Renovation Building Quotes

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Yes, we can all cart our fractured selves along as we move through our lives. But we can choose whether we keep plodding along the same rutted road, or take a turn we'd never thought was ours to take.
Rachel Simon (Building a Home with My Husband: A Journey Through the Renovation of Love)
I took the sleeper out of Glasgow, and as the smelly old train bumped out of Central Station and across the Jamaica Street Bridge, I stared out at the orange halogen streetlamps reflected in the black water of the river Clyde. I gazed at the crumbling Victorian buildings that would soon be sandblasted and renovated into yuppie hutches. I watched the revelers and rascals traverse the shiny wet streets. I thought of the thrill and danger of my youth and the fear and frustration of my adult life thus far. I thought of the failure of my marriage and my failures as a man. I saw all this through my reflection in the nighttime window. Down the tracks I went, hardly aware that I was going further south with every passing second.
Craig Ferguson (American on Purpose: The Improbable Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot)
My building was constructed in 1896, and the utilities reflect an odd design that has been jerry-rigged further with each renovation. If you want to understand the wiring and plumbing in my building, you have to understand its history, how it was renovated for each new generation of scientists. My head has a long history also, and that history explains complicated nerves like the trigeminal and the facial.
Neil Shubin (Your Inner Fish: a Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body)
In 1949, Saul was thirteen. Never before had he seen his father cry. Suddenly, he realized that what he took to be his home - a two-bedroom apartment in a newly renovated brick building above Gertel's bakery - was to his father no more than a prop on someone else's stage, which could at any moment be struck and carried into the wings. In its absence, home was in the rhythm of the halakhah: the daily prayer, the weekly Sabbath, the annual holy days. In time was their culture. In time, not in space, was their home.
Chloe Benjamin (The Immortalists)
The strewn and tangled wreckage that litters our lives is the precious raw material from which great beginnings are forged.
Craig D. Lounsbrough
We are all daughters of God in various stages of construction.
Shannon L. Alder
Building a happy life usually takes constant renovations.
Sarah Noffke (Ren: The Monster's Death (Ren #5))
How and why, then, did California go about the biggest prison-building project in the history of the world? In my view, prisons are partial geographical solutions to political economic crises, organized by the state, which is itself in crisis. Crisis means instability that can be fixed only through radical measures, which include developing new relationships and new or renovated institutions out of what already exists.
Ruth Wilson Gilmore (Golden Gulag: Prisons, Surplus, Crisis, and Opposition in Globalizing California (American Crossroads Book 21))
But the cost of that haste was terrible, and not only in terms of cost overruns. Larsen was so appalled by the completed building that he wrote a whole book to clear his reputation and explain the confused structure, which he called a “mausoleum.” Haste makes waste.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Modularity is a clunky word for the elegant idea of big things made from small things. A block of Lego is a small thing, but by assembling more than nine thousand of them, you can build one of the biggest sets Lego makes, a scale model of the Colosseum in Rome. That’s modularity.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
My roommate calls a meeting while I’m out falling from my bike into a customer’s cheesecake, and as soon as I climb the stairs she is there with a suitcase, saying she’s moving to a gut-renovated building in Harlem with her boyfriend as 'send me a picture of your pussy' pings onto my screen. As I watch my roommate leave, the idea that I have a pussy seems preposterous. I move through the apartment and try to reconcile the existence of the clitoris with the broccoli smell my roommate left behind. I rinse the cheesecake from my hair and get back out on my route, where the men who line the street remind me that technically yes, I do have a pussy, and that I will live with the terror of protecting it for the rest of my life.
Raven Leilani (Luster)
Grimthorpe (v.) To restore or renovate an ancient building with excessive spending rather than with skill. Grimthorpe is a more or less eponymous word, taken from the title of Sir Edmund Beckett (the first Lord Grimthorpe), a lawyer and horologist in London, who also enjoyed attempting restorations of old buildings. His efforts did not meet with widespread approval, and gave birth to this word. Grinagog
Ammon Shea (Reading the Oxford English Dictionary: One Man, One Year, 21,730 Pages)
THE PERSON AND GOSPEL of Jesus Christ—building on simple “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so”—is the only complete answer to the false and destructive images and ideas that control the life of those away from God. The process of spiritual formation in Christ is one of progressively replacing those destructive images and ideas with the images and ideas that filled the mind of Jesus himself.
Dallas Willard (Renovation of the Heart: Putting On the Character of Christ)
We're programmers. Programmers are, in their hearts, architects, and the first thing they want to do when they get to a site is to bulldoze the place flat and build something grand. We're not excited by incremental renovation: tinkering, improving, planting flower beds. There's a subtle reason why programmers always want to throw away the code and start over. The reason is that they think the old code is a mess. And here is the interesting observation: They are probably wrong. The reason that they think the old code is a mess is because of a cardinal, fundamental law of programming: It's harder to read code than to write it.
Joel Spolsky (Joel on Software)
In the Bronx, plans were being made to establish a new home for the poor. Many of the homeless were sick and needed more permanent accommodation than that offered by our night shelter. We had bought a large abandoned building from the city for one dollar. A co-worker offered to be the contractor and arranged for an architect to draw up plans for the renovations. Government regulations required that an elevator be installed for the use of the disabled. Mother would not allow an elevator. The city offered to pay for the elevator. Its offer was refused. After all the negotiations and plans, the project for the poor was abandoned because an elevator for the handicapped was unacceptable.
