#flooring installation contractors in Oklahoma

[atfoklahoma]

Epoxy Kitchen Floor Residential in Oklahoma: A Comprehensive Guide | Atf Oklahoma

Epoxy flooring has become a popular choice for residential kitchens in Oklahoma, thanks to its durability, aesthetics, and ease of maintenance. This versatile flooring solution is perfect for homeowners looking to enhance the functionality and appearance of their kitchens. In this guide, we'll explore the benefits of epoxy kitchen floors, how to find the right flooring installation contractors in Oklahoma, and the advantages of industrial and polished concrete flooring.

Why Choose Epoxy Flooring for Your Kitchen?

Epoxy flooring is a robust and attractive option for residential kitchens. It is created by mixing a resin with a hardening agent, resulting in a durable and seamless surface. Here are some key benefits:

1. Durability

Epoxy floors are incredibly resistant to wear and tear, making them ideal for high-traffic areas like kitchens. They can withstand heavy foot traffic, spills, and dropped objects without showing signs of damage.

2. Easy Maintenance

One of the biggest advantages of epoxy flooring is its low maintenance. The smooth, non-porous surface is easy to clean and resistant to stains, which is particularly useful in a kitchen setting where spills are common.

3. Aesthetic Appeal

Epoxy floors come in a variety of colors and finishes, allowing homeowners to customize their kitchen floors to match their style. The glossy finish can make a kitchen look sleek and modern.

4. Safety

Epoxy floors can be formulated to be slip-resistant, which is an important safety feature in a kitchen. This reduces the risk of accidents caused by spills or wet floors.

Finding the Right Flooring Installation Contractors in Oklahoma

Choosing the right contractor is crucial for a successful epoxy flooring installation. Here are some tips to help you find the best flooring installation contractors in Oklahoma:

Research and Reviews

Start by researching local contractors online. Look for reviews and testimonials from previous customers. Websites like ATF Oklahoma offer information about their services and customer feedback.

Experience and Expertise

Choose a contractor with extensive experience in epoxy flooring installations. Experienced contractors are more likely to deliver high-quality results and handle any challenges that may arise during the installation process.

Portfolio

Ask potential contractors for a portfolio of their previous work. This will give you an idea of their expertise and the quality of their installations.

Quotes and Estimates

Get Quotes and Estimates from multiple contractors to compare prices. Be wary of quotes that are significantly lower than others, as they may indicate lower quality materials or workmanship.

Licensing and Insurance

Ensure that the contractor is licensed and insured. This protects you from any liability in case of accidents or damage during the installation process.

Industrial Flooring for Kitchens in Oklahoma

For homeowners who need an even more robust solution, industrial flooring for kitchens in Oklahoma is a great option. Industrial flooring is designed to withstand heavy use and harsh conditions, making it perfect for both residential and commercial kitchens.

Advantages of Industrial Flooring

Extreme Durability: Built to endure heavy equipment and constant use.

Chemical Resistance: Resists damage from spills and cleaning agents.

Hygienic: Easy to clean and maintain, promoting a sanitary kitchen environment.

Residential Polished Concrete Floors in Oklahoma

Polished concrete is another popular choice for kitchen flooring. It combines durability with a modern, sleek look. Here's why residential polished concrete floors in Oklahoma are gaining popularity:

Benefits of Polished Concrete

Long-lasting: Extremely durable and can last for decades with proper care.

Low Maintenance: Requires minimal upkeep compared to other flooring types.

Eco-friendly: Uses existing concrete slabs, reducing the need for additional materials.

Versatile Aesthetic: Can be stained or dyed to achieve various colors and patterns.

Commercial Epoxy in Oklahoma

Commercial kitchens have unique flooring requirements due to the high level of activity and stringent hygiene standards. Commercial epoxy flooring in Oklahoma provides an ideal solution for these demanding environments.

Key Features of Commercial Epoxy Flooring

Heavy-duty Performance: Handles the stress of constant foot traffic and heavy machinery.

Hygienic Surface: Easy to clean, promoting a sanitary workspace.

Slip-resistant: Can be treated to prevent slips and falls, enhancing safety.

Cost-effective: Long lifespan and low maintenance costs make it a budget-friendly option for businesses.

Conclusion

Epoxy flooring is an excellent choice for residential kitchens in Oklahoma, offering a blend of durability, aesthetic appeal, and easy maintenance. Whether you opt for epoxy, industrial flooring, or polished concrete, finding the right flooring contractor is crucial for achieving the best results. By choosing experienced and reputable contractors like those at ATF Oklahoma, you can ensure a high-quality installation that will enhance your kitchen for years to come.

Whether you are considering a new flooring installation for your home or business, exploring the various options available in Oklahoma can help you make an informed decision that meets your needs and preferences.

[allaboutremodeling]

Plumbing Services Oklahoma City

Need Plumbing Services in Oklahoma City? All About Remodeling offers plumbing installation and repair services for your home or business. Call us today for a free estimate!

[amberfaber40]

Grand Barn Doors

Grand Barn Doors

Create a first impression like none other with a beautiful custom door. Enjoy unmatched aesthetics and lasting quality when you work with us.

Heritage Restorations - Timber Frame Restoration & Construction

Small Barndominiums - Everything You Need For Less

Interested in a small barndominium, and don't need the space some of the more massive ones provide? Come learn about the benefits of a small barndomin

15 Cozy Barn Homes We Wish We Could Live In

These gorgeous, cozy barn homes will have you rethinking your whole floor plan.

Barn Office

This unique barn-style office in Stillwater, Oklahoma, is the inspiration behind our beloved Stillwater Barn Home Kit.

19 Awesome Small Barn Homes

Searching for a stunning small barn home? We’ve put together a great list that’ll suit you. Read on!

This Sunny A-Frame in Oregon Is Every Outdoorsy Person's Dream

When a Portland couple renovated this a-frame house outside of Portland, they added windows everywhere to energize the traditionally dark architectural style

Overlook

Unique and Creative Shipping Container House from Creative-Cabins

Take a closer look at the unique and creative shipping container house with Livinginacontainer! Click here to learn about container homes, ideas and more.

3500 Miami

As we finish up 2019 at HbJD, I thought this would be a good grand finale post. I started designing this home last Christmas and worked on building and interior designing / decorating throughout most of 2019 to make it one of our new models. It was very humbling for it to then get voted as best of parade in October by the public. Come and see it on Sundays 1-4 after the holidays! I hope you like it.

Dream Home

48'x60' Great Plains Western Barn Home - 10ft Open-lean-to

Converted Barn/Artist Studio: Provincetown, MA

Photographed by Don Freeman for The World of Interiors. All photographs courtesy of the artist. To see more of his interiors photography, visit donfreemanphoto.com

One House Leads To Another

...there are often times an existing YBH house design provides the inspiration for a new client’s home.

Catskill Lodge

Make a good first impression with a unique front entryway. Ready for a new look inside? Our interior doors add flair. With more than 20 years’ experience, we customize every detail of your custom wood doors, from wood species, to stain color, to the amount of light filtering through your entryway.Solid Wood DoorsYou know your style; we know custom millwork. From the start, you’ll be partnered with an engineer who will turn your vision into a beautiful, high-quality solid wood door that matches your design and functionality needs.Our WorkInstallation ProcessWe work with architects, builders, general contractors, interior designers, and homeowners. We understand your unique situations and streamline the production and installation process to deliver consistent quality — hassle-free. Tight timelines, out-of-the-box requests…give us what you got, and we’ll make it happen.Testimonials"We worked with Amos and his team on a custom sapele mahogany front door and trim for our home. They never made us feel that it was too small of a project even though they were busy with much larger projects at the time. We were impressed with how detailed they were and how they allowed us to be very involved in the process. We were very pleased with the whole experience... Our door is a staple of our home!"- Sarah B“My first exposure to Vintage was meeting Amos Fisher to inquire if they could replicate the front façade windows of a 1913 building I was restoring [the West Reading Motor Club]. Amos and Daniel Glick were wonderful to deal with and replicated the exterior and interior window moldings and updated the windows with insulated glass. Their craftsmanship was so outstanding they were asked to do a number of additional projects at this site. In 2020, the restoration won a Pennsylvania Main Street Townie Award for best restoration. Subsequent to this project, I reached out again to Amos for building custom front and garage doors for a new Craftsman-style residence. These doors make the new home stand out. They are great to work with, and their quality is superb.”- Frank CocuzzaDownload Our Brochure

[polyasparticcoatings]

Choosing the Best Garage Floor Coating

Choosing the best garage floor coating is an important decision for homeowners. The right coating can protect your garage flooring and keep it looking great for years to come.

