The fabrication

Fabrication began in November 2006. Finally! The following photos were taken at Henry Kawa's shop in Rockville, MD between November 2006 and February 2007.

The first set of photos are of the steel framework, including the trellis (top), a close up of the joint between the floor and the struts (which will be steel also), and the framework of the roof.



The next set shows some interior details, including the wooden trim around the steel struts (right), and the fir end flooring (bottom). The lighting (right) is embedded in the floor and will reflect off from the ceiling.


The nearly completed tea house is shown below. This is the back side, with the entrance door on the right. The exterior metal work is presently a bright brass color, but will eventually be oxidized to the darker finish, seen in the lower left. A wooden mockup of the entrance stairs is shown in the lower left, which will be made of concrete.

The long wait

From the Summer of 2005 we continued meeting and negotiating on getting a final price agreed upon, but eventually things came to a standstill. Henry was unable to come up with a final price and contract for several months. In January of 2006 we threatened to pull out of the project, which prompted some quick action by David to get things started. He agreed to get Henry to produce a contract by April 1, and he would also get the permit started from the county. We did get the permit on April 1 as promised, but the contract took several more months of prodding and complaining. Finally, in the fall, Henry came through with a contract. But there was a catch.
This was the first project in which Henry was acting as a general contractor, since he had always been a sub-contractor in the past. This meant he didn't yet have a contractors license, and couldn't sign a contract for installing the tea house. He could still build it in his studio, but he wanted to separate the contract in two parts: Fabrication and installation. This way the fabrication could proceed now, and the installation would happen very soon in the Spring, once he had obtained his license. We very reluctantly agreed. This was a decision that would cause many sleepless nights in the future. Most of the cost was going into the fabrication, so if for any reason he didn't follow through on the installation, we could have a serious problem.

Meetings and negotiations

During the spring and summer of 2005 we went through a series of meetings with Henry and David that focused on the details of the design and construction, and worked towards finalizing the price:

David and Henry,

Here is a summary of our discussion today, plus some
additional comments on the proposal:

Floor panels: We prefer a simple, natural colored
hardwood floor. The small size of the space really
needs to feel light and airy. The important thing is
that the material is stable under a wide range of
humidity and temperature conditions. We do not need
the removable floor panel in the center.

Ceiling: Keep the inverted pyramid shape, but use a
natural (and light) wood panel or veneer that gives
the
impression of panels. We have pictures that we can
show you.

Roof and eave structure: Is there a less expensive
material (and requiring less labor)that can be used?
Is it possible to use a metal roof?

Window trim: Since the ceiling is will not be
mahogony, we think this should be a lighter wood. It
does not really need to stand out.

Door: It should be very simple and flat. Even a
painted steel (or wood) would be fine. A finish color
that gives the appearance of slate would be ideal.

Fence: Are there any other options for the fence? Is
there any product that gives the feeling of being very
solid and smooth, but understated. It needs to have
very clean lines. It should not really stand out or be
noticed.


For all these possible changes we would like to cut
the budget by 12-14 k, so that the subtotal is under
$110,000. We prefer the fixed fee so a contingency
can be added to this amount.


Andy and Sara

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So the price was higher than we had hoped. We continued to discuss details and ask for revisions that might help to reduce the price. There were also concerns about the size of the steel beams that would be required to hold the teahouse in place. The initial drawings from Henry looked terribly large and looked like they might overwhelm the teahouse. In the meantime, Summer passed into fall.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sept 12, 2005
Henry was supposed to get a status email out last week. When I visited his
shop last week he had all the window extrusion mockups, which he needed to
determine the weight to give to the structural engineer so he could resize
the beams to a lighter (and more cost effective section). I had lunch with
the engineer on Friday and he said he will jump on the project as soon as he
gets the revised info from Henry.
I would expect he will get the email out today or tomorrow with your
prompting.


-----Original Message-----

Sent: Sunday, September 11, 2005 6:08 PM
To: henry@rkiinc.net; djameson@davidjamesonarchitect.com

Subject: Re: teahouse

Henry and David,


It's been 6 weeks since the last contact. Any chance
that the figures and design is done so we can get
started?

Andy and Sara

--- Henry Kawa <henry@rkiinc.net> wrote:

> David,
>
> I'm just getting back from vacation.
>
> Per our conversation earlier today, we are getting
> closer on finalizing the teahouse.
>
> I hope we can review figures later this week, and
> get the project underway.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Henry
>
> Henry Kawa
>
> RKI, Inc.

