Services of the coursing yard

Six trades held
to one line
TRUE

Bouwhuis Builders, LLC runs a residential building and masonry coordination practice from 1855 W Ridgeline Rd, Stockton - 84071-7746, United States (US). The services below are the work that leaves this yard: houses, walls, additions, slabs, outdoor rooms and the supervision that ties them together.

We take on a limited number of projects each season so that a principal can be present at the important stages. When we say the wall is plumb, someone has stood beside it with a level and a story pole and checked it in both directions.

Each service is described in the ledger below. If your project crosses two or three of them, that is normal; the same crew and the same marks follow the work from the footing to the final joint.

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The service ledger

What we build, chalked course by course

The marks on the left are the letters we use on the yard board, not a ranking. A project may carry two letters at once, and the sequence below is the order in which the trades usually follow one another.

Custom Home Construction

We build single-family homes on lots that have been walked, measured and read before the first stake is driven. The work begins with a survey check and a datum on the story pole, then moves through excavation, footing, foundation, framing and roof, with the masonry trades sequenced so that no wall is loaded before its footing has cured. We keep the owner in the loop with a written schedule and a short weekly report, and we do not move to the next stage until the previous one has been inspected.

Custom means the plan is drawn around the family, not around a catalogue. We work with the owner and the designer on room proportions, ceiling heights, window placement and the way the house meets the garden. Exterior materials are selected together, because brick, stone, siding and roof all have to agree on a thickness and a reveal. If the budget and the drawing disagree, we say so early, in writing, with an alternative that keeps the intent of the design.

A finished home from this yard carries a clean line at every opening and a wall that meets the roof without a patch. The principal signs the final walk and leaves a set of as-built notes with the owner.

Brick and Block Coursing

Coursing is the discipline that gives the rest of the house its order. We lay brick and block to a string line stretched between steel pins, and we check that line against the story pole at every lift. Stretcher faces and header faces are set in a bond agreed with the designer, usually running bond for long walls and English bond where a pier needs to read as a solid. Joints are struck and tooled while the mortar is green, and every head joint is filled.

We set sills, lintels, soldier courses and corbelled heads, and we match existing brick when a wall has to continue past an opening or a repair. Chimneys are built with a clay liner and a crown that sheds water, and garden walls carry a coping that keeps the head dry. Where a wall meets a roof or a frame, we use a flashing detail that lets the masonry move without cracking the joint.

Block work is used for foundations, party walls and garden piers, and is filled and reinforced where the engineer requires it. We do not hide a hollow in a wall; the ledger records what was grouted and when.

Home Additions

An addition is judged by its tie-in. Before any wall is removed, we expose the existing structure, photograph the bond and record the dimensions on the ledger. The new footing is set below the old one where the soil requires, and the new brick is toothed into the old in a stepped joint so the two walls act together. Inside, the ceiling and floor lines are carried through so the join disappears from the room.

We build single-storey extensions, second-storey additions and enclosed porches, and we coordinate the structural engineer, the roofer and the trades that have to move services out of the way. Temporary weather cover goes on before the old wall is opened, and the household keeps a working kitchen and a dry route through the house for as much of the schedule as possible.

At the end, the old and new work are finished together: the same brick, the same mortar colour, the same window reveal. An owner should not be able to tell where the original house stopped.

Foundation and Slab Works

Every house depends on what is under it. We excavate footings to the depth and width the engineer specifies, confirm the bearing soil with the inspector, and form and reinforce the footing before the pour. Anchor bolts, hold-downs and service sleeves are set while the concrete is workable, and we check the top elevation against the story pole before the mud takes its set.

Slabs are placed over a compacted base with a vapour barrier and insulation where required. We screed, float and trowel the surface to the finish the floor covering needs, and we cure under cover so the slab does not dry too fast and dust in the first season. Garage slabs are sloped to the door, and exterior aprons are detailed to shed water away from the footing.

We also build small retaining footings, pier bases and garden steps, and we record the concrete mix, the pour date and the weather on the ledger so the record is complete if a future owner ever needs it.

Outdoor Living Structures

The garden is part of the house. We build brick piers, garden walls, fire surrounds, pizza ovens, steps and covered patios, and we lay them from the same course ledger as the residence so the outdoor rooms share the proportions of the home. Walls are built with a slight batter where the design asks for it, and every pier is capped with a stone or brick coping that throws water clear of the face.

Patios and pergolas are set out on the same grid as the house, with the columns aligned to the window reveals and the paving joints running true to the wall. We detail the threshold so that rain runs away from the door, and we set the fire surround with a lined flue and a hearth that meets the code clearance.

Outdoor structures take more weather than the house, so the mortar, the coping and the flashing matter more, not less. We return after the first wet season if the owner wishes, to check the joints and strike any that have opened.

Project Supervision

Some owners bring their own designer and their own trades and want a single experienced eye on the site. Our supervision line holds the schedule, checks deliveries against the order, inspects the coursing against the drawings, and records every change on the ledger board at the gate. We attend the key inspections and we do not sign off a stage that has not been built to the drawing.

Supervision can be booked for a single stage, such as the foundation and the first lift of masonry, or for the whole build. We report in plain language, with photographs and a short list of items to close, and we keep a running record of decisions so that nobody has to rely on memory later.

This service suits an owner who wants control of the budget and the trades but does not want to learn the sequence of a build from scratch. We are on site when the work that matters is happening, and we are honest when a trade has fallen short.

The process

From first walk to final joint

One, the site walk. We meet at the lot, walk the boundaries, note the slope, the soil, the services and the trees, and talk through what the family wants. There is no charge for this conversation and no obligation to proceed.

Two, the ledger and the estimate. We set out the scope in writing, with the sequence of trades and the allowances that are likely to move. The story pole position is agreed and the datum is recorded before any pricing is final.

Three, the ground and the footing. Excavation, inspection, forming and pour. The foundation crew and the masonry crew work to the same marks, so the first course of brick lands exactly where the drawing says it will.

Four, the shell and the coursing. Framing, roof and masonry are sequenced together. The line stays up through every lift, and the jointer wheel comes off the rack at the end of each day of pointing.

Five, the finishes and the walk. Windows, doors, flashing and the final clean. The principal walks the house with the owner, lists anything that needs attention, and returns to close it before the final invoice.

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Bouwhuis Builders, LLC opens its spring build calendar for Stockton and the surrounding valley, and we are glad to reserve a site walk before the ground work begins.

Six trades held to one line TRUE