Finton Construction Mexico

511 progress report • Cannon Residence 6-23-010

2010-06-28T10:38:00.000-07:00

Agua Viva 176 • Oh Residence : Spring 2010 Report

2010-06-24T13:47:00.000-07:00

FIRST FCM CUSTOM HOME IN LORETO BAY IS COMPLETE!

2009-10-16T12:35:00.000-07:00

View from across the estuary to the Thompson Residence at AV 90

Finton Construction Mexico (FCM) is very proud to announce the completion of our first custom home. It is located in Aqua Viva in Loreto Bay on Lot AV 90. The home is for Bill and Julie Thompson from the Seattle area. It was completed in just over a year...on time and on budget! Congrats to Bill and Julie who have shown a commitment to Loreto Bay community by forging ahead with a high quality, high performance energy efficient green home with all the high standards of construction that FCM provides. This is important for the Loreto Bay community that high quality homes are being committed to and being completed. We have 3 more Custom Homes in construction nearing completion and 2 more new homes will be getting started within the month. This is good news to all homeowners in Loreto Bay.

Bill and Julie Thompson enjoy with Greg Gordon their first soak in their new solar heated hot tub!

View from the courtyard out to the estuary

Congrats to our Mexican construction team and Loreto based Nativos Construction. Congrats to our on site Construction Manager Greg Gordon and architect and supervisor Ulisses Espinosa, and to our team of Mexican architects and construction supervision staff in our Loreto Bay offices. We thank Bill and Julie for their confidence in our team. They were our first clients and we are particularly proud of the fact that we delivered on our promise to them! Yes, that can happen in Loreto Bay.

See Nellie's blog post about FCM

http://whereintheworldisnellie.blogspot.com/

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 9.23.09

2009-09-29T11:01:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 9.22.09

2009-09-29T11:00:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 9.22.09

2009-09-29T10:59:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 9.22.09

2009-09-29T10:58:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 8.25.09

2009-09-29T10:57:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 8.24.09

2009-09-29T10:56:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 8.20.09

2009-09-29T10:55:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 8.20.09

2009-09-29T10:54:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 8.20.09

2009-09-29T10:52:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 8.20.09

2009-09-29T10:51:00.000-07:00

Governor of Baja California Sur visits Loreto Bay

2009-08-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report

2009-08-17T13:05:00.002-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 8.10.09

2009-08-17T13:05:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90:Weekly Report 8.10.09

2009-08-17T13:04:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 8.01.09

2009-08-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 8.01.09

2009-08-10T13:18:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 7.25.09

2009-08-10T13:17:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 7.24.09

2009-08-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 7.18.09

2009-08-10T13:15:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 7.18.09

2009-08-10T13:14:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 7.18.09

2009-08-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 7.11.09

2009-08-10T12:39:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 7.4.09

2009-07-14T12:58:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 7.4.09

2009-07-14T12:57:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 7.4.09

2009-07-14T12:56:00.000-07:00

FN 511: Weekly Report 6.30.09

2009-07-02T12:42:00.001-07:00

AV 176: Weekly Report 6.30.09

2009-07-02T12:41:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 6.30.09

2009-07-02T12:40:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 6.20.09

2009-07-02T12:39:00.001-07:00

AVLot 90: Weekly Report 6.20.09

2009-07-02T12:38:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 6.8.09

2009-06-11T07:53:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 6.8.09

2009-06-11T07:52:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 6.8.09

2009-06-11T07:51:00.000-07:00

LORETO BAY Construction

2009-06-09T12:39:00.000-07:00

The following are some comments on future construction of village homes and custom homes:

With the current suspension of LBC construction activity I have read with some interest and bemusement the posted discussion related to various entities possibly assuming or taking over the construction business from the LBC. My partners and I have spent the last 18 months establishing a Custom Home construction company in Loreto Bay called FCM Finton Contruction Mexico and currently have 5 custom homes under construction. We are on the verge of completing in 12 months our first home for Bill Thompson at AV 90. see:http://www.fintonconstructionmexico.blogspot.com/