The ceiling and the mortgage broker

The title of this post may seem a bit odd (like the Walrus and the Carpenter), but there is a real connection.

The original design for the ceiling was quite elaborate. Henry Kawa has a particular fondness for complicated ceilings, which he creates by putting pieces of mahogany through his variou wood working tools. The complex structure of dark wood is hard to describe, but we can show a picture here from another of David Jameson's projects that Henry worked on. You can see that it gives the ceiling a very rich texture and color.


It wasn't possible for us to get access to the house above, so David suggested that we go see a house under construction that was getting the same ceiling treatment. As it turns out, the owner of this house was none other than the mortgage broker that we had a little run in with in 1998. What a small world! Back when we were first buying our house, we were referred to this broker, let's just call him "Bob" (note, this is not his real name). Well, this was during the Asian financial crises, and mortgage rates had dropped a great deal. At this point we already had been approved for a mortgage through "Bob", and we just needed to lock in at these really neat low rates. Well, when I called "Bob" to lock in, the incredible response was: Sorry, none of the banks are locking in today! And on top of that he made us wait another week, during which time the markets had recovered, and the 30 year rates had risen a percentage point. Needless to say we were furious, and when we asked a few people who know about these things, and none of them had heard of such a thing. So we went back to "Bob's" company and demand that he either give us a lower rate, or transfer the appraisal to a new bank, where we could get a new rate. He chose to lower the rate, but complained that he "didn't make any money on this loan." In any event, this brings us back to "Bob's" ceiling. We went to his house to have a look, and of course met him there. He looked embarrassed, and we pretended the whole thing had been no big deal. But we decided we didn't like the ceiling for the tea house, since it is a much smaller space. We were also afraid we would loose the sharp lines of the diamond shaped ceiling. We ultimately decided on a maple veneer, stained to go with the fir "end piece" floor.
The final decision on interior finishing is shown below. The fir flooring is at left, maple ceiling
on the upper right and the mahogany trim is the small piece on the lower right.

Waiting for Henry

The next several months were spent ironing out all of the details of the design. These were needed in order to get a concrete price for the contract. We also had asked for a number of changes. Some were to give the space cleaner lines, while others were intended to reduce the overall cost of the project. There were also a number of engineering considerations to be worked out, not the least of which was how the structure would fare in hight winds. The very small base did not afford much in the way of resistance to torquing of the building, and the rods connecting the roof the the I-beams could provide very little strength except for holding up the roof.
But by the end of the year, a number of things remained to be done:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec. 2, 2004
Andy,
Hope you had a good Thanksgiving holiday.
After our productive meeting with you and Henry we sent the drawings to Dave Linton our structural engineer to review the steel sizes and firm up what Henry and I have been discussing. We received his structural comments/markups yesterday and faxed them to Henry. He and I spoke briefly about them this morning and will discuss in detail tomorrow afternoon after I
follow up with Linton in a meeting at 11am. The next step is for Henry to firm up his numbers based on the markups and should be able to so this by the end of next week. We can meet again at that point and decide how you and Sara would like to proceed. I'll be in touch later next week to update you and schedule a meeting.

Best,
David

----- Original Message -----

To: "David Jameson Architect" <djameson@DavidJamesonArchitect.com>
Sent: Thursday, December 02, 2004 3:43 PM
Subject: Next Step


>
> David,
>
> Sara and I were very impressed by Henra Kawa, and
> remain very enthusiastic about the project. I suggest
> that we take steps to move to the next phase of the
> project. If Henry has come up with a little tighter
> budget, then I think we would be able to make a
> decision about whether to go with fixed contract or
> T&M.
>
> Let me know when further details are ready, and we
> will head to the credit union to start the mortgage
> process.
>
> Andy
>
>
>
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec. 17, 2004

Henry and I are meeting tomorrow morning to review his numbers again as he has looked over comments from the structural engineer. I'll press him to get something together for you next week.

----- Original Message -----

To: "David Jameson Architect" <djameson@davidjamesonarchitect.com>
Sent: Friday, December 17, 2004 8:35 AM
Subject: Re: Next Step


> David,
>
> We should make plans to meet to go over Henry's
> numbers and more detailed plans for the Tea House. We
> plan to go to the bank next week to start the loan
> process once we get some firm numbers.
>
> Andy

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

But when the new year rolled around, we were still waiting:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jan. 14, 2005

I have been bugging him over the last two weeks to finish up the numbers for you. I'll call him again today and hopefully be able to tell you something early next week. Have a good weekend.

