Jake Bruton

Jake Bruton is the owner of Aarow Building in Columbia Missouri.

Aarow Building is responsible for the constructing architecturally significant, durable, and energy efficient homes in and around the Columbia Missouri area.

06/29/2022

This is one of my favorite photos to take. First time having the architect onsite, design is just starting, nothing is set in stone, and everyone is trying to figure out how to get from this little tick jungle to a successful home. I have a similar photo for almost every home Aarow Building has built since I took the reins. It is an important meeting, and it sets a tone for so much of the project. This beauty is shaping up nicely but could easily be more than a year away. I will return to this photo throughout the process to help myself think and consider our path. Maybe looking backward for me give perspective or maybe I selfishly just want to see how far we have come in order to feel accomplishment. Do you take this photo?
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Pm

06/16/2022

With friends like these…

05/25/2022

I tend to think of my Instagram account as getting to share bits and pieces of my knowledge with other builders. My small brain doesn’t actually comprehend the potential number of people that might see something any of us posts. Instead, I think of a half dozen or so friends across the country and think, “I wonder if so and so knows about this already” or “I hope such and such sees this, because I bet, they would like it”. I prefer to think of it this way too, I don’t try to change that thought process. Keeping that in mind, I often forget that this is also an advertising tool for my business. So, here is a pretty picture of something we built a little while back. Enjoy.

05/14/2022

This little guy was maybe ten years ago. I was looking for a photo of this dock to share with a client and decided to share it with you. This was actually a math heavy project. The downset section was for loading a kayak into the lake and they wanted it to rest on the dock and the water at the same time. We ran calculations based on our treated lumber (knowing it would dry and become lighter) and the client’s weight and kayak. Common weights for SYP framing lumber were found online and then we checked those against the new stock we could get and some 5-year-old boards that were bumming around our shop. The calculations were not incredibly accurate. We then worked with a float manufacturer to create floats that held just the right weight. When the client wants to load a kayak into the lake, they step down onto the platform and that lever action causes the dock to tip slightly and therefore dips the platform temporarily into the water while they are on the platform. Once you pull away the dock raises up keeping the platform from being submerged and slimy. It worked best for the main kayaker in the family, from whom we based the weight. It also worked well for me and my crew, we all tried it. When you aren’t launching kayaks, it is a great spot to sit and enjoy the water. You thought it was just a photo of a dock we build ten years ago.

05/12/2022

What is the worst part of your job? I know most contractors talk about dealing with subs and employees or nasty clients. Mine is when we have a call back that isn’t our fault. A client supplied material that causes issues, clogged drain due to hair in the catch that hasn’t been removed, or an existing issue on a remodel that has nothing to do with the work we did but someone is blaming us. It is a difficult thing being a business owner in these times. Trying to explain that you aren’t at fault when someone thinks you are simply trying to shirk the responsibility. This is where exceptional client relations help to keep your head above water with clients. If the clients respect you as the honest professional that you are, they will believe you when you say, “this isn’t caused by our firm”. This is a very difficult spot to reach sometimes. It takes consistency from day one. Honesty from day one. And the ability to admit when something is your fault. We give roughly the same warranty other builders give; we also include a caveat that if something was done wrong, we will take care of the clients indefinitely. No one is perfect. But we try for as close as we can. What is the worst part of your job?

05/11/2022

Sometimes a screw in the surface is a finished work piece is the only option. We try to avoid it but, you know how it goes. These treads were prefinished from our flooring manufacturer. In order to avoid getting a big smear of wood putty on the rest of the tread we place tape over the area, screw through the tape, putty, and remove the tape. Voila, no mess. Also, I would like to point out that I spelled voila right the very first time. Not sure I have ever seen that in print before even, just knocked it out of the park on my first trim. Man, I am good with the spells.

05/10/2022

How dry is too dry? NOT ONE OF MY JOBS. When placing concrete water of convenience is added for workability reasons. If too much water is added, the chemicals and granules will be thinned out and the result will be weak concrete. If too little water is added the water evaporates too quickly and the chemical cure will not be complete, and the concrete will be too weak. Too dry of a mix and the concrete will become aggregate again. There is a sweet spot. I pulled up to these footings as the concrete truck was pulling away. Which means these were only about 30 minutes old. I’ve not seen concrete placed this dry before. I’m not certain it is too dry. It felt incredibly dry to me. But it brings up another conversation. The footing will be completely captured by backfill. If it is too dry, will that be a problem. We are allowed to build wood foundations homes on compacted gravel. If this wants to crumble, does it become a gravel footing instead? My assumption would be this is nearing too dry, and a crumbly footing would be bad, but I’m not sure I’m not missing something here. Anyone?