Anyone who says that they can come in and takeover construction is dramatically underestimating the complexity, the legality, the risks, the warranties, the hidden kickbacks, the labor issues, etc. of doing construction in Mexico. Also, when I hear these comments, I am concerned by the naivete of people who have not actually run a construction company and who have grossly underestimated the operational costs and the demands of locating on the ground in Loreto properly trained construction managers, on site construction supervisors, procurement teams, and accounting professionals to properly manage a construction company. Not to mention the storage requirements, equipment, and employee housing. Unfortunately, in the history of the LBC development, this has never been successfuly accomplished even with large corporate construction management companies like Beck brought in to try to get things running properly. There is no one currently involved with the LBC, or consulting to homeowners, who has the expertise or financial and human capital to establish a potentially viable construction company to finish village homes in FN or AV. Also, this notion that some entity will spring forth from the LBC to takeover is ludicrous. Why in the world would anybody believe that now is the time that some magical company will form (startup company?..do we need more of that?) and save the day. I recommend that if you have an unfinished home, that you take a deep breath and stay patient. Do not entertain opportunistic startups or well intentioned people that will undoubtably appear to solve your problems but have never actually successfully done it before! We have negotiated with LBC on many construction "takeovers" and they have been very messy complicated deals that require extensive construction forensics and analysis. And in some cases it is basically impossible to work out a takeover agreement that doesnt leave the owner liable for expenses that far excede their original construction contract amount.I am sorry to rain on certain parades but I cannot standby while these ideas are being discussed and entertained. We know what it takes to run a viable construction company in Loreto Bay and wanted to share with everybody a little taste of the reality of running construction in Loreto Bay. I will be posting comments on possible solutions as they come up...and hopefully can be much more positive. I think the homeowners need to really band together as i see is starting to happen and take control of the future of this development.
-Robin Donaldson AIA

CONSTRUCTION CONTINUES in Loreto Bay at FCM!

2009-06-09T10:26:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact the Loreto Bay company has halted all construction, Finton Construction Mexico(FCM) and our crew continue construction on our custom homes. Our office, our construction teams and construction managers are all still in place working on custom home projects. We still see a demand now more than ever for high quality homes and organized construction management in Loreto Bay. Contact Greg Gordon in our Loreto Bay office if you have any questions or comments.

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 6.1.09

2009-06-04T09:29:00.001-07:00

AV lot 176:Weekly Report 6.1.09

2009-06-04T09:28:00.002-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 6.1.09

2009-06-04T09:28:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511:Weekly Report 6.1.09

2009-06-04T09:27:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 5.24.09

2009-06-01T08:30:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 5.24.09

2009-06-01T08:29:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90:Weekly Report 5.24.09

2009-06-01T08:28:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 5.23.09

2009-06-01T08:27:00.002-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 5.18.09

2009-06-01T08:27:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 5.16.09

2009-06-01T08:26:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 5.18.09

2009-05-21T15:16:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 5.10.09

2009-05-19T10:24:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 5.10.09

2009-05-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 5.10.09

2009-05-19T10:22:00.002-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 5.9.09

2009-05-19T10:22:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 5.11.09

2009-05-11T14:06:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 5.11.09

2009-05-11T14:05:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 5.11.09

2009-05-11T14:04:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 5.2.09

2009-05-08T07:08:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 4.26.09

2009-05-04T12:57:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 4.26.09

2009-05-04T12:56:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 4.26.09

2009-05-04T12:55:00.002-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 4.26.09

2009-05-04T12:55:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 4.20.09

2009-05-04T12:54:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 4.20.09

2009-05-04T12:53:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 4.20.09

2009-05-04T12:52:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 4.18.09

2009-05-04T12:51:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 4.12.09

2009-04-20T15:41:00.001-07:00

FN 511: Weekly Report 4.12.09

2009-04-20T15:39:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 4.12.09

2009-04-20T15:38:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 4.12.09

2009-04-20T15:37:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 4.5.09

2009-04-16T15:11:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 4.1.09

2009-04-16T15:10:00.001-07:00

FN Lot 511: Weekly Report 3.26.09

2009-04-16T15:09:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 3.23.09

2009-04-16T15:08:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 3.23.09

2009-04-16T15:07:00.001-07:00

Building a world-class private Hacienda estate off the grid in the Mayan jungle of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula.

2009-04-13T09:00:00.000-07:00

Some clients have vision of building world-class high-end construction in some of the most remote places in the world. Typically to achieve this dream with the level of quality and detail expected you must first take on the biggest obstacles of having no real selection of qualified tradesmen, construction supply stores, infrastructure of any kind and access to your building site.

This objective and these conditions are a dream come true for me. To take the level of being a master builder to a higher and more challenging level. After building several custom homes of this caliber and in this genre in the Southern California area I was looking for that next challenge.

Well, the challenge found me in 2006 with an invitation to go to Tulum, Mexico in the Yucatan Peninsula to take on the construction of the Mayan Hacienda Tulum. It was my job to organize what labor forces were readily available and introduce a team of qualified construction supervisors to train the local people the Westernized construction procedures to be able to complete such a challenge of high-end construction with one of the largest residential photo voltaic electrical systems in the world.