Christopher Hitchens (The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory and Practice)
Cordelia – “Why so rough?” Aral – “It’s very poor. It was the town center during the time Isolation. And it hasn’t been touched by renovation, minimal water, no electricity choked with refuse.” “Mostly human,” added Peoter tartly. “Poor?” Asked Cordelia bewildered. “No electricity? How can it be on the comm network?” “It’s not of course,” answered Vorkosigan. “Then how can anyone get their schooling?” Cordelia “They don’t.” Cordelia stared. “I don’t understand, how do they get their jobs?” “A few escape to the service, the rest prey on each other mostly.” Vorkosigan regarded her face uneasily. “Have you no poverty on Beta colony?” “Poverty? Well some people have more money than others, but no comm consuls…?” Vorkosigan was diverted from his interrogation. “Is not owning a comm consul the lowest standard of living you can imagine?” He said in wonder. “It’s the first article in the constitution! ‘Access to information shall not be abridged.’” “Cordelia, these people barely have access to food, clothing and shelter. They have a few rags and cooking pots and squat in buildings that aren’t economical to repair or tear down yet with the wind whistling through the walls.” “No air conditioning?” “No heat in the winter is a bigger problem here.” “I suppose so. You people don’t really have summer. How do they call for help when they are sick or hurt?” “What help?” Vorkosigan was growing grim. “If they’re sick they either get well or die.” “Die if we’re lucking” muttered Veoter. “You’re not joking.” She stared back and forth between the pair of them. “Why, think of all the geniuses you must missing!” “I doubt we must be missing very many from the Caravanceri.” Said Peoter dryly. “Why not? They have the same genetic compliment as you.” Cordelia pointed out the – to her -obvious. The Count went rigid. “My dear girl, they most certainly do not. My family has been Vor for nine generations.” Cordelia raised her eyebrows. “How do you know if you didn’t have the gene-typing until 80 years ago?” Both the guard commander and the footman were acquiring peculiar stuffed expressions. The footman bit his lip. “Besides,” she pointed out reasonably, “If you Vor got around half as much as those histories I’ve been reading imply. 90% of the people on this planet must have Vor blood by now. Who knows who your relatives are on your father’s side. Vorkosigan bit his napkin absently. His eyes gone crinkly with much the same expression as the footman and muttered, “Cordelia, you really can’t sit at the breakfast table and imply my ancestors were bastards. It’s a mortal insult here.” “Where should I sit? Oh I’ll never understand.
Lois McMaster Bujold (Barrayar (Vorkosigan Saga, #7))
Seventy thousand years ago the Cognitive Revolution transformed the Sapiens mind, thereby turning an insignificant African ape into the ruler of the world. The improved Sapiens minds suddenly had access to the vast intersubjective realm, which enabled us to create gods and corporations, to build cities and empires, to invent writing and money, and eventually to split the atom and reach the moon. As far as we know, this earth-shattering revolution resulted from a few small changes in the Sapiens DNA, and a slight rewiring of the Sapiens brain. If so, says techno-humanism, maybe a few additional changes to our genome and another rewiring of our brain will suffice for launching a second cognitive revolution. The mental renovations of the first Cognitive Revolution gave Homo sapiens access to the intersubjective realm and turned us into the rulers of the planet; a second cognitive revolution might give Homo deus access to unimaginable new realms and turn us into the lords of the galaxy.
Yuval Noah Harari (Homo Deus: A History of Tomorrow)
We have seen how it is originally language which works on the construction of concepts, a labor taken over in later ages by science. Just as the bee simultaneously constructs cells and fills them with honey, so science works unceasingly on this great columbarium of concepts, the graveyard of perceptions. It is always building new, higher stories and shoring up, cleaning, and renovating the old cells; above all, it takes pains to fill up this monstrously towering framework and to arrange therein the entire empirical world, which is to say, the anthropomorphic world. Whereas the man of action binds his life to reason and its concepts so that he will not be swept away and lost, the scientific investigator builds his hut right next to the tower of science so that he will be able to work on it and to find shelter for himself beneath those bulwarks which presently exist. And he requires shelter, for there are frightful powers which continuously break in upon him, powers which oppose scientific truth with completely different kinds of "truths" which bear on their shields the most varied sorts of emblems.
Friedrich Nietzsche (On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense)
In return for receiving the Congo, the Belgian government first of all agreed to assume its 110 million francs’ worth of debts, much of them in the form of bonds Leopold had freely dispensed over the years to favorites like Caroline. Some of the debt the outmaneuvered Belgian government assumed was in effect to itself—the nearly 32 million francs worth of loans Leopold had never paid back. As part of the deal, Belgium also agreed to pay 45.5 million francs toward completing certain of the king’s pet building projects. Fully a third of the amount was targeted for the extensive renovations under way at Laeken, already one of Europe’s most luxurious royal homes, where, at the height of reconstruction, 700 stone masons, 150 horses, and seven steam cranes had been at work following a grand Leopoldian blueprint to build a center for world conferences. Finally, on top of all this, Leopold was to receive, in installments, another fifty million francs “as a mark of gratitude for his great sacrifices made for the Congo.” Those funds were not expected to come from the Belgian taxpayer. They were to be extracted from the Congo itself.
Adam Hochschild (King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa)
Why would intelligent, capable British and French government officials continue to invest in what was clearly a losing proposition for so long? One reason is a very common psychological phenomenon called “sunk-cost bias.” Sunk-cost bias is the tendency to continue to invest time, money, or energy into something we know is a losing proposition simply because we have already incurred, or sunk, a cost that cannot be recouped. But of course this can easily become a vicious cycle: the more we invest, the more determined we become to see it through and see our investment pay off. The more we invest in something, the harder it is to let go. The sunk costs for developing and building the Concorde were around $1 billion. Yet the more money the British and French governments poured into it, the harder it was to walk away.3 Individuals are equally vulnerable to sunk-cost bias. It explains why we’ll continue to sit through a terrible movie because we’ve already paid the price of a ticket. It explains why we continue to pour money into a home renovation that never seems to near completion. It explains why we’ll continue to wait for a bus or a subway train that never comes instead of hailing a cab, and it explains why we invest in toxic relationships even when our efforts only make things worse. Examples
Greg McKeown (Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less)
When the routines and circumstances of your life are set up so that your lifestyle is a good fit for your natural preferences, it can give you a feeling of being in equilibrium. This will help prevent you from getting overwhelmed by anxiety on a regular basis. And by arranging your life to suit your temperament, you’ll have the time to process and calm down from life events that make you feel anxious. Some areas in which you can set up your life to fit your temperament are: --Have the right level of busyness in your life. For example, have enough after-work or weekend activities to keep you feeling calmly stimulated but not overstimulated and scattered. Note that being understimulated (for example, having too few enjoyable activities to look forward to) can be as much of a problem as being overstimulated. --Pick the physical activity level that’s right for you. Fine-tuning your physical activity level could be as simple as getting up from your desk and taking a walk periodically to keep yourself feeling calm and alert. Lifting things (such as carrying shopping bags up stairs) can also increase feelings of alertness and energy. Having pleasurable activities to look forward to and enough physical activity will help protect you against depression. --Have the right level of social contact in your life, and have routines that put this on autopilot. For example, a routine of having drinks after work on a Friday with friends, or attending a weekly class with your sister. Achieving the right level of social contact might also include putting mechanisms in place to avoid too much social interruption, like having office hours rather than an open-door policy. --Keep a balance of change and routine in your life. For example, alternate going somewhere new for your vacation vs. returning to somewhere you know you like. What the right balance of change and routine is for you will depend on your natural temperament and how much change vs. stability feels good to you. --Allow yourself the right amount of mental space to work up to doing something—enough time that you can do some mulling over the prospect of getting started but not so much time that it starts to feel like avoidance of getting started. --If coping with change sucks up a lot of energy for you, be patient with yourself, especially if you’re feeling stirred up by change or a disruption to your routines or plans. As mentioned in Chapter 2, keep some habits and relationships consistent when you’re exploring change in other areas. --Have self-knowledge of what types of stress you find most difficult to process. Don’t voluntarily expose yourself to those types without considering alternatives. For example, if you want a new house and you know you get stressed out by making lots of decisions, then you might choose to buy a house that’s already built, rather than building your own home. If you know making home-improvement decisions is anxiety provoking for you, you might choose to move to a house that’s new or recently renovated, rather than doing any major work on your current home or buying a fixer-upper. There’s always a balance with avoidance coping, where some avoidance of the types of stress that you find most taxing can be very helpful.