04/29/2022

One of the constant emails, DM, or in person questions about content creation is “what do you film with?” The industry heavy hitters that we all know use some pretty expensive equipment. That isn’t wrong or right, it’s what works for them. I’ve used some fairly expensive stuff in the past. Our current go-to when we film in-house is the set up pictured here. There are three tips from this photo. 1. A good, adjustable, heavy tripod will make any shot more stable. I know there are lots that like the hand-held look and feel, heck they even shoot in Hollywood hand-held now. Don’t try it. You will look unstable. 2. The head on this tripod is a fluid head. It allows for slow panning and movement that is met with slight resistance and it makes your movement seem a lot more stable. Check out my Build Show Network this week on basement windows, at the 1 minute you can see the head movement is smooth. At two minutes that pan is hand-held and is rough. It makes a difference. Both are Manfroto brand. 3. This little Sony ZV-1 is killer at $750. The mic is pretty decent, the light sensor is great, even in lower light situations. I recommend this guy to lots of people. All of the above aside, if you want to create content for others, just start doing it. Don’t let the items on my list hold you back. Chances are your smart phone would do really well. The content of the video is more important than the camera work. Have the right message and start creating.
I’m going to tag some camera dorks I know so that they can see the comments on this post. And possibly contribute to the conversation.
Also, this may be the only time you ever see Brad our SPM on camera. He isn’t on social, doesn’t like the internet, and is one of my favorite camera operators because he tells me if I say something wrong.

04/28/2022

I love the design process. So many choices, so many opportunities. One of my recent favorite moments was a zoom design meeting with and the clients in which I got to see Steve attempt to fit a grand piano into a 1400 SQFT home in real time. Design constraints are much more fun when the challenge falls heavy on someone else’s shoulders. This was a good one. What is that heavy design constraint you had to handle?

04/27/2022

When you and your PM are working on the same budget review, this is what it looks like. Lots and lots of pointing at the screen to make sure you both understand what is going on. All jokes aside how often do you conduct budget reviews? Our firm generally conducts them every two weeks. Not much can get by you if you do it every two weeks. Of course, the world can catch on fire in a single day, but you are unlikely to not remember why in a two-week period. We also invoice every two weeks, so you get a budget review and then an invoice. Generally speaking, the reviews don’t start until after foundation and some framing is completed and they may become less frequent if the job is very near budget or if the clients don’t require the information they gain from the reviews. A few years ago, a new home client said, “are we going to do every two weeks for the entire build?” I confirmed that was our process, and she responded with “will it change the amount of money I owe you if we never do these again?”. No more time was spent on budget reviews with the client on that one, however, we still conduct them in-house because we need to know. Changes might be made if we are informed. How often does your firm conduct budget reviews?

04/26/2022

Why is there a bathroom exhaust fan in this hallway? This hallway contains the mechanical room (door on the right), laundry, and the main bathroom, and the hallway ceiling is dropped to accommodate a service corridor for some mechanical systems above. So why the exhaust fan? It isn’t actually being used to exhaust anything. It is a jumper duct from the hallway to the bathroom. This home is only 1200SQFT and in a home that size it can be tough to find space for duct work and a furnace. Therefore, the home is conditioned by wall-mounted mini-split systems. For this space we installed a thermostat in the bathroom that controls a bathroom exhaust fan in the hallway. When the bathroom gets more than two degrees from the set point it turns the fan on and brings in air from the hallway. This hallway air is closer to the HVAC supply head (only by a couple feet), and that actually makes a difference. It does kick on more when the door is closed too. Simple, new conditioned air introduced into the space. Also, because the bathroom is north facing, we were slightly concerned as to whether or not this would be enough in heating season so we installed a 20-amp wire behind a baseboard that could later be connected to electric baseboard heat and the panel when needed. It has not been installed yet and the home is a few years old. Simple solutions for comfortable building. Still one of my favorite homes, both from a design and ex*****on standpoint. Architect Brian Morgan Architects (closed)
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Build

04/25/2022

I learned in the last three weeks that you can annotate items on a Zoom call while someone is sharing their screen. How did I make it through the entire Zoom call pandemic without knowing this business? I watched start making some notes for our planning discussion with clients and had to interrupt to be certain I learned how to do this. Am I the only one that was missing out?

Address

Columbia, MO
65203

Telephone

+15734744496

Website

http://aarowbuilding.com/

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