There are many types of garage floor coating available to choose from. However, there are a few things you should consider before deciding on one.

First and foremost, you should understand the different types of commercial floor epoxy and their pros and cons. Some coatings are easier to apply than others, while some provide additional protection against the elements.

Epoxy is the standard in garage floors, and it offers a number of benefits. Unlike paint, epoxy is extremely durable and resistant to chipping and cracking. It also requires less maintenance than paint and is very easy to clean.

In addition, it is a cost-effective option for protecting the surface of your garage. This is especially true if you plan to park vehicles on your garage floor for extended periods of time.

It’s a good idea to get professional advice from a trusted contractor before making a final decision. They can help you choose the perfect floor coating for your needs and budget.

Another advantage of epoxy is that it resists stains from chemicals such as oil and brake fluid. This is a huge plus because these substances can be hard to remove from concrete floors.

A major benefit of epoxy is that it will stand up to metal fabrication activities such as welding. If your garage is used for welding or other industrial applications, you should have a contractor test the concrete before installing an epoxy system.

Depending on the product being used, a garage floor may need several layers of epoxy coats before it is fully cured. These coats must be applied with proper curing times. This can take up to 72 hours.

While epoxy is the standard for a tough, good-looking surface on the garage floor, other coatings are becoming popular as well. Some of these include polyurea and polyaspartic systems.

They are very durable and are available in a variety of colors and shades. They are also easy to clean and maintain, and they can withstand even the harshest climates.

Some of these systems are even warrantied for up to 15 years!

When a luxury garage floor coating oklahoma city system is installed properly, it will resist the damage that hot tires can cause. It will not soften or separate from the underlying cement as is commonly the case with big-box retail systems.

Whether you are building a new garage or simply want to update your existing one, a high-quality garage floor coating is an essential part of any home improvement project.

A good quality garage floor coating will offer you long-lasting protection, low maintenance and a beautiful, sleek look that will add to the value of your home.

If you have questions about garage floor coating, contact us today. We are happy to discuss your options and schedule a free estimate with one of our experts. Read more about flooring at https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/15/stop-hating-your-floors_n_5489058.html.

[atfoklahoma]

ATF has expansive experience in commercial installations of tile, large format tile, carpet, lvt, sheet vinyl, resinous flooring, sealers, polish and joint fillers. http://www.atfoklahoma.com

[northoklahomacityhandyman]

Mr. Handyman of North Oklahoma City and Edmond

717 Evergreen St Edmond, OK 73003, USA 405-584-6279 Are you searching for an Oklahoma City handyman near me to provide services for home repairs, home renovations and commercial properties? Mr. Handyman of North Oklahoma City and Edmond will exceed your expectations!If you want an Oklahoma City handyman who can do it all, you can rely on our team to provide the professional handyman services you need. You can take advantage of our skilled experts for everything from routine home repair to major home remodeling. We also offer professional commercial handyman services. Don’t worry about hiring multiple home repair contractors and home improvement contractors to get the job done. We’re your convenient, one-call solution for everything your property requires. Our interior handyman services include furniture assembly service, bathroom upgrades, drywall repair—for both wall repair and ceiling drywall repair—home window repair and commercial window repair, flooring repair, interior door installation, door repair, shower door repair, interior trim installation, ceiling fan repair, interior trim repair, cabinet repair, basic plumbing, door lock installation, tile repair, grout repair, backsplash and tile installation in Oklahoma City, Edmond and other nearby communities.You can also take advantage of exterior services such as exterior door repairs, exterior door installation, dog door installation, pressure washing and power washing services, window replacement, house siding repair, siding replacement, gutter repair, gutter cleaning, soffits and fascia board repair, wood rot repair, porch repair, gate repair, deck repair and fence repair in Oklahoma City, Edmond and many communities in the surrounding area such as Arcadiam Nichols Hills, The Village, Deer Creek, Bethany, Warr Acres, Midwest City, Spencer, Piedmont, Mustang, and Yukon.If your home or business is in need of handyman service, call 405-584-6279 today to get in touch with a professional handyman in Oklahoma City!

[allcleaningokc-com]

Cleaning For Events

About us:-

in any respect cleaning contractors oklahoma we take care that you are in the great possible surroundings to perform a better job, due to the fact we realize how hard and uncomfortable it is to need to paintings in an unsightly surroundings, we offer the first-rate cleansing services on your area. In case you want cleaning offerings for your workplace you can anticipate us, we've the qualified workforce to leave your spot impeccable. Our services are also to be had for business or residential buildings, groups, lodges and many greater. Our services are available at some point of oklahoma city on the first-class prices, we've got a very good recognition as a dependable enterprise cleaning service. Put up production cleaning

approximately the put up development cleansing administrations

in case you are the proprietor of a structure and feature quite recently finished the improvement or redecorate of the assets, you require a best attendant cleaning agency who might be looking after all the submit development cleansing administrations of the structure. They'll installation your shape constantly of introduction and likewise take the charge of the start of their cleaning related work. As the improvement receives over, the post improvement cleaning administrations begin their paintings. They need to clean the flooring, roofs, steps, dividers, clean squanders or even provide cover cleansing. They'll get their very own vital forms of gear with which they will easy and they will clean the trash and dumps from the destinations. The post improvement cleaning administrations of the cleansing agency includes the accompanying rundown of duties which might be expressed beneath.

• dusting and moist cleansing each one of the hard floor flooring

• dusting baseboards

• cleaning baseboards

• vacuuming each single included location

• cleaning all water warmers

• cleansing every single application bureau, warming framework, stockpiling regions and carports.

• cleansing water valve container

• cleansing cobwebs and such from the outside segment

• dusting every one of the door handles, entryways, switches and attachment covers

• rubbing and washing the surfaces, all matters considered, and sliding glass entryways

• cleaning all windows and sliding glass entryway edges, ledges, and tracks

• cleaning within part of the relative multitude of cabinets. Finishing the pantries, vanities, spoiled woodwork and all handled metal sinks

• cleansing the pipes installations, medicine, cupboards, mirrors, and shower gildings

• getting freed of all short-term marks, pressing substances, support and steering manual. Putting them in a methodical style thru the house

• dusting the dividers

• cleaning all latrines, kitchen, apparatuses, tubs and sinks

• getting freed of all brief stronghold and names which are not wished

the post improvement cleansing employer normally expenses their charges on the degree of work to be carried out and furthermore based on the time they would take to complete the relegated paintings. The sum shifts from one challenge to some other, in a scope people$2 hundred to us$800, which should contain no much less than three cleaning subject be counted specialists. It would encompass:

• vacuuming, tidying and scouring of surfaces

• dusting roof pipes, appearing ventilation paintings, introducing mild installations

• sanitizing kitchens and washrooms

• waxing, vacuuming and cleansing ground surfaces and so on

coping with a expert organization

submit construction cleaning-get a tidy and organized appearance

we must consent to that reality that how tough may additionally we attempt, we cannot play out the cleansing venture like professionals do. Cause being is that they are proficient and organized to address the cleansing of different areas. They realize a way to preserve with the cleaning undertaking bit by bit. If you are searching for post improvement cleansing, contact any professional cleanser who can assist you with excursion looking after the errand. They are enabled with corporations of cleansing experts and modern-day equipment which can effectively play out the cleansing undertaking.

Visit To More Information :- https://www.allcleaningokc.com/

[epoxyfloorsoklahomablog-blog]

When you choose our contractors at Oklahoma City Epoxy Flooring, it means enjoying realistic elegant patios with little material costs. Our talented installation team knows how to create your perfect outdoor walkways or interior flooring that lasts.

[atfoklahoma]

Rise Your Space with Absolute Tile Flooring: Unveiling a Symphony of Flooring Services

In the realm of interior design and home improvement, flooring plays a pivotal role in defining the ambiance and character of a space. Absolute Tile emerges as a beacon in the domain of flooring solutions, offering a comprehensive suite of services that transform your residential or commercial space into a haven of elegance. Committed to delivering "Service like it used to be," Absolute Tile is your partner in creating enduring beauty that withstands the test of time.

Demolition Expertise in Holdenville : Clearing the Path for Renewal

Absolute Tile specializes in the complete removal of existing flooring, ensuring a clean slate for your upcoming transformation. Equipped with state-of-the-art machinery, including the Takeup machine Panther 5600, the company employs negative air scrubbing machines and dustless vacuums with floor grinders to ensure a meticulous removal process. Your property is guaranteed to be left spotless, setting the stage for the installation of a new masterpiece.

