Our Giroux Glass team and I recently attended to the glass and glazing needs of The Jewelers, a high-end jewelry boutique that has been family-owned and operated in Las Vegas since 1976, and has served customers from Elvis Presley, to Robert De Niro, to Britney Spears, and other famous Las Vegas celebrities.
Well familiar with our own 69-year history of celebrity clientele (including Gene Simmons, Jim Carrey, and other Hollywood stars), our team was prepared to face the challenges of delivering high-end, quality glazing work within a pressing time frame –- which is one of our main goals as a company: to provide this type of service for every job we procure, big or small.
Our mission:
To complete submittals, shop drawings, layout, glass procurement and installation before the Rocks the Jewelers store opened for business at the MGM Grand, Las Vegas -– just weeks after the bid solicitation date.
The materials:
A state-of-the-art ¾” Starphire, tempered, frameless storefront system.
How it began:
Our Nevada Operations team was contacted by Isaac Building and Design Co., Inc. after the project had already begun, which left us with a mere four weeks before the store would open for business. In the first week, once we had the go-ahead to begin, we ensured that all submittals and shop drawings were approved. Then, we had the remaining three weeks to layout, procure, and install the glass system.
And it was no ordinary installation.
Firstly, the use of Starphire glass made this storefront a luxuriously unique embellishment for Rocks the Jewelers. Very much like The Jewelers’ claim to fame — their stunning timepieces and rings — Starphire is the diamond of all glass. Its ultra-clear properties allow more light to pass through it than through conventional clear glass (because of its low iron content), and it is easily distinguished by its blue edge, in contrast to conventional glass’ green edge.
The design of this frameless storefront system also incorporated a sloped panel that required two adjacent panels to be pattern cut, mitered, back mitered, and out of square, all the while achieving a 1/8” gap at a height of 13’6”. Our union journeymen achieved this by carefully laying out each piece of glass in the field. Due to the costly nature of each Starphire glass panel, the team’s accuracy and care were especially important.
The challenge:
Are you familiar with Murphy’s Law? It’s the old adage that states, “Anything that can go wrong, will.” Well, this project was smoothly sailing until we received an unfortunate call that nearly put a wrench in our already-tight project deadline.
Glasswerks, our California-based glass supplier, had scheduled our glass delivery for Friday, which was perfect. But they unexpectedly had to halt manufacturing in order to clean out their furnaces, which meant delivery would be pushed back to Monday. The store was supposed to open on Monday….
At this point, we needed three more pieces of glass to complete the installation of the entrances and to wrap-up the project over the weekend in order to meet our deadline. Thanks to Glasswerks who found a way to temper the glass on Thursday night between periods of cleaning their furnaces, our Nevada Operations team was able to coordinate a plan of action with our Los Angeles office for its delivery. I called Kelly Edwards, our field operations superintendent in Los Angeles, and without hesitation, he arranged for one of his men to pick up our glass in Los Angeles and personally drive it to our project site in Las Vegas, just in time for installation. Mike Gutierrez, one of our talented union glaziers, was waiting at Glasswerks’ facility when the glass came out of the furnace, and delivered the three pieces to the jobsite at the MGM Grand by 3:00 AM Saturday morning.
Because of the quick thinking of Glasswerks and our team, all of the glass was installed and the store was open for business in just three days.
I cannot speak more proudly of our team’s professionalism, quality of work, and ability to turn over another quality project in a timeframe that met our customer’s needs. Nevada’s field operations superintendent, Ned Witham, organized a wonderful team, which included Art Mortenson (lead foreman), Tim Gibson, Greg Swetz, John Smith, Brandon Johnson and Brad Schafer.
by Daniel Rodriguez, Project Estimator at Giroux Glass, Inc.
Daniel has been a member of Giroux Glass’ Nevada Operations team for seven years. He welcomes your feedback, which can be emailed directly to [email protected].