as it progresses. Sorry about the picture quality, they're taken with a camera phone.

Ken Fitzgerald
06-17-2007, 1:08 PM
Wow! I wouldn't want to live there. With a view like that I'd never get anything done.....ever!

Leigh Costello
06-17-2007, 1:36 PM
Awesome home site. Now about the 7 mile driveway...if it snows who heck is going to clear it? Of course, with the pricetag of this house - who carss? My oh my!

Curt Fuller
06-21-2007, 6:32 PM
The third pour on the footings. This makes about 450 cu yds of concrete and the footing is almost 1/4 done.

Leigh Costello
06-21-2007, 7:49 PM
Curt,
You are one lucky cement truck driver! The view is a great bonus for you. Keep us posted. Will you be able to go back and take pictures after your part is done? That would be something to see!