Sweet Spot
In writing this experience bio, we felt like we should answer questions potential Clients might have about us. Like, what is our favorite kind of construction? Please don't pigeon hole us, because our experience is multifaceted. But we enjoy working on older homes, especially those homes that are considered "Historic" by the City of Nashville or surrounding counties.
I've personally owned a 120 year old house in Franklin, Tennessee many years ago. It was my baby. My wife cried the day we moved in realizing the difficult construction road ahead. We had unleveled floors and structural issues in most rooms. There was functional obsolescence in the kitchen with the sink being in one corner and the kitchen cabinets in the opposite corner. I added 2000 square feet with a fieldstone patio. I demo'd the vinyl siding and rehabilitated the original clapboard underneath. And who can live without a "Southern Living" master bathroom complete with a hundred gallon claw footed jacuzzi, which I added on to the side of the house. So, I'm fully aware, both from an owner's and General Contractor's point of view, of the challenges associated with an older home.
Eventually, I sold this home to a country music record producer…go figure. And this home was completed at a time when I wasn't a General Contractor.
Bread and Butter
"What types of projects have you worked on the most since you you started Rhythm Builders?" The answer is a one or two story addition to houses all over Nashville, but especially in East Nashville, 12th South, Belmont and Green Hills Neighborhoods. Typically, these projects will have renovations to the Kitchen and Master Bath inside the existing house as well.
Many General Contractors consider this type of work to be miserable because of the connections between the existing house and the new addition. And this work is very difficult. For us, we are a fan of seeing the chaotic demolition state and being able to keep the finish product in mind. I also like seeing the dream house glee on the faces of my Clients when we are finished.
Wheel House
"Have we completed any new houses?" Because of the difficulty of Historical construction and new additions to existing home projects, we consider new, out of ground homes to be less strenuous. And yes, we have completed new houses between 2700 and 5000 square feet. But don't let these square footages concern you if your project is outside of this range. With our team, we are able to handle most sizes of construction projects.
Most Challenging To Date
What is our most difficult project that we've completed to date? Obviously, this could change, but we had a project that the Client stood out in front with me the day before demolition and said, "Should I have torn this house down and rebuilt it?" I said, "Well, then you would lose your historic status". This house was her baby and when we started it was really just an interior and exterior renovation. Then she decided to tear off the back porch and replace it with a new chimney and bigger porch. The Engineer wanted to replace the foundation. Next, she decided to demo the garage and build a larger garage. Then she walked up into the attic and decided to tear off the roof and raise it three feet higher. We thought the original front porch was going to make it. But, at 70% complete, the front porch was rebuilt as well. At completion, all that was left of this historic home were five fire places, approximately twenty floor joists on the first floor and approximately twenty wall studs on the East wall. Wow! I would add that all of this work was completed on a postage stamp sized lot with very little room for staging during the Covid crisis.
Commercial
Even though most of our experience has been in residential construction, we are licensed and capable of completing commercial renovations, office and retail buildouts, as well as out of ground facilities.
