A Little Olympic Fun

Last Tuesday during our company huddle Destination Homes decided to have a bit of fun, Olympic style.  Weber County Ice Sheet and instructors Tim Irish, Ben Womack and Erwin Weil welcomed us at their ice rink to teach everyone about the fun sport of curling.

The morning started at 9:00 a.m. with the team getting used to sliding on the ice, which is more difficult that it appears to be.  The curlers in the Olympics really have to hone 

some strength and finesse skills to do this sport and then to have the smarts to outwit the competition.  Curling is often called ‘Chess on Ice’.  This couldn’t be truer, but of course it didn’t seem a whole lot like chess until we got the hang of throwing the rock and sweeping.

Curling is a lot more of a work out than anyone would have expected.  It takes attention and balance to not fall on the ice and sweeping in front of the rocks works both your arms and legs.  Thankfully, our instructors, Tim, Ben and Erwin were very good at teaching us the safety ins and outs on the ice and we only had a minimal amount of slipping and falling.

It didn’t take long for the competitive spirit to rise and while most of the games weren’t layered with intense strategy we had some exciting tie breaking shootouts.  By the end of our session on the ice the team at Destination Homes were hungry and extremely grateful that Aaron from Academy found us in Ogden and brought cinnamon rolls the size of small planets with him.

Curling is a great team sport. Everyone has specific and very important responsibilities. Success is enjoyed only when everyone works together and performs at a high level.

What To Do When Its Cold.

Its that time of year again.  The Christmas trees have been taken down, the presents are unwrapped and put away, the decadent food is gone and life is ordinary again. After all of the fun activities that the holidays brought us, the remaining months of winter can be a let down.  Don’t get too down; here is a list with some of our favorite winter activities that are close to home, easy to do and inexpensive.

If you haven't taken the drive up to Midway, UT to see the Midway Ice Castles it needs to be at the top of your list.  It is a beautiful outdoor display with tunnels, caverns and archways made by hand with 20,000,000 pounds of ice.  At night the castles are illuminated in beautiful hues of blue, green and red.  Just remember to dress nice and warm!

If you have little ones under foot you know how difficult it can be during the winter months when they are inside for most of the day.  Try this little bit of fun we found on Pinterest, spray paint the snow.  Take some old plastic spray bottles fill them up with water and place food coloring in each one.  The snow becomes their canvas and it’s instant fun in a bottle.

 All of us have memories of being in our snow boots with our mittens and hats on, running out to play in the snow.  Many of us built forts or built snowmen.  These are still fun traditions to start with your own family and a great way to get some time outside.  The best part after a day of playing in the snow is having a cup of hot chocolate in your home sweet home.  Hope you enjoy the last few months of winter!

Denim & Diamonds

Friday night, January 10^th Destination Homes joined homebuilders from across the Wasatch Front at Rio Tinto Stadium to take part in the Home Builders of Excellence Awards, ‘Denim & Diamonds’. As the theme title suggests, these were Denim and Diamonds a plenty in attendance.

The pre-dinner mingle allowed guests to visit and enjoy some delicious cheeses and breads from the hors d’oeuvres table while seeing builders’ work on display easels and television monitors in all sorts of categories ranging from home features to advertising campaigns.

While enjoying a delicious buffet-style dinner, the program commenced for the evening. New HBA officers were introduced and former officers were honored.  Kennecott Land’s Ty McCutcheon was sworn in as the new Utah HBA president. Andrew Wittenberg took control of the microphone soon there after to address the awards we were all curious to find out about, but only after flashing some of his own EMMY’s.

The evening was a great opportunity to see many of our peers be recognized for quality home building.  We were thrilled to be a part of this elite group when they announced ‘Destination Homes’ to receive four awards:

• Best Overall Advertising Campaign – “Hill Farms Grand Opening Community Launch”
• Best of State – Custom Kitchen Design “The Iron Chef”
• Best Television or Radio Commercial – “Hill Farms Pandora Ad"
• Marketing Director of the Year – “Ryan Snarr”

What a wonderful way to begin 2014; by bringing home some awards recognizing our teams’ hard work in 2013!

Don't Look Down!

During this weeks company huddle Kam Petersen discussed safety while working with scaffolding during the building of our homes.  Scaffolding is any temporary platform, either supported from below or suspended from above, on which workers sit or stand when performing tasks at heights above the ground.  Unfortunately, injuries happen on job sites and 9.9% of those fatal injuries are related to falls.   Due to the increased danger of injury scaffolding must be inspected every single day, especially after heavy rains or if the scaffolding has been struck.

Scaffolding requires a base plate or mud sill to protect the scaffolding from sinking into the ground.  Other safety elements that are required when using scaffolding are a toe board which prevents items from falling down to the ground and hurting someone below, an overhang of 6 – 12 inches, fully planked, squared, guard rails and even mid rails are all needed to protect the safety of the workers.  As you can see, working from such heights can be extremely dangerous, which is why Destination Homes reviews the safety regulations for working at such heights with everyone in the company. 

It's Electric!

When was the last time you influenced a moment of choice?  Whether it is reminding someone to buckle their seat belt, put on a bike helmet, or to use safety gear at high heights, when was the last time you spoke up?  What did you learn?  What would you do differently next time?

Safety is something that we, at Destination Homes, believe is of the utmost importance.  Kam Peterson is our Director of Construction; during our last company huddle he reviewed with us the importance of safety, particularly electrical safety.  We promise to spare you the graphic pictures of people who were being unsafe during such electrical situations. 

Kam explained to all of us that a GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) is not a substitute for grounding and will still trip at 5 mA (milliamperes).  The little double squares on your tools and construction cords mean that it is double insulated, which is approved by OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), making that your safest choice.  Other safety concerns that Kam brought to our attention were:

• Keeping your walkways clear: this will keep your cords from becoming accidently unplugged and avoid any unnecessary wear and tear to a minimum.
• Protect your cords by avoiding sharp metal corners and edges.
• The bottom prong on a 3-prong plug is meant to ground you and keep you safe.  In other words don’t cut it off.
•  Circuit breakers must be properly identified.
•  Stay clear of any exposed wires
•  Always use a professional   

The result of being unsafe and in electrical situations can cause serious damage such as, shock, burns, hearing damage and even fatal if the electrical path passes through your heart. 

Thank you Kam for sharing with us how to be safe and aware of any electrical hazards that we might run into.  Be safe out there!