Alice Boyes (The Anxiety Toolkit: Strategies for Fine-Tuning Your Mind and Moving Past Your Stuck Points)
Always,’ said Evie and Max together. Points for harmony. In truth, in the six years she’d known him, Max had barely mentioned his mother other than to say she’d never been the maternal type and that she set exceptionally high standards for everything; be it a manicure or the behaviour of her husbands or her sons. ‘No engagement ring?’ queried Caroline with the lift of an elegant eyebrow. ‘Ah, no,’ said Evie. ‘Not yet. There was so much choice I, ah...couldn’t decide.’ ‘Indeed,’ said Caroline, before turning to Max. ‘I can, of course, make an appointment for you with my jeweller this afternoon. I’m sure he’ll have something more than suitable. That way Evie will have a ring on her finger when she attends the cocktail party I’m hosting for the pair of you tonight.’ ‘You didn’t have to fuss,’ said Max as he set their overnight cases just inside the door beside a wide staircase. ‘Introducing my soon-to-be daughter-in-law to family and friends is not fuss,’ said Max’s mother reprovingly. ‘It’s expected, and so is a ring. Your brother’s here, by the way.’ ‘You summoned him home as well?’ ‘He came of his own accord,’ she said dryly. ‘No one makes your brother do anything.’ ‘He’s my role model,’ whispered Max as they followed the doyenne of the house down the hall. ‘I need a cocktail dress,’ Evie whispered back. ‘Get it when I go ring hunting. What kind of stone do you want?’ ‘Diamond.’ ‘Colour?’ ‘White.’ ‘An excellent choice,’ said Caroline from up ahead and Max grinned ruefully. ‘Ears like a bat,’ he said in his normal deep baritone. ‘Whisper like a foghorn,’ his mother cut back, and surprised Evie by following up with a deliciously warm chuckle. The house was a beauty. Twenty-foot ceilings and a modern renovation that complemented the building’s Victorian bones. The wood glowed with beeswax shine and the air carried the scent of old-English roses. ‘Did you do the renovation?’ asked Evie and her dutiful fiancé nodded. ‘My first project after graduating.’ ‘Nice work,’ she said as Caroline ushered them into a large sitting room that fed seamlessly through to a wide, paved garden patio.
Mira Lyn Kelly (Waking Up Married (Waking Up, #1))
Four men went fishing. After an hour of sitting on the riverbank, one said, “You won’t believe what I had to do to get permission to come away fishing this weekend. I had to promise my wife that next week I’d redecorate every room in the house!” The second man said,“That’s nothing! I had to promise my wife I’d turf the whole of the back garden and build swings and a slide for the kids.” Man number three smiled. “You don’t know when you’re well off!” he exclaimed. “I had to promise my partner I’d renovate the whole of the kitchen for her and build a pergola in the garden!” They continued to fish in silence. Then they realized the fourth man hadn’t spoken. “Hey, Jerry!” said the first man. “What did you have to do to be able to come away fishing?” Jerry shrugged casually. “I just set my alarm for five-thirty,” he said. “When it went off, I turned it off, cuddled up to my wife, and asked, ‘Fishing or sex?’ She turned over and said, ‘Don’t forget your jacket.
Anonymous
Best Builders & Development Inc specialized in residential & commercial building, remodeling & renovations services across Los Angeles. Call our Contractors today for an estimate on your project
Best Builders Development Inc
Investment In Real Estate Is A Worthwhile Endeavor Several factors has to be studied by any individual who is planning an investment in real estate. For example, if business properties are desired, the client should are aware of they may be targeting certain conditions that aren't typically seen with residential properties. Nonetheless, for the appropriate particular person, and for those who plan fastidiously and receive good recommendation, this feature investment will be highly profitable. Individuals looking for commercial properties can certainly find that there are numerous kinds of institutions by which to come up with selection. For instance, an individual should purchase a restaurant or lodge, or invest in a retail store. The consumer may also select to buy an investment property comparable to your rent amount advanced and make an income from leaseing every unit. Office constructings can also be a smart selection, as tenants will likely be seen reasonably ardmore three wheelock quickly. It's fundamental, nevertheless, to buy such properties in nearly anything that receives beneficiant traffic. Most commercial institutions fail if they can't appeal to a steady transfer of customers. Buying residential property is something customers may additionally wish to think about that these planning to decide on their investment portfolios. For instance, an individual may decide to obtain a dwelling that have been renovated. Sometimes called "handyman specials, " such properties will be repaired which can offered during profit. Fortuitously, usually they are cheaper than properties that are in good repair. It is also a possibility to build an ad or residential property can be an investment. Builders who've satisfactory money to finance exceptionally challenge made having a tract of land and fill homes for it on the market to the general public. However, as soon as again, it is essential to pick a location carefully, as it may possibly nominal good to supply homes for sale in a part of the country in which nobody wants to live. Purchasing the primary property one finds is rarely a clever program of action. Instead, it is always the most effective interest match investor to comparability store attempting to discover at a couple of home or business earlier than making a final decision. It will make sure that the excellent ill use made. It can be more suitable obtain authorized advice every time one is planning to purchase various types property. This is even if that the buyer must have assurance that the property just isn't encumbered, and he or she can even want knowledgeable to make all the paperwork regarding the transaction is legal. Finally, individuals planning an investment in real estate will find that it plan of action is sensible, supplied they plan with care and hire a reliable broker to supervise their transactions.
