The space is really coming together. The drywall is all up, now the carpentry crew is taping and sanding all the surfaces. It is a great feeling to see the final form come into view, and to know where walls and soffits are going to be. The next step for the walls is paint - starting next week. The crew from the restaurant supply company has started installing the stainless steel panels in the kitchen - great progress.

A couple struggles hang over the day:
We are dealing with some leaks into the basement and figuring out who bears the responsibility, our landlord or the contractor.
Some millwork pieces that were supposed to be ordered are over budget, and not by a little; we've decided to go a different direction to stainless cabinets, but don't have those nailed down yet.
The City denied our exemption for the front door of the restaurant to swing out in the sidewalk (the current configuration), and we are scrambling to find a solution.
The sign painter we hired for menu board design was way off in a meeting today - he knows to go in a different direction, but it was discouraging.
Finally, the place is a mess. Our basement where we store our liquor is a jungle and drywall dust keeps creeping into Frontera and Topolobampo.

In all, we made solid progress today. As a "green" buildout we are doing well. Jason, our superintendent is on patrol for sustainable building materials. It is his job to make sure all the different crews use sustainable materials like no-VOC caulks and glues. The USGBC doesn't mess around when it comes to LEED, so we have to get it right.