Message from LeDuc & Dexter

Our monthly newsletter is an opportunity to share information, education and promote our industry and customers. We feel that it is beneficial to provide a profile of the working relationships we enjoy with our customers and help to build new relationships for all of us in the construction industry. Bookmark our web site at www.leducanddexterplumbing.com and click on Subscribe to our Monthly Newsletter, then fill in name and e-mail address and that's it!
 

Rivendale Homes for Everyone	RESIDENTIAL

Fox Ridge Executive Home in Fountain Grove

Bill Benjamin has worked with LeDuc & Dexter for close to 20 years. Now, with partners Terri Benjamin, Chris and Christine Peterson at Rivendale Homes, he continues to enjoy a productive relationship with LeDuc & Dexter in a variety of residential projects that are as diverse as the people that live in them.

Rivendale Homes has built over 60 luxury and executive homes in Fountain Grove, Santa Rosa's most exclusive real estate address, with LeDuc & Dexter as their plumbing contractor. Fox Ridge is a community with a varied price range that is in phase 5 with 60 of the 72 homes built and sold. Bill Benjamin says, "The market is strong with sales ahead of construction." Bella Vista, with 12 executive homes in the $1 million price range is located off Parker Hill Road.

Rivendale Homes has a strong presence in the single-family home market. In the Southwest Santa Rosa subdivision of Meadow Wood off Dutton Meadow Ave., 99 homes were completed and sold in just one year. Toby Anderson, the supervisor for LeDuc & Dexter drew praise from Benjamin on the project, "Toby did a great job at Meadow Wood, he's been one of the key people from the very start."

There are also 9 rental duplex units in Meadow Wood in response to the city of Santa Rosa's desire for affordable housing. The city is asking developers to mix in rental units, such as the duplexes built in Meadow Wood, as well as second units or attached "granny units" to accommodate the housing needs of the community. Rivendale has three other single-family home infill projects under way in Santa Rosa. Westbrook is comprised of 15 homes in Southwest Santa Rosa. Edgewood is a 13 home project off Peterson Lane. Arbor Lane is made up of 22 homes with some attached granny units off Hwy. 12 and South Boas Drive.

Rivendale Homes also has an apartment building under construction. "This is our first venture into apartments. It's a small 13-unit apartment, which makes it more manageable." explains Benjamin. Jennings Avenue apartments are located near Coddingtown Center.

Bill Benjamin works closely with Jim Kempers, head of LeDuc & Dexter's residential department on all of the projects. "LeDuc & Dexter take such good care of us with the sizing of their crews and their performance to keep the jobs on schedule. Their warranty program is also very good, taking care of any items that may arise." That may be one of the reasons Tom LeDuc refers to Rivendale Homes as a "very loyal customer."
 

Design/Build Team Dynamics	COMMERCIAL

Design/Build Temperature Control System at Sonoma-Cutrer Vineyards

In the May 2002 Newsletter we saw "How A Design/Build Team Wins" and saves a project owner time and money while moving toward sophisticated solutions of unique construction challenges. The relationships within an experienced design/build team help each member of the team reach a higher level of performance. Here are some examples. LeDuc & Dexter will bring in The Engineering Partnership (TEP) on a project because they know from past experience that TEP is capable of drawing the sophisticated plumbing plans for this new project. TEP knows that LeDuc & Dexter will be able to read plans that are not detailed because LeDuc & Dexter has seen similar drawings from them in the past. Tim Souza of TEP adds, "LeDuc & Dexter's employees are technically skilled at putting in design/build plumbing systems.

It saves time and money when we do plans for them because we don't have to add every detail." Bill Zeeb, who heads the commercial department, has worked with Tim Souza since 1988. Souza says, "Most plans for bid projects are over-engineered and the project gets over-built. In a design/build plan the contractor knows he can get the right materials and equipment and save money, so he does his part in that area instead of overbuilding and over spending." Zeeb explains, "The general contractor is like an orchestra leader. The dynamics of a design/build team put the general contractor on the same level as the architect. We're all team mates, it's really a team."
 

Nickel & Nickel - Phase 1, Part 1	WINERIES

Nickel & Nickel Tank Pad with LeDuc & Dexter's soon to be hidden processed piping

The pressure will be on. The challenge for Nickel & Nickel will be to make wine that can measure up to their resplendent winery Nolan Construction is now building for them in Oakville. This is an exquisite showplace.

Starting with the exposed old growth fir beams attached with oak pegs in mortise & tenon fashion with vertical cedar siding inside the winery. All of the utilities including electrical lines and process plumbing lines are hidden from the eye, behind walls, under tank pads, below floors and above ceilings. And that is saying something considering that LeDuc & Dexter has installed over 3 miles of copper piping and 10 miles of radiant cooling PEX lines plus numerous manifolds with circuit setters, gas, glycol and air lines that are serviceable from behind stainless steel cabinet doors that sit within notched enclosures in the pre-cast cement columns that grow out of the basement barrel room. Get the picture?

Let us not forget the basement barrel room décor with its cathedral-like plaster soffit-style ceiling that conceals the copper piping with its expansion loops coming off the boiler and chiller pack cooling lines and return lines that disappear behind a wall to their source valves and meters. Seriously, if you don't look fast and look right now you wouldn't believe that LeDuc & Dexter have done close to one million dollars of work here on this design/build project.

We will revisit Nickel & Nickel and Nolan Construction, the General Contractor who are building a winery that will certainly compliment and perhaps rival the wine they will make here.
 

Apprenticeships: Grass Roots Connection	EDUCATION

Barbara Nguyen, LeDuc & Dexter Apprentice, who finished fourth in PHCC of California Apprenticeship Contest

It takes 8 years to get through medical school, 6 years to get through law school and 4 years to get through plumbers apprenticeship school. What's the point? Ya gotta know your stuff. Plumbing is a trade and a craft, and like so many other facets of construction in the 21st Century, it is high-tech, complicated and sophisticated to the extent that pipe dope is now a collector's item.

The current PHCC of California local Apprenticeship Program was previously moved from Marin to Sonoma County. Tom LeDuc, a member of the PHCC of the California Master Training Committee and Bud Cavallini of Regional Occupation Program (ROP) gathered the resources for this program after they met through the North Coast Builders Exchange's Work Force Development Program.

The PHCC of California's local Apprenticeship Program is sponsored by Sonoma County Schools, who pay the teachers and supply the classroom. The program is funded by ADA (Average Daily Attendance). These funds are awarded to public schools based on student attendance throughout the year and can be used for ROP classes.

John "Zach" Zachenski, a journeyman at LeDuc & Dexter, is a fourth year teacher for local PHCC of California plumbing apprenticeship classes conducted at Elsie Allen High School. Zach has been plugged into LeDuc & Dexter's residential, commercial and Super Service departments when needed and he also possesses a teaching credential. One of his recent students, Jim Hopper , scored second in the PHCC of California apprenticeship contest last year. This year another LeDuc & Dexter apprentice, Barbara Nguyen, finished fourth in the competition.

The PHCC of California is now considering the adaptation of the National PHCC, 4-year curriculum. As Tom LeDuc says, "This is where you get your top employees of the future." Ya gotta know your stuff.