Diverse Flooring Installation services in Henryetta : Tailored to Your Unique Needs

Understanding that different spaces demand different flooring solutions, Absolute Tile offers a diverse range of flooring types to meet various industry needs. Whether it's a modern corporate office, a sterile healthcare facility, luxurious hotels, upgraded retail spaces, or trendy restaurants, the company delivers flooring solutions that align with the style and vibe of the space. From classic choices like wood and carpet to the sophistication of granite and marble, Absolute Tile ensures a perfect fit for every project.

Showers/Steam Rooms: Luxurious Retreats

Beyond standard flooring, Absolute Tile extends its expertise to showers and steam rooms. Elevate your bathing experience with carefully crafted designs that combine functionality and luxury. The company removes the guesswork by providing accurate measurements during an initial consultation, ensuring a seamless and budget-friendly transformation of your bathing spaces.

Design Consultation Service in Hugo: Bringing Your Vision to Life

Absolute Tile recognizes that envisioning the final look of your space can be challenging. The company offers design consultations where experts collaborate with clients to explore layout possibilities, consider measurements, and propose color schemes that harmonize with the overall aesthetic. With a focus on budget, functionality, and aesthetics, Absolute Tile guides clients toward flooring choices that perfectly complement their spaces.

In-home Estimates Services in Jenks: Removing Guesswork, Ensuring Confidence

Accurate measurements are the foundation of a successful flooring project. Absolute Tile offers in-home estimates, sending experts to your commercial or residential space to measure and provide a detailed outline of the estimated cost. This personalized service eliminates guesswork, instilling confidence in clients about the accuracy of their project estimates.

Our Motto: Service Like It Used to Be

Absolute Tile proudly upholds the motto, "Service like it used to be." This isn't just a tagline; it's a promise from the Absolute Tile family to yours. It embodies a commitment to exceptional service, timeless craftsmanship, and a dedication to transforming your space into a work of art.

Contact Information

For inquiries and appointments, reach out to:

Absolute Tile and Floors LLC Phone: 405.401.4477 Website: atfoklahoma.com

Embrace a new era of flooring excellence with Absolute Tile, where every step is a brushstroke in the canvas of your space's transformation.

[melvinfellerstuff]

Melvin Feller MA Discusses the Things you can do to Increase Property Values

Melvin Feller MA Discusses the Things you can do to Increase Property Values

Melvin Feller is known as “The Entrepreneur’s Mentor” because Melvin walks his talk. Melvin Feller has been there and done that and more importantly, Melvin Feller knows how to transfer the skill set for success.  This is main reason that he has been the sought after coach to hundreds of small business owners, entrepreneurs, Realtors, Real estate investors and service professional internationally. Melvin Feller’s main talent is to show you how the step by step process to build and enjoy a successful 6-figure plus business while having a balanced life.  Melvin Feller maintains an office in Texas.  Melvin Feller is currently pursuing another graduate degree as an MBA.

 T here are many things a home owner can do to increase the value of their home. This can be done on the interior or the exterior of the home, from do-it-yourself for the smaller projects to hiring a contractor for the larger jobs. You can give your home a face lift a little at a time. Most home owners don t have the finances for a complete over haul done all at once. To most people, their home is their largest investment and they would like to keep it in prime condition. Although the price of your home is mostly determined by the current market conditions, there are several things you can do to maximize your homes value.

 1. Decorative moldings can be used throughout the home for interior to exterior, to trim doors, floors, walls, windows, fire places and ceilings. These moldings can be found at practically all home improvement stores and are fairly easy to install to enhance the look of any room.

 2. Kitchens tend to be the greatest investment that many potential buyers look at the most. Replacing cabinets and counter tops, can be done gradually at your own discretion or you may choose a more creative way to improve the old ones by painting the cabinets and replacing the knobs or handles.

 3. Vinyl windows are a great way to increase the value of any house. These windows function better than the old wooden windows by opening for easy cleaning and they conserve more energy in the months when heat or central air will be used the most. They do not require painting and they can really make a house look beautiful.

4. Adding a new roof can make a very strong impression. The roof is the first thing people see and this can play a strong role in how much your house will sell for. A new sturdy roof provides protection from leaks that make ugly stains on the ceilings in your house that can lead to more damage.

  5. Installing vinyl siding, if you don t already have it, this can add up to $10,000 to the value of your house. If you have fairly decent vinyl siding already, you can hire a power washing company to clean the siding and give your house a fresh new look.

 6. Painting the interior or exterior of a house can transform a house completely with a few coats of paint. You can be as colorful and creative as you like and you can take your time doing so, one room at a time.

 7. Flooring absolutely makes the difference in any room. Whether you use linoleum, tiles, wood or carpet, a new floor can make all the difference.

 8. Adding new appliances such as a refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, washer and dryer can greatly improve the value of your home. Along with adding a new water heater, furnace and central air unit.

 9. Exterior landscaping can enhance a homes value by keeping a well maintained yard to adding strategically placed flowers and shrubs. You can also plant an attractive garden or install a small fish pond. Deciding to install or replace a fence along your property line will also be a great attraction to potential buyers, especially the ones who have children.

10. Adding a new deck is a great asset to the exterior look of your home. These can be made from a variety of wood and sealed to preserve the natural appearance. A new deck will provide  the outside recreational area to grill out, while relaxing in a comfortable patio set and enjoying the great outdoors and fresh air.

 Adding value to your home can be as simple and as affordable as you want it to be. Most improvements can be accomplished a little at a time, all depending on your time and budget. Smaller improvements can be made by simply adding potted plants along the stairs up to your freshly painted front door or by adding a small table or work of art in your foyer.

 A visit to the home improvement store or looking through magazines can spark creativity when remodeling your home. Even if you have no idea where to start, one spark can lead to another and another, until before you know it, you have created a beautiful home that you may never want to leave.

Melvin Feller MA is in Texas and in Oklahoma. Melvin Feller founded Melvin Feller Business Group and Melvin Feller Ministries in the 1970s to help individuals and organizations achieve their specific Victory. Victory as defined by the individual or organization are achieving strategic objectives, exceeding goals, getting results or desired outcomes and a positive outreach with grace and as a ministries. He has extensive experience assisting businesses achieve top and bottom line results. He has broad practical experience creating WINNERS in many organizations and industries. He has hands-on experience in executive leadership, operations, logistics, sales, program management, organizational development, training, and customer service. He has coached teams to achieve results in strategic planning, business development, organizational design, sales, and customer response and business process improvement. He has prepared and presented many workshops nationally and internationally.

[bountyofbeads]

Every person with a family member in the U.S Military needs to read this. It is SHAMEFUL and DISGUSTING the way the Trump administration is treating our military services members. This story sounds so familiar with all the corruption, you'd think it was the Trump Organization running the United States military.

A REUTERS SPECIAL REPORT

Air Force landlord falsified records to boost income, documents show

One of the U.S. military’s largest private-industry landlords falsified maintenance records, Reuters found, helping it secure incentive fees as families awaited repairs. The company’s actions, a former employee said, were akin to “bank robbery at a corporate level.”

By M.B. Pell | Published June 18, 2019, 11 a.m. GMT | Reuters | Posted June 18, 2019 |

TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Oklahoma – When Paige and Nick Ippolito moved to a row house on this air base in 2015, the floors in the kitchen, living room and hallway were warped. They told the base’s landlord, Balfour Beatty Communities, but “nothing was done,” a company maintenance report shows.

Nick, a Navy petty officer second class stationed at Tinker, worried their baby daughter might lose a finger in the jagged flooring. After a water leak further broke up the floor, a company technician noted in a maintenance log that the eight-month-old “may become sick from chewing on pieces” breaking away from the flooring.

The floor tiles and adhesive contained asbestos, a carcinogen, an internal company maintenance report shows.

The official Balfour Beatty maintenance logs available to the Air Force indicate the company promptly addressed the problems. The leak, for instance, was fixed in 20 minutes, the records purport to show. In fact, the logs were faked. The family said that repair took over a week. The Ippolitos endured the other hazards for months.

“You think your family is safe, and then you find out your kid is eating asbestos flooring. It makes me sick,” Nick Ippolito said. “It seems like they’re just out for the dollar.”

