McGann adjusts schedule for Boys and Girls Club

McGann is using a steel bar-joist roof for the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County project in Fitchburg. Photos courtesy of McGann Construction Inc.

The Boys & Girls Club of Dane County project was right on schedule.

It was June, and McGann Construction Inc. arrived on site ready to get started on the 21,200-square-foot, single-story, multiuse building. The plan was to build a facility for neighborhood kids that would provide a gym, a commons room, a pantry, administrative offices, a kitchen, a tech room, financial education offices, arts and crafts areas, a music room, a teen room and a stage.

But before McGann could get started, the Madison contractor found itself in the middle of a tale of two cities. With a parking lot in Madison and a building in Fitchburg, the project posed a logistical problem.

“There were delays because the two cities were concerned with what would happen if the nonprofit Boys & Girls Club went out of business,” said Wally Brey, McGann’s job superintendent. “Fitchburg would get the building without a parking lot.”

It took Fitchburg and Madison three months to give the project a green light, but that didn’t necessarily make the challenge any easier for McGann. Fitchburg hired McGann for the structure, but Madison hired a separate contractor —Speedway Sand & Gravel Inc. of Middleton — for the parking lot.

The Boys & Girls Club, with the building in Fitchburg and the parking lot in Madison, poses a tricky challenge for McGann. Photos courtesy of McGann Construction Inc.

And with two cities watching over the project, McGann found itself doubling its efforts.

“Water goes through a road in Madison, and sewer goes through a road in Fitchburg,” Brey said. “When we patch the blacktop, we’ll be patching some in Madison and some in Fitchburg.

“Nobody likes pulling permits in the first place. Now, we have to do it twice.”

The three-month delay, combined with slow going as the construction team made the site’s soil suitable for construction, forced McGann to face a new list of challenges. What started out as a summer project now had a lot of frost around the edges.

And with cold weather comes additional costs.

“Heating means that now when we lay block on the outside walls, we have to tarp and heat it to protect the mortar,” Brey said. “We put tarps over the scaffolding. It takes time, and it costs money. It’ll be the biggest challenge.”

But McGann has persevered, and, as 2005 draws to a close, the contractor expects to have the new facility buttoned up.

Despite all the challenges, Brey said, the finished project will be worth the effort.

“When we’re done, I think it’ll be a building we can be proud of,” he said. “It’ll be sharp.”

- Chris Thompson

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