Jack Dorsey
Lastly the corporate office design Gauteng will also require to be planned with particular furniture and tools requirements in mind. It is also important to consideration on sufficient working spaces. Interior office design has turned a little more complex as compare than interior design for residential assignments. This article is all about corporate interiors and project management Gauteng. Interior Office design Floor plans The interior floor plan for an office is first task for space planning. It require skill as well as good creativity for problem solving ability but also special facts of building sets as well as information of the company's needs who will dwell there, normally known as the client as well as tenant. Here the floor plan layout requires to meet all the companies obligations such as how many offices, meeting rooms and storage areas among others and also forces with the applicable regulations as well as standards. The floor plan will also include office designs for different technical and engineering services which include: • Electrical plans for lighting and power • Services designs for Emergency such as exit signs, emergency lighting and mass departure warning methods • Designs related to communications services including phones and computers • Designs related to Fire sprinklers of fire recognition systems and also flames hose reels • Air conditioning Designs • Plumbing services Designs • Designs for safety and entry control systems The corporate interiors and project management needs to be planned with keeping in mind not only all the standards necessary but also the needs of the client's requirements. Office re fit is a general good design perform for work flow and helpful working environments. • Finding the amount of offices, conference rooms and release plan workstations obligatory by the client. • Finding sufficient normal facilities which include storage areas, filing areas, printing areas, and staff facilities including kitchens and toilet facilities. • Office layout for right sitting of offices and workstation work areas to take full advantage of entry to natural light. • Concern of main workflow spaces and flow corridors. • Site of public areas including the reception as well as meeting rooms to keep away from disturbance to the common office work areas. • Area of heavy load luggage compartment systems to make sure structural uprightness of the floor. • Right area for break out as well as staff relaxation areas. • Correct furniture and tools planning
Interior Office Design Planning beforehand is Important
These mortgages, which typically cost less per month than paying rent, were directed at new single-family suburban construction.c Intentionally or not, the FHA and VA programs discouraged the renovation of existing housing stock, while turning their back on the construction of row houses, mixed-use buildings, and other urban housing types. Simultaneously, a 41,000-mile interstate highway program, coupled with federal and local subsidies for road improvement and the neglect of mass transit, helped make automotive commuting affordable and convenient for the average citizen.
Andrés Duany (Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream)
businessman. And the economy right now is terrible.” She turned to her father. “Do you mean that old dump on Arbor Drive? There’s nothing down there but empty buildings. No one will go down there for ice cream.” “Ah, that’s where you’re wrong, Virginia.” Her father pointed at her with one hand while gripping the arm of his chair with the other. “The city council wants to renovate the entire area. They’re adding a bike path and a new boat launch. That whole stretch along the lake will become just like the old Atlantic City boardwalk.” Like the fish that got away, every time her father told this story, it grew in size. There was just no telling
Tracy Brogan (Hold On My Heart)
The Supreme Court got it right in a 1973 case, PEARL v. Nyquist, when it said bluntly: “If the State may not erect buildings in which religious activities are to take place, it may not maintain such buildings or renovate them when they fall into disrepair.
Barry W. Lynn (God and Government: Twenty-Five Years of Fighting for Equality, Secularism, and Freedom Of Conscience)
Diamond Spas is a premier design and building company specializing in crafting luxury spas and pools. We provide quality hot tubs, swim spas & pools, water feature designs, repair, renovation services and maintenance for both residential and commercial customers.
Diamond Spas, Inc.
Hire the most amazing construction and renovation services by talented North Shore Homes builders at the best price. Here at North Shore Homes you will find the most amazing talent in our builders Sydney team. Offering services like the kitchen renovation, bathroom renovation, granny flat building, swimming pool construction, and much more with their best efficiency.
nshomes
This used to be a commercial building,” says Fernando, “but Erudite converted it into a school, for post-Choosing education. After the major renovations in Erudite headquarters about a decade ago--you know, when all the buildings across from Millennium were connected?--they stopped teaching there. Too old, hard to update.” “Thanks for the history lesson,” says Christina.
Veronica Roth (Insurgent (Divergent, #2))
American Precision Craftsman is a licensed building construction and home repair company in Santa Barbara since 1984. We have renovated five star hotels to the simplest of local home repairs.
americancraftsman
Octavianus took the name Caesar Augustus, and the title princeps et imperator. However, Augustus was shrewd enough to see that the best way to secure his reign was to present it not as the establishment of something new, namely a Roman empire, but as the restoration of something old: Polybius’s and Cicero’s balanced constitution. Augustus was like the architect who renovates an old apartment building by keeping the original Gilded Age façade but putting in completely brand-new fixtures. The façade included the conveniently dead figure of Cicero, who would be posthumously elevated to the status of a Roman Socrates—the virtuous man made impotent by the viciousness of his enemies, including the hated Mark Antony. It was a reputation Cicero would retain without interruption through Victorian times.
Arthur Herman (The Cave and the Light: Plato Versus Aristotle, and the Struggle for the Soul of Western Civilization)
We are Mountain Renovations, a dedicated, knowledgeable, and experienced team of construction and contracting professionals. Proudly serving clients located in Colorado, we have the know-how and ethic to make even the most ambitious ideas and projects come to life. The process is as simple and easy as can be. You reach out with anything from a basic construction concept to a full-fledged home-building plan, and we put you in touch with contractors who possess the ideal tools for your job. You enjoy a phone call and/or an in-person consultation with these contractors, a deal is finalized, and you kick back while your structure is created with the utmost care and precision.