Balfour Beatty, among the U.S. military’s largest housing providers, systematically falsified its Tinker Air Force Base maintenance logs for years, Reuters found through a review of company records, Air Force reports and interviews with former workers. The fake entries made the company appear responsive to tenant complaints and unsafe conditions, helping it secure millions in “performance incentive fees” for good service that it otherwise often would not have qualified for. The efforts left families in harm’s way and persuaded Air Force brass to ignore warnings of trouble raised by military base employees.

For years, Balfour Beatty kept two sets of maintenance books at Tinker, Reuters, working in partnership with CBS News, found. A falsified set of official electronic records was shown to the Air Force, listing quick response times. A handwritten set of accurate records was also kept by the company in order to track what was really happening. These records, never disclosed to the military but examined in part by Reuters, show that weeks routinely elapsed before hazards were remedied.

Robert Whittington, Balfour Beatty’s manager at Tinker from 2014 until July 2017, told Reuters he doctored work-order information in the electronic maintenance logs at the direction of his superiors and pressured staff to close out unfinished work orders, so that late responses would not count against the company.

Whittington said he knew falsifying records left families in peril. A retired Air Force veteran, he said he was disgusted by his actions, and, after wrestling with his conscience and refusing further orders to alter records, resigned.

“It’s like they’re operating a bank robbery at a corporate level,” Whittington said. “I got to the point where I was waking up in the morning and wondering, ‘Well, how many people am I going to have to screw over today?’ ”

Whittington’s claims are supported by numerous internal memos to Balfour Beatty employees instructing them on how to engage in the deception. Reuters documented at least 65 instances in 2016 and 2017 in which Balfour Beatty employees backdated repair requests, filed paperwork claiming false exemptions from response-time requirements, or closed out unfinished maintenance requests.

Such problems were well known to some Air Force housing employees stationed at Tinker. For years, they told the Air Force of questionable record keeping and slum-like living conditions. Yet their attempts to hold Balfour Beatty accountable were blocked by the Air Force Civil Engineering Center, or AFCEC, a unit based in San Antonio, Texas, that is tasked with monitoring private landlords.

At least 18 times since 2015, Tinker-based Air Force housing officials warned that Balfour Beatty maintenance logs contained false information making it appear the company promptly responded to service requests, Air Force reports show. “We do not feel that emergency, urgent and routine work orders are accurately recorded,” said one periodic report on Balfour Beatty’s performance.

65

Number of times Reuters found Balfour Beatty workers backdating repair requests, filing false exemptions or closing unfinished jobs.

Quarter after quarter, the Air Force engineering center downplayed these concerns, giving the company high service marks and advising Tinker officials to drop their complaints. “It doesn’t matter if they were in compliance or not, they would still get paid,” a local housing official at Tinker wrote in a February 2018 email.

At the heart of the failure to hold the Tinker landlord accountable was a conflict within the Air Force. On one side was the on-site Air Force housing office, whose prime mission was assisting residents and conducting daily oversight of Balfour Beatty. On the other was AFCEC, responsible for developing and managing all of the Air Force’s privatized housing projects. While AFCEC, too, has an oversight role, it is also responsible for ensuring smooth long-term relations with the landlords with whom it does business. Over the years, AFCEC repeatedly sided with its partner, Balfour Beatty.

Presented with the evidence Reuters found of years of false reporting, slow repairs and hazardous conditions at its homes, Balfour Beatty said the company learned in 2016 that one employee at Tinker had acted “improperly,” without providing specifics. It described this as an isolated incident and said it worked with the Air Force to strengthen its maintenance system. The company did not comment on instances of false record-keeping, the internal memos and other irregularities Reuters documented before and after 2016 at Tinker and other bases.

Balfour Beatty said it has cooperated fully with inquiries by the Air Force and other government agencies into its business. “As an organization, BBC has not and does not condone the falsification of records in any way,” the company said in a statement.

In December, Reuters reported widespread instances of shoddy construction and safety hazards in new housing units private companies, including Balfour Beatty, built on U.S. bases. Since that report, the Air Force says, it has been withholding fees from the company at Tinker, pending a review of the matter.

In response to the new findings about the company, John Henderson, the Air Force assistant secretary for installations, said in March he had “real issues” with Balfour Beatty’s performance at Tinker. But he said he did not believe housing companies purposefully changed maintenance records to win incentive fees.

In June, after being shown further details of Reuters’ reporting, he said he will await the outcome of ongoing investigations to determine what happened. He said there were “discrepancies in the maintenance records” and that “allegations of fraud” involving Tinker and at least two other company bases were referred to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2017.

“We trust our private sector partners to act in good faith,” Henderson said. “When this doesn’t happen, we must hold those responsible accountable for achieving better outcomes to ensure that we continue to be worthy of earning the trust of our Airmen and our Nation.”

The Air Force Office of Special Investigations does not discuss investigations, said Linda Card, chief of public affairs for the agency. But she added: “Conversations are still taking place” with the U.S. Department of Justice “about what avenues (criminal or civil) – if any – can be pursued against Balfour Beatty.”

“I was waking up in the morning and wondering, ‘Well, how many people am I going to have to screw over today?’ ”

Robert Whittington, former Balfour Beatty manager

Regardless of that inquiry’s outcome, the Air Force plans to boost transparency by creating an automated maintenance-request process allowing residents to view the status of a work order, Henderson said. It also plans to revamp the incentive fee system, with details still being worked out. He defended the work of the Air Force’s engineering center, saying it had taken the allegations against Balfour Beatty seriously and performed an on-site review of the company’s work at Tinker.

The news of accounting irregularities by a major contractor comes as U.S. lawmakers are overhauling the Pentagon’s family housing program. The defense spending bill for 2020 proposed by the Senate Armed Services Committee includes measures to prevent fraudulent work orders, committee staff told Reuters, in part due to concern that millions in fees have been paid based on falsified maintenance records.

“Our military families deserve high-quality housing throughout their service, and that includes ethical and fair treatment by housing providers,” said Oklahoma Republican Jim Inhofe, the committee chair.

PROFIT INCENTIVES

Beginning in 1996, the military launched the largest-ever corporate takeover of U.S. federal housing, shifting ownership of more than 200,000 family housing units on bases to private real estate developers and property managers under 50-year contracts.

18

Number of times Tinker-based Air Force housing officials warned that Balfour Beatty maintenance logs contained false information, Reuters found.

These lucrative contracts include bonuses, or incentive fees, that private landlords can earn by meeting performance goals set with the military. To receive the fees, real estate companies must meet quarterly and annual goals, such as responding to resident maintenance requests within a specified time. The fees are payable each quarter, and are generally worth up to 2% of the total rent payments from service families living on base.

Balfour Beatty Communities, located in Malvern, Pennsylvania, runs the military housing unit of Balfour Beatty plc, a London-based infrastructure company with annual revenue of $10.7 billion. The company earns $33 million in annual profit on its military housing operations, Balfour Beatty Communities President Chris Williams told Congress in February. The incentive fees alone on those operations are worth about $800 million over the life of the 50-year contracts it holds for 43,000 homes on 55 Air Force, Navy and Army bases across the country, Reuters calculates.

Balfour Beatty took over housing operations at Tinker in 2008. Since then, Reuters estimates, it has earned up to $2 million in incentive fees there.

Signs of irregular reporting have surfaced at other Balfour Beatty bases. In 2016, Air Force housing officials stationed at California’s Travis Air Force Base alleged company employees were using a second set of maintenance logs, an Air Force statement confirmed. In 2017, the housing officials found the company was closing out maintenance requests before they were finished and classifying records incorrectly, the base’s quarterly housing performance records show. That same year, housing officials at Fairchild Air Force base in Washington State said Balfour Beatty submitted inaccurate maintenance data in its application to receive incentive fees.

The Air Force could not substantiate the allegations at Travis and Fairchild. But it stopped paying incentive fees to Balfour Beatty at the two bases late last year, pending a review, and referred the incidents to Air Force investigators and the FBI.

Still, the Air Force has never clawed back incentive fees paid to Balfour Beatty, an Air Force spokesperson said. Nor has AFCEC audited the maintenance records of any other base managed by the company.

BIG LEAKS , TWO SETS OF BOOKS

At Tinker, Reuters last year found half of the nearly 400 new homes built by Balfour Beatty suffered from gushing leaks, raw sewage backups, rotten wood and severe mold.

Starting in late 2015, Balfour Beatty was overrun with maintenance requests in both old and new homes. Roofs leaked, plastic water lines burst and heating and air conditioning failed, former manager Whittington said. Yet that same year, the company recorded just 23 late work orders out of 6,000 jobs, internal work order data show.

