It takes team work

By Maryanne Davis Silve - 06/06/2008

Foundations for the guest house

for The Montana Standard TWIN BRIDGES — How is running a construction business like playing a high-stakes chess game?

Any move you make can cost you the game. Careful planning and experience help, but surprises abound.

Ron Pack and Dave Maddison are joint owners of JDL Construction Co. in Sheridan.

Generally, Pack oversees the carpentry part and Maddison runs the excavation, but they work as a team wherever they are needed.

On April 26, the first feature article appeared on the earth friendly guest home being built by JDL near Twin Bridges.

Progress may seem slow but building a home from the ground up is a very big task. Whether people are doing it themselves or supervising construction, there are hundreds of hours and choices involved.

JDL is not working on just one home, but four. Maddison and Pack must move their men around to different sites, taking into consideration, their skills and talents and the work at hand.

The similarity to a chess board arises again as the supervisors move their men around on the giant chessboard of houses being built in different areas up dirt roads, around corners and valleys in Madison and surrounding counties. Weighing each man’s skills, balancing the timing and moving him into the right places is a skill in itself.

When they began excavation on the site for the guesthouse, they encountered another hardship.

“When we got the hole excavated to depth we hit clay pockets,” Pack said, “We had to over-excavate seven feet deep to bring all that out and move crushed gravel in to back fill it. You cannot build on clay pockets.

“It is old, blue slimy stuff. It’s an old riverbed, from who knows, maybe thousands of years ago,” he said.

“It would be like building on the swamp if you didn’t excavate it all out. We put 700 yards of gravel into that hole. Then it all has to be compacted in lifts. You put it in a foot deep, then compact it repeatedly,” Pack said.

“Four trucks were running continuously for quite a while,” said Bob Lovejoy, one of JDL’s employees.

Brian Beal, a JDL employee for 10 years, is heading up the crew at the guesthouse site.

“They won’t let us go,” he said with a grin. “They treat us so good, we don’t want to leave.” Assisting Beal are Ryan Maddison and George Breakall. They are stripping the footings and getting ready to pour the walls.

Next week they plan to pour the walls of the foundation. Now they have the footers in Beal said.

Lovejoy is overseeing the crew that has been busy with another project up the hill from the guesthouse. They have built a huge carport for guests and employees. It is made with the same recycled, rustic boards, which blend well into the landscape.

Lovejoy has been with JDL for 15 years. He is also a native of the area, son of the late Bob Lovejoy who owned the Blue Anchor in Twin Bridges. He and his father went together and bought tools.

“He worked with the tools after he retired and then I took over,” Lovejoy said. “I worked for two other construction companies before I came to JDL. My dad and I enjoyed building. I enjoy seeing stuff go up.” The construction workers reported Wednesday, the day the concrete was poured into the footings, was a miserable day.

“You never know about this country,” Lovejoy said, “It can be like this one or two days and then you are down to your t-shirt the next day.” Lovejoy said he put his underwear back on and claims he is not taking it off again until he’s seen the sun for at least two days!

Behind the guesthouse site a little creek winds its way through the trees. The hillside above is now dressed in fresh green grass and leaves from the willow bushes gently sway in the breeze. Now and then, the shadow of a brook trout zipping up stream will catch your eye. It is only a glimpse of the beauty that fortunate guests will enjoy a year from now when the work is complete.

Life has taught the JDL owners much. If a person totaled the years of work experience, the number for the JDL team of workers would be well over 150. Still, there are always surprises, changes and delays. Pack feels these challenges are all part of the game and this is precisely what keeps it exciting and interesting for him. No two homes or customers are alike.

The chess game will change again. The challenges will arise and JDL knows, in due time, they will win and so will the people they serve.