Along with extensive supervision from the USA we also retained the best Mechanical, electrical, plumbing, waterproofing and special finishes consultants brought there from around the world to help our teams of local Mayans become builders of this new age.

As you can see in the group picture in front of the Hacienda, we have a very colorful team of Mayan Indians in there coordinated color coded shirts. With 200 Mayans running around, I found it very helpful labeling each trade to identify their trade; For example..Blue shirts are plumbers, Red shirts are electricians, Brown is concrete…etc..Of course the guy in the Hawaiian print shirt on top is me.

My name is Greg Gordon and I am the director of operations for Finton Construction Mexico in Loreto Bay BCS, Mexico.

Fishing Trip in Loreto Bay

2009-04-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

Recently, Greg Gordon and I went out fishing on the Sea of Cortez with our clients, Mike Bartlett and David Lem. It was a great day in the sun, and we each brought back a 35 lb. yellowtail.

... Russell Shubin, AIA, LEED AP

Lot 511 Buying Trip to Guadalajara

2009-04-06T09:35:00.001-07:00

Recently we made another successful furniture buying trip... this time with Brown and Mardi Cannon, owners of Lot 511 (pictured on the left). This photo was taken at our last stop on the trip and our clients were very happy to have found so many quality pieces of furniture for their new home. Will Rivera (center) who designed their home, assisted them in selecting their furniture, verifying sizes and making sure the time spent was productive and enjoyable. Karla (second from the right) helped coordinate the trip and her knowledge of vendors made this trip a success. Edgar (right) was our driver. Many of our clients have enjoyed these trips and we continue to provide this service for all of our clients.

Client Testimonial: Bill & Julie Thompson, AV Lot 90

2009-03-25T09:38:00.001-07:00

Dear Greg,

We wanted to let you know how pleased we are with the progress on our home. Finton Construction Mexico gave us a schedule, a budget and amazingly (for a project in Mexico) you have managed the project to make both. We appreciate your care for our project and your commitment to quality of our home.

As you know, we were very careful about the selection of a builder to construct our home in Loreto Bay. Fortunately, we have built homes before and knew from prior experience the importance of having an experienced Custom Home builder with highly experienced and motivated on-site supervision. After considering the other available builders in Loreto Bay we selected Finton Mexico, and we are glad we did. No one else had the many years of experience building Custom Homes and the supervision of the project has exceeded our expectations. We also appreciate the weekly construction progress reports and the detailed billing summaries that fully explain all expenses related to our project.

We enjoyed coming down to Loreto Bay and meeting your family and all the team at the Finton Mexico Partners open house. The house tours were very informative as well. We look forward to our first margarita with you on the patio of our home when it is finished for the summer ….on time and on budget!

All the best,
Bill and Julie Thompson

Client Testimonial: Kinsey Carpenter, FN Lot 445

2009-03-25T09:34:00.001-07:00

Dear Robin, Russell, John and Dan,

I am writing to tell how happy I am with the performance of your construction team and the quality of the construction. As you know, I have been struggling to keep my enthusiasm for Loreto Bay, especially in light of the developer issues and the recent economic downturn. I have been second guessing myself and wondering if I am doing the right thing. But when I got down to Loreto and finally got to walk through my new home under construction I was thrilled to see the great design being realized into a real home! It was great to see the view from the courtyard overlooking the lake and the beautiful new golf course and mountains beyond. The pleasure of working with your team, seeing the quality and care of the construction, as well as the beauty of the site has reinvigorated me! I can hardly wait until my home is done.

Thank you so much for making this a pleasurable experience and for caring so much about the design and quality of construction for my home. Thank you for the weekly updates on the progress and for sticking to your construction schedule. I feel very fortunate that you guys are building my home, especially when I see what is happening on the other construction sites. Please allow me to be a reference for you with other clients.

Sincerely,
Kinsey Carpenter

Client Testimonial: Shenton Oh, AV Lot 176

2009-03-25T09:30:00.001-07:00

After assessing the progress, the quality of work and the details that go into a custom home we were very impressed with the care and process that went into selecting subs, construction processes and transparency. Besides the open book accounting that I am used to nothing was left out and nothing was unaccounted for. Congratulations! a great job! With my background as consultant in setting up, building and improving efficiencies in free standing Ambulatory Surgical Centers, and having built a couple of homes in difficult regulatory and physical situations for our family, I can unconditionally recommend your services! I can say without hesitation that the team of Shubin and Donaldson and Finton Construction of Santa Barbara are the best I have seen in the building business and by far the best in Loreto Bay. It would likely take some time for other builders to train and build up a team of this proficiency that works so well with the Subcontractors. We are so glad we had this team build our home and allow us to become part of the team!