In early 2016, Whittington said, executives cut the base’s maintenance staff from six to five, as corporate headquarters in London demanded larger profits from their military housing projects. That left about 132 homes for each worker to cover, he said. Still, Balfour Beatty told the Air Force it was responding promptly to maintenance requests.

Some Air Force housing personnel at Tinker considered the number of late responses suspiciously low, and the incentive fees the company was winning oddly high, Air Force emails show. “It's funny that all properties are always 100%” handled on time, one Air Force housing employee noted in a 2016 email to colleagues.

Then, in July 2016, during a casual conversation, the Tinker housing personnel noticed a hand-written maintenance schedule on the desk of a Balfour Beatty work-order clerk named Tina Brown.

Brown was responsible for taking maintenance requests over the phone and scheduling technicians to resolve them. Since her first day, she told Reuters, she maintained an unofficial, hand-written set of maintenance logs in addition to the official computerized records shared with the Air Force.

The hand-written books allowed Brown and other employees to accomplish two ends, according to Brown and other people familiar with the operation. They could accurately track the work so they could eventually complete it, but do so without triggering the clock that started ticking once a work order was entered in the official electronic system. Facilities manager Tim Heath instructed her to enter work orders in this fashion, according to Brown and Whittington. Heath did not return calls and text messages seeking comment.

The requests were often logged into the official system by Brown the day they were completed, not the day they were called in. By doing so, the workers ensured that Balfour Beatty was appearing to meet the response-time goals set in its Air Force contract: 30 minutes to begin an emergency request, four hours for an urgent one and 24 hours for a routine matter. The ruse also allowed the company to meet job completion goals: 24 hours for an emergency and two business days for both urgent and routine items.

An example from 2016 shows how the set-up worked. A page from Brown’s unofficial handwritten records includes a work request from a family with a broken stove, dated July 7, 2016. The official electronic maintenance log, captured in a screenshot from Brown’s work station, shows the family’s request was not entered until July 12, 2016 – the day before the work was done. If the request had been accurately logged, it would have failed the incentive requirements.

After finding Brown’s shadow set of books, Air Force housing officials at Tinker interviewed residents in the summer of 2016 and confirmed that Balfour Beatty was not entering requests when residents called them in. “These findings are very disheartening,” one official wrote in a July 2016 email to colleagues.

Balfour Beatty later addressed the accusation in an application for an incentive fee payment. It told the Air Force it had discovered “discrepancies in the data entry process at Tinker” and quickly acted to ensure it didn’t recur, according to the fee request it filed.

About two weeks earlier, Balfour Beatty had fired Brown. As she was escorted out of the office, according to people who witnessed the scene, she shouted to co-workers that she had been axed for keeping a fake set of books at the direction of her boss, Heath.

“They threw me to the wolves,” Brown said. She filed a wrongful termination suit against the company that is still pending.

In its statement, Balfour Beatty did not name Brown, but said a single employee acted inappropriately.

Internal Balfour Beatty documents show the company issued broad instructions to employees to alter the books.

That was the message in a 2013 directive about work orders emailed to Balfour Beatty employees. “You will modify and ‘correct’ these work orders so that they comply with the Response Time of 30 minutes – 1 hours, and a Completion Goal of 24 working hours for Emergency work orders,” the memo states.

Another 2016 internal memo shared via emailed instructs clerks to place maintenance requests in a red folder if “workload excessive and can’t schedule right away.”

Whittington said Tinker never had enough maintenance staff to tend to the base’s 660 homes. All the while, Whittington said, corporate staff from Phoenix pushed him to close out maintenance requests so the company could obtain incentive fees.

“Work orders were closed when they weren’t actually completed,” Whittington said. “Again, that plays into the incentive bonus.”

Whittington said he pressured his staff to “fudge the numbers.” In an email dated September 1, 2016, he directed two employees to close 119 resident maintenance requests in four hours. “The objective is to get ALL open Work orders closed today!” he wrote.

Whittington said he was directed by his regional manager, Rebecka Bailey, and vice president Raul Martinez. Bailey is no longer with the company; both she and Martinez declined to comment.

ASBESTOS HAZARDS

All those years, families lived with a range of hazards – raw sewage backups, vermin infestations and exposure to asbestos.

In the McNarney Manor neighborhood of Tinker, all but a handful of the 262 homes have flooring material containing asbestos, Whittington and two other former employees said. Balfour Beatty covered that material with floating floors or carpeting for aesthetic purposes and to seal away the asbestos tiling, a common and effective abatement strategy.

Much of the new flooring was cheap and poorly installed, however, according to Balfour Beatty work order records. From 2012 to February 2019, McNarney residents called in at least 350 maintenance requests complaining about flooring, including buckling, warping and, according to one work order, “black stuff coming thru flooring.”

In the Ippolitos’ case, Balfour Beatty’s maintenance records show the company moved the family into the home knowing the flooring was in “bad” condition, as one log put it, and that a risk of asbestos exposure existed.

The company should have hired a specialist to safely remove the asbestos or seal it off properly, said Nick Ippolito, who worked for 12 years as a residential construction supervisor before joining the Navy. “But I guess that took too much money for them,” he said. In 2018, the couple left the Navy.

Balfour Beatty declined to discuss the cases of specific families. It said it was not aware of widespread flooring problems in the McNarney homes.

THE ‘EXCEPTION ’ POLICY

After Tina Brown was fired in mid-2016, Whittington said, company executives directed Balfour Beatty employees at Tinker to stop keeping a second set of hand-written maintenance logs.

The number of late work orders skyrocketed, from eight during the first half of 2016 to 377 during the second half, according to a Reuters analysis of Tinker work order data. The company completed 12% of its maintenance calls late, which would have been too many to receive its full incentive fees. The company didn’t report these numbers to the Air Force, however.

Instead, in its application for incentive fees for the third quarter of 2016, Balfour Beatty again reported stellar figures, saying it completed between 96% and 98% of maintenance calls on time. The company sought 100% of the incentive fees for which it was eligible that quarter, $41,536.

Air Force housing officials at Tinker expressed disbelief. “We have had many complaints from residents from each category stating work orders were not completed within specified timeframe,” the Tinker housing office wrote to another outside contractor, recommending against incentives that quarter.

They were right to be suspicious, said Whittington. After Brown’s firing, he said, regional manager Bailey directed him to make sure the maintenance numbers met the incentive fee goals by massaging the records. The company began taking advantage of a technicality known as the “work order exception policy” to keep winning incentive fees, according to Whittington and documents.

Under the Pentagon’s housing contracts, when a maintenance request cannot be completed on time because of extenuating circumstances, landlords can file an “exception” so the work order doesn’t count against them. Examples include having to order special parts, jobs requiring multiple stages of labor, or residents requesting a repair slot after the mandated response deadline.

Whittington said he combed through late maintenance requests and edited the records to include exceptions to the response time policy.

“Shamefully, I complied,” Whittington said.

The next spring, April 17, 2017, eight residents called in maintenance requests and, the official records say, all eight requested the work be done later than required, on April 20, according to an email exchange with the Tinker housing office. Without those exceptions, all eight jobs would have been late, counting against Balfour’s incentive goals.

As recently as last year, Balfour Beatty was still relying on exceptions. Tinker had about 1,850 late work orders in 2018; more than 1,100 fell under a time policy exception, the records show.

The company says it did often use exceptions at Tinker starting in 2016. In 2018, Balfour Beatty says, it and the Air Force implemented a new process for recording work orders, including the use of exceptions.

The Air Force Civil Engineering Command, or AFCEC, said it is working with Balfour Beatty to correct “challenges.”

Melody Marsh, AFCEC’s regional manager, has defended the company. In May 2017, a resident invited a Tinker housing official into her home to witness a persistent leak. Marsh scolded the official for entering the home without a Balfour Beatty representative. “This isn't showing a partnering approach,” she wrote.

In August 2017, after Tinker’s housing office provided AFCEC with evidence that Balfour Beatty was claiming fake exceptions, Tinker staffers urged a curtailing of fees. Marsh overruled the recommendation.

“AFCEC does not agree that your response validates a decrease in the award incentive,” Marsh wrote.

Marsh did not reply to a request for comment.

The warnings continued. In December 2017, AFCEC agreed to cut a small portion – 3.8% – of Balfour Beatty’s incentive fees for the second and third quarters of 2017.

Last November, the Tinker housing office asked Marsh and the Air Force engineering center to investigate Balfour Beatty, predicting dire consequences if action was not taken. “With continued inadequate maintenance, our property will not withstand a 50 year lifecycle,” it wrote.

