I recently had the pleasure of visiting Austin, Texas builder David Dalgleish of Dalgleish Construction and was fortunate enough to be afforded the opportunity to tour one of his many current projects . . . an impressive, feet-in-the-water, Lake Austin residence.
When I arrived for our mid-morning appointment, the jobsite was a beehive of activity with at least 50 skilled craftsmen and support personnel, an onsite project manager, job superintendent, and project engineer, and check-up visits by David and one of his managing partners. A well-oiled machine and a model of well-crafted organization.
My visit offered a few glimpses of the sorts of challenges that the Dalgleish team relishes: engineering a foundation atop pilings driven fifty or more feet into the soft, lakeside soil; designing an HVAC supply and return network required by the architect to be completely hidden from view; and devising a means to invisibly suspend decorative filaments around a large theatre room scant millimeters from the walls and in precise 6mm intervals.
I had already been aware that the hallmarks of the Dalgleish brand were an extreme attention to detail paired with an uncompromising standard for absolute perfection in workmanship . . . and my tour revealed abundant evidence of both. Stone masons were sawing, checking for square, grinding, rechecking for square, grinding again, then performing a final check for square. A highly skilled carpenter was creating a box-beam coffered ceiling of walnut lumber and walnut veneered plywood. His marvelously precise joinery created an effectively seamless composition. Paint crews were tackling the onerous task of surface preparation and raising it to an art form. Plasterers were painstakingly troweling walls and ceilings to achieve a diamond-honed-like smoothness and beautiful, waxy luster with the final step of their three coat installation. A tour de force performance in every aspect.
It is clear that Dalgleish Construction enjoys the confidence of Austin’s leading architects and designers and is very much in demand by the dynamic Texas city’s growing affluent class. From my time spent with David and his staff and on site it is easy to understand why. A true master builder.
A selection of portfolio shots from dalgleish.net
