Just a quick update for you this evening highlighting Rosslyn’s boathouse gangway reboot. The good news, no, the *great* news, is that the boathouse gangway project is back on track — safe, sturdy, functionally and historically accurate — after the 2021 debacle. What a difference an experienced team makes!
If you missed the 2021 false start, I’ll spare you the sordid details in lieu of a brief excerpt from a previous post.
The waterfront project was supposed to get underway last September [2021] and be finished by the end of October. Unfortunately, the contractor’s repeat mistakes, delays, unkept promises, non-communication, etc. rendered the boathouse virtually inaccessible and dangerous, but no closer to completion. Despite repeatedly reassuring us that the project would be complete on or before May 1 — yes, many months after the original deadline — he AWOL’ed in late April. After months of strained relations, the carpenter threw a temper tantrum with our property manager via telephone and then unceremoniously quit. Zero communication with us. And he never responded to my request for clarification on whether or not he was in fact abandoning his commitment or honoring the May 1 deadline that he’d repeatedly promised in recent weeks/months that he would “meet or beat”…
Multiple contractors reviewed the abandoned project, but they all concluded that he’d made so many mistakes that they’d have to undo most of his work before they could continue… (Source: Deck Rebuild)
Perhaps someday I’ll post photos to document the dangerous mistakes and sloppy gaffes of the aforementioned fiasco, but far more compelling now is the opportunity to rejoice and celebrate the capable new team ensuring that Rosslyn’s boathouse is once again restored to her quaint and secure status along Merchants Row.
The moody sepia video below captures the preliminary progress after much of the previous team’s failure was successfully removed and many mistakes rectified.
And this next video documents progress, actual forward motion after lots of backtracking, dismantling, and correcting.
Soon I’ll introduce you to the team behind this turnaround story, but for now we’ll recognize their diligence and early success on yet another “Phoenix rising from ashes” chapter of Rosslyn’s history.
What do you think?