Marsh declined, replying in correspondence that investigations were “ineffective and extremely unproductive.”

Some Tinker families continue battling the landlord. In May, neighbors gathered on Mundell Street to discuss those struggles with a Reuters reporter.

Derek Rouse, a Navy flight engineer, said he and wife Jennifer have asked Balfour Beatty for years to stop rainwater from penetrating their home. In April, Balfour Beatty marked a work order from the Rouses as finished on time, claiming to have fixed the couple’s back door by installing new weather stripping. The reporter examined the door. New weather stripping had not been installed.

“I get done flying at 4 a.m., and at 6 am I get a phone call from my wife saying the house is leaking again,” Derek said. “I put my life on the line, and I shouldn’t have to deal with this.”

Additional reporting by Joshua Schneyer and Deborah Nelson

Ambushed at Home | By M.B. PELL |

Photo editing: Steve MCKINLEY |

Design: Pete HAUSER | Edited by Ronnie Greene

[itsworn]

Nearly Identical 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396s With Rare L89 Aluminum Heads Are Multiple Show Award Winners

Seeing Double

A Matched Set of L89 Chevelles

The idea of having a pair of nearly identical, big-block/four-speed 1969 Chevelle Super Sports was years in the making for Delco Hagan. But it didn’t start out that way.

Hagan, a retired general building contractor who lives near San Diego, “loves cars,” he says, and has since the age of 11 when a neighbor gave him his first car, a 1947 Dodge. He figures he has had “hundreds” of cars over the years, 90 percent of them Chevys. “I used to buy and sell them as a hobby.”

The hardtop’s meticulous 2 1/2-year restoration has paid off for Delco Hagan on the show field. In only its second outing, in 2015, it earned 997 out of 1,000 points at a Classic Chevy International show in Oklahoma. Over the next few years it went on to win First in Class awards at the Benedict Castle Concours (where it also tied for Best in Show), the San Marino Motor Classic, and the La Jolla Concours.

About 15 years ago he spotted the hardtop member of this Monaco Orange pair listed on eBay. It looked nothing like it does now. It was a work-in-progress on the way to being a custom car with an airbag suspension and a Corvette engine.

But Hagan thought “it looked kind of cool,” so he bought the car online, then made the nearly 150-mile trip to pick it up. He says that when he got to the seller’s shop, “I was fit to be tied. The airbags weren’t finished, just laying in the car. The motor was a junk LT-1, and I didn’t like the automatic transmission in the car. You could see it had been a manual—there was still a clutch pedal in it.” The “custom” bodywork that had been done was a poorly executed shaving of the roof’s drip rails.

When Hagan bought the hardtop, it had a “junk” LT-1 in the engine bay, but further discussions with the seller turned up the original L78 in his yard. Mesa Machine rebuilt the engine with a 0.060 overbore, 10.5:1 forged pistons, a high-lift (0.656-inch) cam, and date-code-correct L89 aluminum cylinder heads with Manley stainless-steel valves and roller-tip rockers.

A serious conversation about misrepresentation ensued, and ultimately Hagan renegotiated the price and took the car home.

“I was thinking about finishing it as a custom and driving it, but then I took it to Terry and asked him to spend a day or two looking at it so he could tell me his opinion.”

Hagan and restorer Terry Sparks made a point of using as many N.O.S. and original parts as they could in the restoration of both cars, but they had to default to reproduction upholstery since “you just can’t get white N.O.S. interiors anymore,” says Hagan. The hardtop’s wood-rimmed steering wheel is original.

That would be Terry Sparks, who for 25 years worked as a foreman in Hagan’s restoration shop. When Hagan sold the business, Sparks started his own, Sparks Restoration, with Hagan one of his first, and most enthusiastic, customers.

“Terry has done 100, maybe 120 of my cars over the years,” Hagan explains. “His paint and bodywork are flawless. Even on the cars I’m flipping I’ve gotten compliments about his work.”

Hagan also considers Sparks “a Chevelle nut,” so he paid attention when Sparks said he’d be “crazy” to build it as a custom. “He said, ‘Delco, this is a real SS big-block car. Lose the airbags and put it back together. If you do this car, I want to do it and do it right.’”

Hagan bought the hardtop some 15 years ago, when there wasn’t as much importance put on a car’s documentation as there is today. He does have the car’s original Protect-O-Plate, as well as a NCRS report about the Chevelle’s origins.

That’s when the seed of the matching-Chevelles idea was planted. Sparks had a friend who was tackling the restoration of a 1969 Chevelle SS convertible by himself—a car that Hagan guessed might be for sale under the right circumstances. Hagan told Sparks, “I want you to build [the hardtop], and I want two cars, ultimately, to have a matching set, hardtop and convertible.”

The hardtop’s restoration didn’t start right away. Hagan “needed time to go through the car and collect the parts I didn’t have.” The car deserved as many original or N.O.S. parts as possible, so he spent “two to two-and-a-half years” chasing them down.

In addition to numerous First in Class awards, the hardtop earned AACA Junior and Senior awards in 2015 and 2017, respectively.

Once Hagan and Sparks dug into the restoration, some good news did break. Aside from the hack job on the roof rails, the Chevelle’s body was “perfect,” Hagan says. “No dents or rust. No patch panels on the floor or anywhere.”

And, as it turned out, the guy who had been “customizing” the Chevelle had its original engine in his yard. “To him it was just a high-mileage, greasy motor that was too heavy to lift,” Hagan says. “That’s why it was still there. I paid him two hundred bucks for the motor because he thought it was junk.”

Hagan took that “junk” L78 to Mesa Machine in Escondido, California, for a rebuild. “They’ve built 50, 60 motors for me over the years,” he says. “It is a phenomenal machine shop.”

Other than the top construction, just a few options differentiate the twin Chevelles. The convertible has power windows and top, and a tilt steering wheel.

Like icing on a bright orange cake, Hagan wanted to equip the big-block with a set of rare, aluminum L89 cylinder heads. But, “when you’re searching throughout the U.S. for a set of date-coded aluminum heads, they’re not easy to find,” Hagan admits.

Ultimately he says he “got lucky” with the heads for the hardtop, since so many of the alloy heads “got ruined” by drag racers back in the day. “I bought a pair from a guy who sells N.O.S. parts in Arizona. I had them rebuilt with stainless-steel valves and roller-tip rockers, and they work great.” On the other hand, “I put three sets of heads on the convertible. Had a set built—it didn’t run right. Had another set built, and it didn’t run right either. The third set worked great.”

At a Glance 1969 Chevelle SS396 Hardtop Owned by: Delco Hagan, San Marcos, CA Restored by: Terry Sparks, Sparks Restorations, Escondido, CA; Mesa Machine, Escondido, CA (engine); Showtime, Escondido, CA (upholstery) Engine: 396ci/375hp V-8 Transmission: Muncie M22 Rock Crusher 4-speed manual Rearend: 12-bolt with 3.31 gears and Positraction Interior: Pearl White vinyl bucket seat Wheels: 14-inch Rally Tires: F70-14 Firestone Wide Oval redline Special parts: L89 aluminum cylinder heads, power steering, power brakes, front disc brakes, vinyl top

Drop-Top Twin

While the hardtop was in progress, Hagan was in contact with the convertible’s owner. “He was restoring it, but he was not doing a great job. All he wanted was a parking-lot-show level of car. And he had all these options, like the blinkers on the fenders and the liquid tire chain in the trunk, but they were all incomplete.”

Hagan says the owner had the car about “halfway done—even had it painted—when he realized it was too much for him and agreed to accept the offer I had been making to him. Which was too much.”

Once Terry Sparks finished the convertible’s restoration, it joined the hardtop on the show circuit. And like the hardtop, it won a First in Class at the Benedict Castle Concours in 2018 and tied for Best in Show.

Hagan says that now, because once he bought the convertible, his perception of the “halfway done” restoration was wrong. Terry Sparks had performed bodywork on the car, but the owner took it elsewhere for paint and got a “cheap, typical orange-peel kind of paint job in the wrong color orange,” says Hagan. The first thing Sparks did to the convertible was strip that paint off.

And while the car reportedly came with its original engine and driveline, the L78 had been “just thrown together” during a rebuild, so Mesa Machine was called in to do the job all over again.

Hagan had to buy three different sets of L89 heads before finding a set that worked for the convertible. Mesa Machine also handled the rebuild of the convertible’s L78, matching the hardtop engine’s overbore, forged pistons, high-lift cam, and stainless valves in the alloy heads.