Mountain Renovations
So when the time comes to revitalise and rejuvenate your property, you want to work with a home renovation company that delivers a high-quality service at a price that is right for you. We are Exclusive Home Renovation, and we have the experience and expertise to deliver a polished, personal and utterly professional service. Our specialities are bathroom installation, kitchen installation and the provision of disabled access bathrooms. We can also do small building projects for your home.
Exclusive Home Renovation
Keystone Build are building contractors that have been based in Sussex for more than 10 years & specialising in extensions, refurbishments & loft conversions. Though skilled management of projects, inspiring ideas, cutting edge thinking, our mission is to help our clients imagine, design and build environments that enhance their everyday routines and create a sense of joy in the place they live. Discover our full range of services below from small refurbishments to complete property renovations.
Keystone Build
Now it was run down, crumbling, beautiful, and inhabited only by Grandpa, entirely alone. But then hope had crept in. A man, Grandpa wrote, had offered to rent Hudson Castle. He had offered to transform it into a school. Grandpa would stay on as a governor; it would give him new purpose, something to do. No paperwork had been signed, but the man was eager to begin renovations. The man’s name was Sorrotore, a New York millionaire. He enclosed a press cutting, showing a man standing outside a vast New York building, smiling at the camera with Hollywood teeth. “Victor Sorrotore outside his home in the Dakota,” read the caption. “Victor Sorrotore,” whispered Vita, and she memorized his face, just in case. Within a week, Sorrotore struck. Grandpa returned from an afternoon walk to find his way back home barred. A strange man with two guard dogs came out of the caretaker’s cottage and pointed a rifle at him. “Hudson Castle belongs to Mr. Sorrotore,” the guard had said. “Scram!” Grandpa had never in his adult life been told to scram. He had tried to push past the guard, and one of the dogs had bitten his ankle; not a snap but a true bite, which drew blood. The gun was leveled at his chest. Bewildered, he took the train to New York, rented the tiny apartment on Seventh Avenue, and found Sorrotore’s lawyer.
Katherine Rundell (The Good Thieves)
City on a Hill is able to thrive and grow precisely because so many of its essential expenses are covered by the taxpayer. After all, it did not pay to construct the Coolidge Corner School, nor did it cover any portion of the $120 million renovation. It does not have to purchase furniture, pay the heating bill, or contribute in any meaningful way to the building’s ongoing operations and upkeep.
Katherine Stewart (The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism)
Urging the Cardinals to continue the renovation of Rome, he said, “To create solid and stable conviction there must be something that appeals to the eye. A faith sustained only by doctrine will never be anything but feeble and vacillating.… If the authority of the Holy See were visibly displayed in majestic buildings … all the world would accept and revere it. Noble edifices combining taste and beauty with imposing proportions would immensely exalt the chair of St. Peter.” The Church had come a long way from Peter the fisherman.
Barbara W. Tuchman (The March of Folly: From Troy to Vietnam)
The Cynecure. Looking for the Cynecure (in the palinody of my cenesthesias, as Segalen would say). The Sabbatical form. What was the Stoic dream of our adolescence - detachment - suddenly materializes in maturity. I now find myself out on my own, within a rainbow-hued research structure. Towns are never left alone; there are always works going on - digging, demolition, construction. Knocking down, building up again. Perhaps only certain places in California, completely anaesthetized by domestic luxury and suburban comfort, seem to have come to rest in a fixed and lasting ambience, beyond this perpetual deconstruction. Works are always going on in our bodies too. They are constantly being disturbed, tortured, renovated. Never at rest, never serene. Peace of mind - impossible to keep it more than a few hours. Impatience always gets the upper hand. Everyone aspires to peace and quiet, but they do so today in a thoroughly derisory manner, wherein we see the last moments of the contemplative soul. In the countryside there is always a dog howling. And sterility is hereditary.
Jean Baudrillard (Cool Memories)
we passed in front of the grand, 1960s-vintage presidential residence, which I’d been told stood empty, awaiting badly needed repairs. “The Liberians would like China to renovate it, but they haven’t said so directly,” Li told me. “There is a difference of psychology at play in this. China knows they want it fixed, but it is waiting for some kind of expression—a request. It’s a matter of face. Liberians haven’t yet understood the workings of face.” With little forewarning, Li began to riff on politics. “Liberia is a country that is controlled by the United States,” he told me. Perhaps that was true sometime in the past, I replied. “No, it is still the case,” he said. “There are Americans in every section of government here. At least one. You could say that Liberians are your cousins,” he said between laughs. “The Americans give a lot of money to this country, but it just gets wasted. It never reaches the people. China has learned from that. We don’t give away money. We build things. That way, the people can see some impact. This government is very close to the Americans, but the people don’t like your country very much. They feel that in all of these years you have never achieved much of anything here.
Howard W. French (China's Second Continent: How a Million Migrants Are Building a New Empire in Africa)
Instead of moving house to gain extra space why not consider an extension to give you the living space you require without leaving the home you love. We specialise in building extensions and loft conversions and have a great deal of experience in making your house the home of your dreams. When you require builders for an extension, renovation or the development of your property, you only need make one call to us and our experts will work with you to make it all become a reality.
Builders in Colchester
Now that the scaffolding had been removed from the Bolivar County courthouse, Brewer could see where five giant slabs of limestone formed gleaming steps that sprawled nearly the entire front facade of the building. Recently renovated in polished granite and sandstone, Rosedale’s courthouse was untouched by the grit of the town that was designed around it. At right angles to the limestone stairs were twin cement blocks. Each served as the base for a shining white column, which supported an ornate cornice that circled the roof. Carrying five recently typed pages,
Adrienne Berard (Water Tossing Boulders: How a Family of Chinese Immigrants Led the First Fight to Desegregate Schools in the Jim Crow South)
You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.
Anonymous (The Message: The Bible in Contemporary Language)
She learned the hard way that she’s a great café designer and renovation project manager, and a lousy deli manager.
Bill Burnett (Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life)
For Wrieto-San, every building at Taliesin was in a state of flux. When he accidentally set fire to the theater at Hillside one windy afternoon in the thirties (brush, kerosene, poor judgment), he took me aside with a wink and a nod and told me he’d been looking for an excuse to renovate the shoddy old thing for years.