----- Original Message -----

To: "David Jameson Architect" <djameson@davidjamesonarchitect.com>
Sent: Thursday, January 13, 2005 8:04 PM
Subject: Re: Next Step


> David,
>
> Any word from Henry? I recall he said that he wanted
> to do the project during the winter, so I would assume
> that would mean very soon now. Do you think that he is
> still backed up with other projects?
>
>
> Andy
>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By March, we were still waiting for Henry, and we started to get the impression
that he wasn't interested, or perhaps didn't really have time:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 10, 2005
David,

Are you sure that Henry Kawa has time for this
project? We are willing to consider other contractors
(though we realize some details might be hard without
him). If he is really willing to put the project
together, we should meet to agree on the final
numbers.

We'd like to keep the budget as close to 100 K as
possible, as a fixed price contract. We are also
willing to eliminate some details if this is not
otherwise feasible.

Let us know your thoughts on this.

Andy and Sara



March 11, 2005
Andy and Sara,

good morning- I am certainly aware of the time Henry has taken to put a final number together for you and talk to him about it every week. He is truly part mad scientist- which while frustrating to get what seems like a simple task of a final price out of him- will be the reason the project will come together and work well. He is working towards giving you the fixed price at a target of 105-115k. To do this he is actually getting samples and mockups of all the tricky things that could prove to be more expensive if not properly thought out at this stage- like the sliding hardware, some new bronze extrusions, etc.

When he and I spoke Wednesday about where he is, he was waiting for final numbers on the metal and hardware, but seems close on everything else.

Hang in there a little longer and I think it will be worth the long wait

David

David,

Are you sure that Henry Kawa has time for this
project? We are willing to consider other contractors
(though we realize some details might be hard without
him). If he is really willing to put the project
together, we should meet to agree on the final
numbers.

We'd like to keep the budget as close to 100 K as
possible, as a fixed price contract. We are also
willing to eliminate some details if this is not
otherwise feasible.

Let us know your thoughts on this.

Andy and Sara

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
And still we waited. By the end of April, it seemed we could get moving:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
April 29, 2005

at long last Henry is ready to meet and get moving. He has suggested 5pm on Monday the 2nd. Does that work for you both?

David Jameson
David Jameson Architect Inc.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Getting the Estimate

Getting the estimate took a couple of months, and we finally heard from David in October of 2004:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hope this finds both of you well.

I am sorry it has taken so long to get information from RKI to get back to you regarding the teahouse but I think we are finally getting somewhere.

When I met with Henry last week he thought that after some in depth pricing he would be able to put the project together for between 95k to 115k. This would use the bronze exterior framing and mahogany interiors that we have developed on the Glenbrook project as the glazing. Henry would build most of the project in his Rockville shop this winter and install it next spring as well. I know we were shooting for 100k or less so I think we are at least in a position to meet with him to discuss pushing to the next level.

Let me know what you think and some good times to meet to discuss where we are, heading, etc., and have you meet him.

Best,

David

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a bit over budget, but we liked the design. For this kind of money and the timing he was suggesting, we needed to move fast to get a loan for the project.

Finding a contractor and getting a cost estimate

After reviewing the initial design, we pushed David to work towards the next step, which was to get a cost estimate. He sent the drawings to Henry Kawa, who has been doing much of the metal and wood working for his other projects. The comment below from David, about Henry getting bogged down, was the first hint of the trouble to come.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Andy and Sara,


Good to hear from you. We have sent our initial design drawings and computer models out to the wood/metal worker who is building all the windows for the Glenbrook house to get his feedback on cost (we actually sent this out about 6 weeks ago and have met with him to discuss his questions but he has been bogged down on the push to get some more of that work done and has not had a lot of time to help us with your project). I was hoping to have some semblance of an idea what the design costs so as not to waste your time showing you something that is unrealistic budget wise. If you would like, Chris and I can come by in the next few days and show you what we are working with to give us some of your feedback. My hunch is we will need some back and forth work between us, you, and the fabricator to get the
right solution for the budget.

Let me know if you would like to hook up and we can schedule some time.

David

----- Original Message -----

To: "David Jameson Architect" <djameson@DavidJamesonArchitect.com>
Sent: Monday, July 26, 2004 10:02 PM
Subject: Any Update?


> David,
>
>
> It seems like a good time to check in with you and see
> where things are. We haven't discussed any kind of
> time table for the project. We should probably get an
> idea as to when to expect the next step, so that we
> can plan for getting a loan, etc.
>
> Talk to you soon,
>
> Andy and Sara
>