By Adrian Willanger Eco-Redux
Utilities are in at Fish Singer Place, Shoreline WA.
Fish Singer Place is part of a site redevelopment, from two houses to four. The old sites have probably had several utility owners each of which may or may not have made changes to their homes systems installing lines, pipes and tanks. Often some of these changes are abandoned and never taken off the records. Existing records gives the developer a “feel” for what should be where, but can be limited in scope to as much of the recording are accurate.
The basic expenditure for utilities can easily be 10-20% of the overall cost of construction broken into the following areas; administrative, engineering, construction, cost “overruns”, and utility relocation costs.
Martha Rose Construction hired Davido Consulting Group as their civil engineers to design the sites utility infrastructure. The utility work was done in two phases; the sanitary sewer and drainage lines were installed in November under what will be the main road, the power, gas, water, cable and phone were installed on both sides of the road using an open trenching system starting several days before Christmas, picking a day when the ground wasn’t frozen and the site was reasonably free of deliveries and other interruptions that could increase construction costs.
Very few improvements add to the emergence of a neighborhood as much as eliminating overhead utility wires and poles. The process of eliminating them can be very costly yet, the alternative is to create a relaxing view that shouldn’t be overlooked.