T. Coraghessan Boyle (The Women)
Meyrick Builders and Roofers of Albrighton Wolverhampton offer roofing, building, renovation, stack and chimney repairs, repointing, property maintenance, cladding, soffits, fascias, guttering, loft conversions, driveways, landscaping, kitchen and bathroom fitting and much more across the West Midlands and Shropshire including Telford, Newport, Market Drayton and surrounding areas. All work 100% guaranteed.
Meyrick Builders and Roofers
Rather than erect a building from scratch, town officials decided that they would save money if they renovated and expanded an existing school. The school they selected was centrally located in the village and had been constructed in 1873 out of bricks supplied by the Bath brick factory. Work began in the fall of 1921 on what would eventually be hailed as “the grandest building ever constructed in the township” and “one of the most modern schools in Mid-Michigan.”11
Harold Schechter (Maniac: The Bath School Disaster and the Birth of the Modern Mass Killer)
Boerner Construction is a custom home builder in Upstate South Carolina. Our custom homes and renovations serve Anderson County, Franklin County, Greenville County, Hart County, Oconee County, Pickens County, and Spartanburg County. Some of the areas where we build custom homes include Anderson, Greenville, Lake Hartwell, Lake Keowee, Pendleton, Seneca, Spartanburg, and Williamston, SC, to name a few. Boerner Construction offers Upstate South Carolina a one-of-a-kind custom home building process for which you’ll have your own design consultants and create the framework, exterior, and interior of your dream home. Our unique process, creativity, design elements, and thorough attention to detail ensure we build you the dream home you love.
Boerner Construction
Your entire life happens inside your body. It's the one home you will always occupy and can never sell. But you can renovate it. If you can only pick one habit to build, exercise might be the one. Everything is downstream from how your body is functioning.
James Clear
Omaha native Paul Stratman spent forty-four years in the electrical trade, laying wire, managing people, and eventually doing 3D modeling. Then he retired. Dissatisfaction soon set in. “My wife had a long list of things she wanted done around the house,” Paul said, “but that took me less than a year to complete. And I certainly didn’t want to just sit around the house doing nothing for the rest of my life. I wanted to help people.” About this time, he heard about a group of retired tradesmen in the Omaha area who call themselves the Geezers. Several times each week, for a half day at a time, a group of five to ten Geezers meets in North Omaha (a poorer part of town) to rebuild a house for later use by a nonprofit. “Currently, we’re rebuilding a home that will house six former inmates,” Paul told me. “We’re providing the home, and the nonprofit will provide the mentorship when the gentlemen move in.” The goal is to help formerly incarcerated people build better lives and stay out of jail. The rate of recidivism in the United States reaches as high as 83 percent.[12] “Our goal is zero percent among the men who will occupy this home when we are finished,” Paul said. On a previous occasion, after the devastating 2019 midwestern floods, Paul was working as a volunteer in the area to restore electricity to many of the homes when he received an urgent phone call concerning a couple in their fifties whose home had been destroyed in the flood. The couple were living in a camper with their teenage daughter and three grandkids (whose mother was unable to take care of them) while they tried to get enough money to fix their house. Six people in a tiny camper! The couple were worried because they had been informed that someone from Nebraska’s Division of Children and Family Services would be coming to inspect the living conditions for the three grandkids. The couple feared their grandkids were going to be taken from them. They were almost frantic to prevent that. Would Paul help? Paul went right to work. He completed the electrical wiring and safety renovations inside the flood-damaged home, free of charge, in time for it to pass inspection by CFS. The family stayed together. Reflecting on this experience, Paul said, “When you can help people that are so desperate, and can make a little difference in their lives—people who have put their lives on hold to care for the needs of someone else—it is moving. That was one of the most emotional experiences I’ve ever had and some of the most meaningful work I’ve ever accomplished.” Paul has retired from his job, but he hasn’t stopped working for others.
Joshua Becker (Things That Matter: Overcoming Distraction to Pursue a More Meaningful Life)
With over a decade of experience, Lexington Shed Builders is the perfect choice for anyone looking to build or renovate a shed. Our team of experts can help you get the job done right from scratch or extend an existing building. We offer a wide variety of shed models to choose from and customization options to ensure your shed is exactly what you’re looking for. And if you need help getting started, we have plenty of resources available online and in our store.
Lexington Shed Builder
BUILD WITH LEGO Big is best built from small. Bake one small cake. Bake another. And another. Then stack them.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Scale and speed”; those are the key words. To win the fight against climate change, we must build at a scale and speed that put to shame the long, sorry record of the giant projects of the past. We can no longer afford bloated budgets and deadlines that keep sliding into the future. And we absolutely cannot have projects that never deliver what they promise.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
If something goes wrong, the project’s fate depends on the strength of those relationships. And when something goes wrong, it’s too late to start developing and cultivating them. Build your bridges before you need them.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
BUILD CLIMATE MITIGATION INTO YOUR PROJECT No task is more urgent today than mitigating the climate crisis—not only for the common good but for your organization, yourself, and your family.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
If you build like this, you build only one thing. By definition, that thing is one of a kind. To put that in the language of tailors, it is bespoke:
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
One way to design and deliver a project on an enormous scale is to build one thing. One huge thing.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
It’s relatively easy to build something small and simple.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Digital simulation enabled the second strategy: a radically different approach to construction. Instead of sending materials to a worksite to be measured, cut, shaped, and welded into buildings—the conventional way since the building of the pyramids—the materials were sent to factories, which used the detailed, precise digital specifications sent to them to manufacture components. Then the components were sent to the worksite to be assembled. To the untrained eye, T5 would have looked like a conventional construction site, but it wasn’t; it was an assembly site.[6] The importance of this difference cannot be overstated, and every large construction site will need to follow suit if construction is going to make it into the twenty-first century. This process, called “design for manufacture and assembly,” is how the hyperefficient car industry operates.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Ries wrote that startups operate in an environment of “extreme uncertainty” in which it is impossible to know whether the product they have developed is one that consumers will value. “We must learn what customers really want,” he advised, “not what they say they want or what we think they should want.” The only way to do that is to “experiment.” Create a “minimum viable product,” put it in front of consumers, and see what happens. With lessons learned, change the product, ship again, and repeat the cycle. Ries called this the building phase, as multiple iterations gradually build the final product. I would call it the planning phase, as the design of the product evolves following the dictum “Try, learn, again.” Semantics aside, the only real difference is the method of testing.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Get a small thing, a basic building block. Combine it with another and another until you have what you need. That’s how a single solar cell becomes a solar panel, which becomes a solar array, which becomes a massive megawatt-churning solar farm. Modularity delivers faster, cheaper, and better, making it valuable for all project types and sizes. But for building at a truly huge scale—the scale that transforms cities, countries, even the world—modularity is not just valuable, it’s indispensable.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
First, you can’t build a nuclear power plant quickly, run it for a while, see what works and what doesn’t, then change the design to incorporate the lessons learned.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Second, there’s a problem with experience—the other half of experiri. If you are building a nuclear power plant, chances are that you haven’t done much of that before for the simple reason that few have been built and each takes many years to complete, so opportunities to develop experience are scarce.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Projects are not goals in themselves. Projects are how goals are achieved. People don’t build skyscrapers,
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Once upon a time at my university dorm, They used to gather around to hear me mumble. So I had to put my coding assignment aside, I loved machines, more I loved workings mental. Through a rollercoaster ride of uncharted ocean, Engineer became monk, monk emerged scientist. Despite the thrill of building cars and rockets, I feel more alive in being the human bridge. Thus goes the odyssey of the bulldozer on duty. Before we innovate tech, we gotta renovate humanity.