…Shenton Oh, MD MBA CPE

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report 3.15.09

2009-03-23T10:53:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report 3.15.09

2009-03-23T10:52:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report 3.15.09

2009-03-23T10:51:00.001-07:00

Finton Mexico Partners Meeting in Loreto Bay

2009-03-16T14:19:00.001-07:00

I just got back from a very enjoyable and satisfying 4 day trip to Loreto for a Finton Mexico http://www.fintonconstructionmexico.blogspot.com Partners Meeting. We had construction team meetings with the construction partners, with our main subcontractors, made site visits and toured custom homes under construction with our clients. It was great to see the remarkably superior construction quality of our homes compared to other construction in Loreto. We are achieving our goal of building homes with a quality comparable to the work we do in Southern California ….but in Loreto Bay!

Kinsey Carpenter owner of FN 445 (neighbor to our home at FN 446) came to Loreto to see the progress on his home (FN 445) http://fintonconstructionmexico.blogspot.com/search/label/FN%20LOT%20445 and Bill and Julie Thompson came down to see the progress on their home at AV90 http://fintonconstructionmexico.blogspot.com/search/label/AV%20LOT%2090 Other architectural and construction clients came down for the meetings including Alan Axelrod (FN 434), Terry Burnham (FN 214), and Glen Hilbers (FN 436). We had an open house at our offices and a dinner in town at the new Mision Hotel http://lamisionloreto-px.trvlclick.com/. More on those happenings in other posts.

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report for 3.10.09

2009-03-16T12:38:00.001-07:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report for 3.8.09

2009-03-16T12:36:00.000-07:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report for 3.8.09

2009-03-16T12:34:00.000-07:00

FN Lot 445: Weekly Report for 2.18.09

2009-02-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

AV Lot 176: Weekly Report for 2.18.09

2009-02-24T13:56:00.000-08:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report for 2.18.09

2009-02-24T13:12:00.001-08:00

AV LOT 90

2009-02-24T13:12:00.000-08:00

AV Lot 90: Weekly Report for 1.25.09

2009-02-09T14:46:00.000-08:00

Who We Are

2009-02-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

The company partners have all spent the last 20 years building their respective businesses to serve the high end custom home market in Southern California. John and Dan have established Finton Construction http://www.fintonassociates.com/ as one of the top 5 custom home builders in the LA and Orange County custom home market. Their homes have been featured in Architectural Digest and numerous other publications. They are known for very high service for very demanding clients. Their company has 80 employees and typically have 50 million in construction per year in the Southern California market.

Likewise, Robin and Russell have established Shubin and Donaldson Architects Inc. http://www.shubinanddonaldson.com/ as a well known high quality design architectural firm that has won over 20 national and regional AIA awards as well as extensive national and international publicity. From their offices in Santa Barbara and Culver City, California they design contemporary homes and estates nationally and internationally.

The partners became involved in the Mexican building market 5 years ago after they bought land to build vacation homes in Mexico. Since that time they have in Mexico designed almost 30 homes, Beachclubs, Boutique Hotels and Master Planned hundreds of acres of beachfront Hospitality projects. The construction company has a significant number of homes under construction and in the bidding process.

Construction Company Philosophy and Approach

2009-02-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

Build the most beautiful highest quality and highest performing green energy efficient homes on time and on budget.

Our experience in Mexico has shown that there is a market for custom homes designed and built to the standards and delivered with the level of service that we provide in the United States. We have brought to Mexico our extensive management systems that have successfully delivered homes in the very demanding Southern California market. These systems for construction management include Project Accounting, Project Scheduling http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/project/default.aspx and Procurement systems for the efficient and timely delivery of goods and services to get a building delivered on time and on budget. We use Pro-Core www.procore.com as a construction communication tool to facilitate and streamline the building process. This also allows for full time customer access to daily updated information on the status of their project. This is particularly important for our customers who are located all over the U.S. and Canada.

Construction Management: As we do in the United States, in Mexico our company operates under a Construction Management mode of operation. Our Mexican staff is comprised of Finton Associates trained Construction Managers, Estimators, Procurement managers and Superintendents who oversee a qualified and selected group of Mexican sub-contractors who competitively bid to provide goods and services for the construction of our projects.

Cost Management: We provide full detailed budgets with full accounting transparency in delineating all the sub contracts, specifications and deliverables for each project.