“At least he said it was the original engine,” Hagan admits. “Everything was correct, but without the original build sheet you can’t know for sure. The hardtop also lacks original documentation other than the Protect-O-Plate. “I wish I had a build sheet, but I bought that car 15 years ago. Paperwork meant little back then.”

When Sparks reassembled the convertible, Hagan decided to leave off many of the options that the previous owner had started to install. “He thought it was something special, and it was, a real SS convertible big-block four-speed. But I finished it minus the options, other than the car’s power windows, brakes, top, and tilt wheel.”

The convertible’s previous owner had installed black upholstery in the car, but the combination of Monaco Orange paint, a white top, and black seats “looked like crap,” says Hagan. Plus, it didn’t match the 791 trim code stamped on the cowl tag, which called for a white interior.

The power windows and tilt wheel, and the top construction, are the only differences between the two Chevelles. Both have L78/M22/12-bolt drivelines. Both have Pearl White interiors. Both roll on Rally wheels and redline tires. And given the hardtop’s vinyl roof, sometimes you do have to look twice to figure out which Chevelle is which.

Telling them apart is made even harder by the fact that their Monaco Orange paint jobs not only match but are literally identical. Before Sparks had the hardtop stripped, they found an area in the trunk where the car’s original paint was undisturbed and unfaded by sunlight. Hagan cut a piece of the metal out, sent it to Sparks’ paint supplier for a match, and then bought 8 gallons of the resulting paint, enough to cover two cars. And this was before he owned the convertible.

That’s a man with vision.

The U14 instrumentation option packaged a bunch of gauges in the rightmost pod of the cluster (tachometer plus fuel, engine temp, oil pressure, and ammeter).

Consoles with chrome-ball-topped Muncie shifters are found in both Chevelles. They control heavy-duty M22 transmissions below the floor.

At a Glance 1969 Chevelle SS396 Convertible Owned by: Delco Hagan, San Marcos, CA Restored by: Terry Sparks, Sparks Restorations, Escondido, CA; Mesa Machine, Escondido, CA (engine); Showtime, Escondido, CA (upholstery) Engine: 396ci/375hp V-8 Transmission: Muncie M22 Rock Crusher 4-speed manual Rearend: 12-bolt with 3.31 gears and Positraction Interior: Pearl White vinyl bucket seat Wheels: 14-inch Rally Tires: F70-14 Firestone Wide Oval redline Special parts: L89 aluminum cylinder heads, power steering, power brakes, front disc brakes, power windows, power top

The L89 Option

Short of a COPO 427, the top-dog motor for a 1969 Chevelle SS was the L78 version of the 396-inch big-block, rated by the factory at 375 hp at 5,600 rpm and 415 lb-ft of torque at 3,600 rpm. But if you really knew your way around an order sheet, you could take that L78 engine up a notch by adding the L89 aluminum cylinder heads.

The L89 option didn’t change the L78’s power rating, despite having larger exhaust valves (1.84 inches versus the iron-head L78’s 1.72). But they did weigh about 75 pounds less than their iron counterparts, and every pound mattered in the quest for low e.t.’s and high trap speeds.

That level of performance, though, came at a price. The L89 heads added nearly $650 on top of the L78’s $252.80 cost, making the motor about a $900 option on a $3,300 Chevelle Super Sport.

According to Dale McIntosh’s Chevelle Data and ID Guide 1964-1972, the Tonawanda engine plant made 412 L89 engines for the 1969 Chevelle. Of those, 400 went into cars, and 12 were service engines.

The L89-equipped L78 was also optional in 1970 but was much rarer: 18 went into Chevelles, and 10 were set aside as service engines. That number is dwarfed by the 4,475 LS6 engines put into Chevelles that year.

The post Nearly Identical 1969 Chevrolet Chevelle SS396s With Rare L89 Aluminum Heads Are Multiple Show Award Winners appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

from Hot Rod Network https://www.hotrod.com/articles/1969-chevrolet-chevelle-ss396s-rare-l89-aluminum-heads-multiple-show-award-winners/ via IFTTT

[atfoklahoma]

Discover Your Perfect Stone Flooring: Absolute Tile and Flooring Stone Types Services in Altus, Anadarko

When it comes to transforming your space with elegance and durability, few choices surpass the timeless beauty of stone flooring. At Absolute Tile and Flooring in Oklahoma, we understand that each stone floor is a unique masterpiece with its own distinct color, veining, and natural characteristics. With an extensive range of stone types and a commitment to personalization, we're here to help you discover the perfect stone flooring for your project.

Exploring Stone Types

With a plethora of natural stone options, patterns, colors, and textures, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. That's why we've created a simple and easy-to-understand guide to help you navigate the world of stone flooring.

1. Granite: Known for its remarkable durability, granite offers a stunning array of colors and unique patterns. It's an ideal choice for kitchens, bathrooms, and high-traffic areas.

2. Marble: The epitome of elegance, marble boasts a luxurious appearance with its veined patterns. It's perfect for creating a sophisticated and timeless ambiance in any space.

3. Travertine: This versatile stone exudes warmth and character with its natural pitting and subtle color variations. It's a great choice for both indoor and outdoor applications.

4. Slate: Characterized by its rustic charm and earthy tones, slate is a favorite for adding a touch of nature to any setting. It's particularly well-suited for kitchens and entryways.

5. Limestone: Offering a softer and more delicate aesthetic, limestone is prized for its subtle beauty. It's a great choice for a softer, more relaxed ambiance.

6. Quartzite: With a blend of elegance and strength, quartzite features unique veining and can mimic the look of marble while being more durable.

7. Sandstone: Known for its warm, sandy hues, sandstone adds a natural, outdoorsy feel to your living spaces. It's popular for patios and pool surrounds.

8. Onyx: A translucent stone that creates a stunning visual effect when backlit, onyx is perfect for creating dramatic focal points.

9. Agglomerate Stone is a manufactured stone made from natural stone chips suspended in a binder such as cement, epoxy resins or polyester. The most well known agglomerated stone is poured-in-place terrazzo, used in buildings for thousands of years.

Personalized Stone Flooring

At Absolute Tile and Flooring, we proudly serve cities across Oklahoma, including Altus, Bartlesville, Lawton, and Tulsa, among many others. We understand that your choice of stone flooring is a reflection of your unique style and needs. That's why our team is committed to helping you find the perfect stone type that complements your space, whether it's for residential or commercial use.

As you embark on your remodeling journey, remember that our experts are just a phone call away at 450-401-4477. You can also explore our stunning range of stone types and services on our website at www.atfoklahoma.com. From garage floor epoxy solutions to exquisite stone flooring, we've got you covered.

Transform your space with the enduring beauty of stone flooring from Absolute Tile and Flooring. Let us bring your vision to life in cities like Edmond, Mustang, and Yukon, and experience the difference that our craftsmanship and commitment to excellence can make in your home or business.

Discover your stone type today, and elevate your space with Absolute Tile and Flooring!

[up-label]

CFC Construction and Cypress Real Estate Advisors Utilize Prescient’s Digital Thread for Denargo Phase III

Latest Project in Denver Marks Third Collaboration Amongst Companies

Demonstrates Increased Value Prescient Brings to Each Stage of Construction Process

DURHAM, N.C. and GOLDEN, Colo. and AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 29, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — CFC Construction, Cypress Real Estate Advisors and Prescient today announced a collaboration whereby CFC Construction and Cypress Real Estate Advisors will utilize Prescient’s digital thread for Denargo Phase III. Denargo Phase III is the third phase of developments in the Denargo area of Denver for Cypress, and Prescient’s fully integrated BIM design and building platform will dramatically reduce the time and cost of construction.

Denargo Phase III marks the third project in the Denver area in which CFC Construction and Cypress Residential have employed Prescient’s Digital Thread. This project, on a 2.5-acre site, is a 337-unit apartment building with a garage for more than 400 cars, approximately 10,000 square feet of retail space and 8,000 square feet of restaurant space in the RiNo’s Denargo Market area.

CFC Construction, Cypress and Prescient have collaborated on a number of projects, strengthening their integrated approach that leverages Prescient’s proprietary software and hardware platform to deliver even greater value to clients. Previous projects include 13th & Delaware Apartments and Jefferson View Apartments, which have served as the prototype for Prescient’s latest innovation: external sheathing. CFC Construction collaborated with Prescient to develop and implement this first in the nation use of Prescient’s innovative external sheathing system. This advancement means that external panels are finished at the same rate that Prescient completes construction on each floor, allowing other trades that require a “dried-in” environment to start working sooner, therefore saving months on the overall project schedule.

