Kitchen & Bath Business - February/March 2016 - 25

Solutions

This influenced the design and made the installation of standard building products more difficult."
Reed shortened walls where she could and was
able to relocate the HVAC unit, but the sink had
to stay where it was.The team was also able to take
out many of the walls, including those of the previous laundry room with an awkward pass-through,
and create a U-shaped kitchen with wrapped cabinetry that was tall enough to accommodate the
homeowner, who is the primary cook.
"Now the homeowners have an ideal view for
entertaining in this 12th-floor unit," said Reed.

3

OBTAINING BUILDING
SECURITY & PARKING

The property in which the condo was located had a strict security policy and required everyone to sign in when they arrived, wear a badge
while on the property and sign out when they
left each day. According to Reed, this slowed the
process and drove cost because there were multiple

renovations taking place, and there was only one
freight elevator.
"My team would arrive really early on days
when they were expecting deliveries, as they had
to get there first," she said. "The elevator was first
come, first served."
As the freight elevator could not accommodate
tall cabinets, some of those had to be assembled in
the condo.The other issue was parking; there were
only six parking spots allocated to construction
trades, and with the large number of renovations
going on in the building, it was a challenge to find
adequate parking.
"Again, my team had to get there early and then
not move their cars all day," explained Reed. "The
parking garage was expensive, and not all of the
trucks fit inside."
In some instances, the subcontractors had to
pull in, offload and then go and find a parking
spot on the street, which was highly monitored
by Atlanta police.

SOURCES
DESIGNER:

Jennifer D. Reed,
CMKBD, MOSAIC Group
PHOTOGRAPHER:

Gregg Willett
KITCHEN:

APPLIANCES: Dacor;
BACKSPLASH:

Sant'Agostino; CABINETS:
Custom Made by Brads
Woodwork;
COUNTERTOPS: Stone
Solutions; FLOORING:
Versini; PLUMBING
FIXTURES: Elkay
BATHROOM

COUNTERTOPS: Stone

Solutions; PLUMBING

FIXTURES: Kohler; TILE:

Specialty Tile Atlanta

4

GAINING APPROVAL & PERMITS

According to Reed, the building management team had to approve a material list
prior to construction. While they were not trying
to control the aesthetics of the project, they were
responsible for safeguarding the other residents
in the building.
"We are professionals,and we would never come
to the table with something that would put people
at risk so we sailed right through the process," she
said. "The management team in this building was
extremely helpful and made a challenging job less
so as a result of their cooperation."
Because this was a condo, permitting had to go
through commercial; not residential, which Reed
said made things even more difficult. She hired an
expediter, who helped get everything together to
obtain/submit the various permits - someone who
knows the players and knows what she is doing.
Your permit goes to the back of the line when you
do not have the necessary information to submit it
the first time.
"Commercial means you are dealing with the general public - it is a public space that has to be reviewed
by more people,"said the designer."This is a difficult
process with a lot of layers, and the expediter kept us
from pulling our hair out."


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Kitchen & Bath Business - February/March 2016

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