Abhijit Naskar (Insan Himalayanoğlu: It's Time to Defect)
Well, well, look who it is. The team responsible for renovating the city. One building at a time.
Orlando A. Sanchez (Hell Hath No Fury (Montague & Strong, #8))
Clapstix Electrics stands as Cairns' premier choice for electrical solutions. Our seasoned team navigates the complexities of various sectors, offering tailored services from new builds and renovations to adept solar installations. Prioritising your unique needs, we blend high-grade materials with advanced methods, ensuring premium results. Whether enhancing homes, powering businesses, or advancing industrial setups, we guarantee efficiency, reliability, and excellence in every undertaking.
Clapstix Electrics Pty Ltd
Roofing sheets types – 3sgroups Our Roofing sheet types for all starts from Rs. 555+GST/- Per/Sqm for your building to make it provided insulation against extreme heat, dust, and weather variations. Due to their durability and visual appeal, roofing sheets have become increasingly popular recently. Shree Sivabalaaji Steels - 3sgroups provides a large selection of coloured roofing at the stated price to satisfy customer demands. Roofing sheets are useful and adaptable materials. They can be applied to walls and roofs to provide external protection. They are also appropriate for both new building and roof renovation. They require less maintenance and are simple to install due to their small weight. These are a few of the most popular kinds of roofing sheets that are utilized when building a home. There are several reasons to install roofing sheets, one of which is the aesthetic appeal they provide to the building. In addition to being rust-resistant, they shield roofs from harsh weather, including snow, strong winds, and intense downpours. When installed properly, these also aid in stopping leaks and greatly lengthen the roof's lifespan. There are various types of roofing sheets, each with benefits and cons of its own, depending on your wants and requirements.
shree sivabalaaji steels
When Trotter headed up an extensive renovation in the mid-nineties, he and the architects made sure that the building would, like L’Abri, have fireplaces, a larger kitchen, and plenty of room for both large lectures and one-on-one conversations.
Charles E. Cotherman (To Think Christianly: A History of L'Abri, Regent College, and the Christian Study Center Movement)
Determined to get back on track with the kitchen renovation, Aggie decided to ask Luke if another coat of paint was necessary, or if she should carry in the flooring now. “Okay, Luke…” Aggie looked around for him, and eventually she saw him through the picture window in the living room. He was out front, guiding a large truck, as it backed up the driveway. Curious as to who was backing in, Aggie dashed out the door and tripped down the steps, fortunately unseen by teasing children or an over-protective Luke. When she saw Luke and a man she didn’t recognize unloading cabinets from the truck, she gasped. “Luke, where did you find them? They are exactly what I wanted!” Her squeals of excitement brought children from every corner of the house. Even Tavish the hermit stepped from his own little world to see what made Aggie squeal with such obvious delight. Luke and Laird helped unload each cabinet from the truck and carry them to the back step. Once finished, Luke thanked the driver for bringing them, as he handed the man a check. The burly man jumped into the truck, and as he put it in gear, he stuck his head out the window and said, “Hey, Luke. Anytime you feel like building more cabinets like those, let me know. My wife is green right now. I’d love to see her natural color again.” With that, the truck slowly drove down the driveway and pulled onto the road.
Chautona Havig (Ready or Not (Aggie's Inheritance, #1))
We specialise in building extensions and loft conversions and have a great deal of experience in making your house the home of your dreams. When you require builders for an extension, renovation or the development of your property, you only need make one call to us and our experts will work with you to make it all become a reality. Our highly skilled and experienced team will work closely with you throughout the whole process to make the project as hassle-free and enjoyable as we possibly can.
Brickwork Colchester
My vision is this: when any building is created, it emerges in response to the unique climate, ecology, culture, and community of its specific location. The structure becomes a story of that place, and it embraces the same natural breezes and sunshine to heat, cool, and light the space that have been used to make buildings comfortable for centuries, even millennia. When any existing building is renovated, it reintroduces daylight and natural ventilation and opens up to the outside... Already a combination of very high efficiency and passive solar can maintain comfortable indoor temperatures with outdoor temperatures as low as 45 degrees. BUILDINGS DESIGNED FOR LIFE by Amanda Sturgeon
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis)
The officials told Gehry that they wanted a building that could do for Bilbao and the Basque Country what the Sydney Opera House had done for Sydney and Australia: put them on the map and bring back growth.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Projects are not goals in themselves. Projects are how goals are achieved. People don’t build skyscrapers, hold conferences, develop products, or write books for their own sakes. They do these things in order to accomplish other things.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Studies suggest that Scots spend less on home décor than anywhere else in the UK, but what we do spend big on is renovating and converting our properties instead of moving houses. Instead of moving home and incurring extra tax, it appears homeowners prefer to line the pockets of Scotland's architects. This suggests that instead of seeing the politics of home ownership and house building as a problem, we are choosing to turn it into an opportunity. This shift in thinking an help us live more comfortably, be more in touch with our individual needs, and in turn support Scottish practitioners.