“I am thrilled to be able to work with Prescient once again on another exciting new development in the Denver area,” said Chase Hill, Denver Partner for Cypress Real Estate Advisors. “We choose to partner with Prescient for a number of reasons, including the speed in which they deliver on site, the efficiency of their design and the environmental benefits. At Jefferson View, we were able to complete 248 units on a 0.8 acre site which would not have been possible with concrete. Additionally, Prescient projects produce minimal waste, which helps us to earn an NGBS certification. We always look forward to our collaboration with the Prescient team, and the speed and ease at which they help us to complete our projects.”

“We have a proven track record of success when we collaborate with Prescient,” said EJ Olbright, Chief Executive Officer of CFC Construction. “We started our first project with Prescient at the request of Cypress. We soon discovered the value and many benefits of working with their digital technology platform, including the increased speed and precision manufactured products. We were impressed when Prescient finished their work eight weeks ahead of schedule on the 13th & Delaware Apartments, which allows us to further compress other trades’ schedules. We continue to apply “lesson’s learned” from each project on to the next one, and we are implementing many advancements in timing and efficiency at Denargo Phase III. That’s also why we pushed them to develop the external sheathing for Jefferson View. Working with Prescient is a huge advantage in the construction industry, and we look forward to beginning this new project together soon.”

“It has been a pleasure to work on consecutive projects in the Denver area with both Cypress and CFC Construction,” said Magued Eldaief, Chief Executive Officer of Prescient. “They’ve challenged us to innovate on our approach and ultimately deliver the overall project much faster, with closer integration and collaboration among key subcontractors. There is no doubt we improve as a team with each new project. Along with this, both CFC and Cypress capture additional ‘soft’ benefits of working with our team, including compressed and predictable schedules, faster time to both market and rental income and increased efficiency in designs yielding greater income per acre. Denargo Phase III will be our 19th development in the Denver area and once again validates the unique value proposition of our technology and its growth potential in additional U.S. markets.”

To date, Prescient has completed 35 buildings for a total of 5.5M square feet of construction with another 4.7M under development. Prescient has active projects underway or completed in 16 states: California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia.

Since Prescient’s founding here in Denver in 2012, the platform has been utilized for eleven finished buildings, eight in-progress projects and soon Denargo Phase III, accounting for more than 2.9 million square feet of construction in the Denver area.

CFC Construction has delivered comprehensive and reliable preconstruction and construction services in Colorado for over 40 years. From the Front Range to the mountains, experience, professionalism and dedication to our clients has earned CFC success in project delivery and client loyalty. We are proud to continue our partnership with Prescient and Cypress Real Estate Advisors.

About Prescient

The foundation for Prescient’s revolution is a standardized light gauge framing system that utilizes proprietary software applications which create a design and construction platform. Prescient’s proprietary software utilizes a Digital Thread that connects projects from the initial architectural design through the finished building. Prescient’s precision manufacturing technology, including robotics, laser-cutting systems and state-of-the-art numerically controlled flexible manufacturing systems, creates a seamless approach, meaning higher productivity, higher quality, fewer last-minute conflicts on site, less waste, shorter schedules and a better ROI.

Bringing the Digital World to the Physical World. The Prescient Digital Thread is based on a model-centric design and planning platform that liberates project stakeholders to plan better and execute better. Our thread connects projects from the initial architectural design through the finished building. As a result, a project is no longer a series of isolated steps with familiar breakdowns and gaps. Instead, it becomes an orderly progression through a repeatable flow, connecting developer, designers, suppliers and contractors at every step. This seamless approach means higher productivity, higher quality, fewer last-minute conflicts on site, less waste, shorter schedules and a better ROI.

Integrated Manufacturing. Prescient uses precision manufacturing technology including robotics, laser cutting systems and state-of-the-art numerically controlled flexible manufacturing systems to deliver buildings with very tight tolerances, comparable to the automotive industry. Prescient’s digital thread integrates planning & design with manufacturing & installation.

Established in 2012, Prescient is aiming for nothing less than a revolution in the way buildings take shape through new levels of cost efficiency, environmental sustainability and quality of outcome for all participants. Prescient’s platform ensures buildings perform better, cost less and take less time to build by employing a digital thread for leading-edge integrated design, engineering, manufacturing & installation.

We are Prescient. Our mission is Attainable Housing for All and we are achieving that by Revolutionizing The Building Environment.

For more information, visit the company website, Twitter feed or Facebook page.

Media Contact, for Prescient Blair Hennessy, Abernathy MacGregor 212-371-5999 bth@abmac.com

CFC Construction Contact: Sean Smith, Business Development Manager 303-277-8600 Sean.smith@cfcc.com

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[moonwalkertrance]

Pentagon asked to make room for 20,000 migrant children on military bases

The Trump administration is considering housing up to 20,000 unaccompanied migrant children on military bases in coming months, according to lawmakers and a Defense Department memo obtained by The Washington Post.

In a notification to lawmakers, the Pentagon said officials at Health and Human Services asked whether beds could be provide for children at military installations “for occupancy as early as July through December 31, 2018.”

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) addressed the issue on the Senate floor Thursday morning.

“The Department of Defense has been asked whether it can house 20,000 unaccompanied children between now and the end of the year,” he said. “How will that work? Is it even feasible?”

The plan would seemingly have similarities to 2014, when the Obama administration housed about 7,000 unaccompanied children on three military bases. The Pentagon, in its congressional notification to lawmakers, said it must determine if it “possesses these capabilities.” As required under the Economy Act, the memo said, the Defense Department would be reimbursed for all costs incurred.

The sites would be run by HHS employees or contractors working with them, the memo said. They would provide care to the children, “including supervision, meals, clothing, medical services, transportation or other daily needs,” and HHS representatives will be present at each location.

The memo was sent to lawmakers Wednesday after President Trump reversed his administration’s unpopular policy to separate children from their parents as they arrived at the southern U.S. border.

The president’s executive order directed Defense Secretary Jim Mattis to “take all legally available measures” to provide Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen with “any existing facilities available for the housing and care of alien families,” and the construction of new facilities “if necessary and consistent with law.”

Lt. Col. Jamie Davis acknowledged Thursday that the Pentagon received the request, and said the department is reviewing it.

The Trump administration spent months planning, testing and defending its family separation system at the border, taking more than 2,500 children from their parents in the six weeks prior to the president’s executive order Wednesday bringing it to a halt.

The U.S. government has been examining for weeks whether it can use military bases to house migrant children. Representatives from HHS visited three bases in Texas – Fort Bliss, Dyess Air Force Base and Goodfellow Air Force Base – last week to review their facilities for suitability, and were scheduled to review Little Rock Air Force Base in Arkansas on Wednesday, Davis said.

The Obama administration temporarily set up temporary centers in 2014 at three U.S. military bases: Fort Sill in Oklahoma, Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and naval Base Ventura in California.

Asked about the possibility of military bases being involved again, Mattis said Wednesday that the Defense Department would “see what they come up with” in HHS, and that the Pentagon will “respond if requested.”

Mattis dismissed concerns about housing migrants on military bases now, noting that the Defense Department has done it on several occasions and for several reasons.

“We have housed refugees,” he said. “We have housed people thrown out of their homes by earthquakes and hurricanes. We do whatever is in the best interest of the country.”

The secretary, pressed on the sensitivities of the Trump administration separating children from their parents, said reporters would need to ask “the people responsible for it.”

“I’m not going to chime in from the outside,” he said. “There’s people responsible for it. Secretary Nielson, obviously, maintains close collaboration with us. You saw that when we deployed certain National Guard units there, so she’s in charge.”

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Rep. Adam Smith (D-Calif.), the leading members of the armed services committees, wrote a letter to Mattis on Wednesday requesting assurances that members of Congress would have access to any migrant facility established on a military base. The letter, sent before Trump dropped his family-separation policy at the border, said that it was essential to have access even in cases where only short notice is provided.

Mattis has approved temporarily detailing 21 military attorneys to the Justice Department to help with the glut of immigration cases that have emerged on the border. The order, issued earlier this month, calls for 21 attorneys with criminal-trial experience to assist as special assistant U.S. attorneys for 179 days, Davis said. They will help in prosecuting border immigration cases, he added, “with a focus on misdemeanor improper entry and felony illegal reentry cases.”

The possibility was raised in a congressional hearing in May, and first reported as underway by MSNBC on Wednesday night. U.S. law permits a judge advocate lawyer to be assigned or detailed to another agency, including to provide representation in civil and criminal cases.