Ellis Stone meets challenges of Dovorany job

The Dovorany Professional Building's concrete block foundations, structural steel and precast concrete floor planks are in place. Photos courtesy of Ellis Stone Construction Co. Inc.

The lease is up at the end of December.

It wasn’t supposed to be that way. Ellis Stone Construction Co. expected its construction schedule to run to the end of January.

But, in all likelihood, John Dovorany’s landlord didn’t have Ellis Stone’s construction time line at the top of the priority list. And if Dovorany needs to leave his rented space earlier than expected, then Ellis Stone has to similarly adjust its plans to finish Dovorany’s new orthodontic offices.

It’s that simple. Yet, it’s not simple at all.

“We had to shorten our existing schedule by three weeks,” said Jay Johnson, architect with Ellis Stone. “We’re looking at double shifts or overtime.”

And even with the extra work, there’s a solid chance Ellis Stone will still be finishing the 10,646-square-foot, two-story office building when Dovorany moves in.

“We can’t have any slip-ups with critical materials not being delivered on time,” said Jim Anderson, president of Ellis Stone. “Everything has to start and complete on time.”

Masons lay the brick veneer in a bed-side-out coursing pattern.

It won’t be easy for the Stevens Point contractor, but, really, easy isn’t a common word on the Wausau job site anyway. It wasn’t easy designing the building to fit on a steep slope, and the word certainly didn’t apply to the water-drainage issues or the fact that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation has plans to lower the road fronting the project.

But Ellis Stone is taking each challenge in stride. The contractor pumped out and diverted the settled water and turned the slope into a positive by creating grade-level entrances on both the first and second floors.

As flexible as Ellis Stone managed to be with the project, the plans by WisDOT still threw a curve at the design/build contractor. The company was in the midst of planning construction on the 1-acre site when WisDOT stepped in, removing usable land from the site and placing easements on other areas.

“We had to keep that in mind and not put the building in the easement,” Johnson said. “It was a pain not knowing that up front because we started the design work.”

But the contractor is persevering, and, as the project moves through its halfway point in October, the structure should be totally enclosed with mechanical and electrical rough-in work beginning.

And despite the scheduling and construction issues, Johnson said the job is a success.

“Things have gone very smoothly so far, and I think it’s because of good communication between the owner, myself and the superintendent,” he said. “It’s a unique challenge, but, then, every project is.”

- Chris Thompson

Project Essentials

Project Name: Dr. Dovorany Professional Building
Location: Wausau
Owner: John Dovorany
Design/Build Contractor: Ellis Stone Construction Co., Stevens Point
Estimated Project Cost: $1.5 million
Start Date: July 2006
Scheduled Completion: Jan. 1, 2007

Project Fact

The brick for the Dovorany building is laid bed-side-out, which means the normal horizontal surface that each course of brick is set on is laid vertically so the bed face acts as the veneer of the building.