Gabriella Bennett (The Art of Coorie: How to Live Happy the Scottish Way)
New renovations on an old building, like putting a fresh coat of makeup on an old whore, but clean enough.
Cole McCade (The Lost (Crow City, #1))
he found himself rubbing his chest again. So fuckin’ gorgeous. Outside of his close circle of friends and brothers-in-arms, she was the best person he had ever met. “I just hope we can keep going,” she said. Seeing his question, she continued, “The area is slowly being renovated and some of the buildings have been bought. I know they’re cheap…well, cheap if you have several million to buy and renovate. I’ve heard that there’s someone who’s wanting to buy our building, and that would turn all the residents out. But so far, I’m holding on and I’ll fight anyone who tries to take this away from them.” Seeing the passion in her eyes, he found himself wanting all that passion turned his way. Buying the building out from under her? I’ll have Lily and BJ check to see what they can find out. The meal finished too quickly and he knew he needed to get her back to Ross. Standing, he assisted as she slipped into her coat and with fingers laced they walked outside. The night sky was clear and filled with stars. The wind had died down, leaving the early spring chill not as biting as earlier. As they drove to her building, he parked outside. Turning to each other, they both began talking at once. Laughing, he said, “Ladies first.” “I just wanted to thank you. Gabe, I haven’t had so much fun in a really long time.” Fun. That’s what Jobe said to give her. Smiling,
Maryann Jordan (Gabe (Alvarez Security #1))
On average, hotels are renovated once every decade, three times more frequently than other commercial building. This means that hotels are structurally more likely to new tech adoption, as their infrastructures get reviewed more often
Simone Puorto
When we ask Jesus for help and choose 'flight' over 'grounded,' He builds within us a loyalty to God that overcomes all opposing forces.
Katy Kauffman (Heart Renovation: A Construction Guide to Godly Character)
Arguably, the Malecón is the most photographed street in Havana. It lies as a bulwark just across the horizon from the United States, which is only 90 treacherous miles away. It is approximately 5 miles long, following the northern coast of the city from east to west. This broad boulevard is ideal for the revelers partaking in parades and is the street used for Fiesta Mardi Gras, known in Cuba as Los Carnavales. It has also been used for “spontaneous demonstrations” against the United States. It runs from the entrance to Havana harbor at the Morro Castle, Castillo del Morro, alongside the Centro Habana neighborhood to the Vedado neighborhood, past the United States Embassy on the Calle Calzada. Since 1977, the renovated Embassy building has housed the United States Interests Section in Havana. The Malecón is also known as a street where both male and female prostitutes ply their trade. At the present time, most of the buildings that line this once magnificent coastal boulevard are in ruins, which doesn’t stop it from being a spectacular and popular esplanade for an evening walk by residents and tourists alike.
Hank Bracker
If you're building a new house or renovating your existing home, our highly qualified Architects & Interior Designers will guide you from the design stage to completion.For simple or complex commercial projects, the experienced Home Designers team will focus on project quality, cost reduction & delays.Communication is critical to ensure the building code is adhered to and contractors are working within the design documents.We're your go-to team for expert advice and innovative ideas.
The Home Designers
Think slow, act fast” may not be a new idea. It was on grand display back in 1931, after all, when the Empire State Building raced to the sky. You could even say that the idea goes at least as far back as Rome’s first emperor, the mighty Caesar Augustus, whose personal motto was “Festina lente,” or “Make haste slowly.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
It is also inapplicable to many decisions on big projects because they are so difficult or expensive to reverse that they are effectively irreversible: You can’t build the Pentagon, then knock it down and build it elsewhere after you discover that it ruins the view. When this bias for action is generalized into the culture of an organization, the reversibility caveat is usually lost. What’s left is a slogan—“Just do it!”—that is seemingly applicable in all situations. “When we surveyed participants in our executive education classes, we found that managers feel more productive executing tasks than planning them,” observed business professors Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats. “Especially when under time pressure, they perceive planning to be wasted effort.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Get the work rolling, involve actors contractually, build sets, collect props and costumes, expose negative, and so get the studio in deep. Once money in some significant amount had been spent, it would be difficult for Harry [Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures] to do anything except scream and holler. If he suspended a film that had been shooting for weeks, he’d be in for an irretrievable loss, not only of money but of ‘face.’ The thing to do was to get the film going.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Except they did. Less than a mile south of the Arlington Farm site and just outside Arlington Cemetery’s spectacular vista lay the “Quartermaster Depot” site. It met all the technical requirements. Somervell’s critics identified the site and fought to move the project there. Eventually, they won. That’s where the Pentagon is today. Not only did that site leave the view from Arlington Cemetery unsullied; the size of the site allowed the architects to even up the sides of the building and make it symmetrical. That made the building more functional, cheaper to build, and a lot less ugly.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
There’s a reason for that. The government here mismanaged the planning and construction of the Sydney Opera House so badly that the costs and schedule exploded. Little of that was Utzon’s fault. But he was the architect, so he was blamed and fired midconstruction. He left Australia in secret and in disgrace. His reputation was ruined. Instead of being showered with commissions to build more masterpieces, Utzon was marginalized and forgotten. He became what no masterbuilder wants to be or deserves to be. He became a one-building architect.[16] “What you call the costs are not the full costs,” I continued. “Yes, the Sydney Opera House cost a large amount of money, far more than it should have. But the full cost of that building includes all the other architectural treasures that Jørn Utzon never built. Sydney got its masterpiece, but cities around the world were robbed of theirs.” More silence. There are always other costs—costs that never appear on any spreadsheet—when a project spirals out of control. The simplest are what economists call “opportunity costs”: the money unnecessarily burned by bad planning that could have been used to fund something else, including other projects.
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
Some tails are simple to cut. Tsunamis are fat-tailed, but if you build well inland or erect a high enough seawall, you eliminate the threat. Earthquakes are also fat-tailed, but build to an earthquake-proof standard, as we did with the schools in Nepal, and you are covered. Other tails require a combination of measures; for a pandemic, for instance, a blend of masks, tests, vaccines, quarantines, and lockdowns to prevent infections from running wild.[25] That’s black swan management. For
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)