Part I - The History of 4701 Beach Drive

The area where this house now stands was apart of 140 acre piece of land which was homesteaded in the 1860’s by Leonard and George Oulet a pair of logging brothers. George inherited full ownership of the property in 1868 when his brother died. There were two properties listed in the homestead certificate in 1869, a home built on pilings measuring 20x28 feet and a barn 24x40 feet. George sold the property to William Brown who kept the property until he died in 1876. Henry Stone was the next owner and he deeded the property to his sister Bell Amund. She then leased the property to Joseph Basselin. In 1899 the Scandinavian American Bank became owners of the property and divided it up into three tracts which included the two buildings originally owned by the Oulet brothers. The two structures were purchased in 1900 by Ferdinand Schmitz. Ferdinand Schmitz, a German immigrant served on the Seattle Parks Commission for years and helped to create reserves for the original conifer forests in the area, many still remain today. William Holt a local land owner and President for the Grand Central Hotel Company bought the property and was owner by 1906. He divided up the land and the original 20x28 foot home became apart of the first subdivision called Rockaway Beach. This plat of land is still called Rockaway Beach. It may have been called Rockaway Beach because the land was probably traveled on by many Rockaways which are four wheel carriages. This area has a pristine view of the Olympic Mountains. The home at 4701 Beach Drive is now owned by Steve and Jan Burkholder.

Remodeling a home with history

This is the introduction in a multi part series exploring the process of remodeling 4701 Beach Drive. We will explore the history of the home from its very beginning in Seattle. Then explain the condition we found it in and what the mission was from the outset. We will delve into the nature of this remodel exploring the various aspects involved in the process of creation. Finally, we will reflect on how the building took its final form and how different factors influenced what it is today.

Customer designed pergola put together by the Pardigm Team

Peaceful Pergola

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Plywood Supply's Guy

Paradigm met with Mark Beadnell of Plywood Supply on Saturday. We have worked with Mark and Plywood Supply on numerous projects. They have exceptional service from getting pricing to preparing material packages and delivery with boom truck options. They are a wholesale building materials distributor out of Kenmore Washington and have been in business since 1953. Our relationship with them has helped us deliver exceptional service to our customers. They really care, going above and beyond to make sure a project gets the lumber it needs. For example, we were putting a new roof on a building in Green Lake, Truss’s and all. Plywood Supply’s boom crane operator had to maneuver safely around power lines with patience and precision. It took time to get the heavy truss’s we needed in the places we needed them. We succeeded and the project moved along efficiently because Plywood Supply cared, making sure they helped in whatever way they could regardless of the time it took . Mark Beadnell is another example of going above and beyond. He met us for lunch and helped us come up with ways to better serve people’s building needs.

Relationships help us add value

In life, positive relationships help happiness and success. These relationships are with friends, family, companies and community. You help people and people help you. The interaction between people in any type of relationship should be positive and beneficial to everyone involved.

At Paradigm we strive to positively impact the people we work with. We have taken the time to build strong relationships with high quality partners. These include suppliers, masons, electricians, plumbers and other builders. We utilize these relationships to help people with their construction needs. We don’t know everything, but we do know people in almost every facet of construction. We rely on the people in our network to help us help our customers. Our partners rely on us as well. It’s communication between our partners, customers and us that help create effective and efficient service. We come up with solutions to a wide array of building problems and projects. Our number one priority is a quality experience with our customers so that we may form a happy and lasting relationship.

Yelm Solar Seminar

Green Energy Technology Seminar

Paradigm went down to Yelm last night to see some of the latest green energy technology. We were able to hear Raymond Lam the president of “Silk Road Solar” and Michael Copeland our local distributor in Seattle speak and give us the details about the Solar Tube systems. Ray is an engineer who spoke mainly of significantly lowering the environmental impact of energy consumption as well as having a low dependence on others for energy. An average home uses 30% of its energy usage on hot water and 20% on heating the house. Rays tubes are able to heat water and can heat your house without electricity. In the past green technology has cost so much that to offset the initial price of the solar equipment it would take approximately 15 years to pay off. Of course out here in the Northwest it would probably take longer because we have such little sun for most of the year. Ray designed the Solar Tubes especially for the Northwest climate. They are made to capture more Ultra-Violet light and work efficiently even on cold, cloudy, rainy days. Ray says his system should take no more than 3 years to pay for it self and most likely much less than that. If you have any questions leave us a comment :D

If you have any questions about pergolas or any other building projects email Terry Elliott at paradigm131@comcast.net or visit www.paradigmframing.com