Dover at Oceanside Ortley Beach, NJ Complete Renovations

Challenge

Dover at Oceanside is a condominium complex in Ortley Beach, NJ. The complex consists of two small two-story residential buildings, which houses 16 units in total. The complex sits along Highway 35 and 2nd Avenue between the Atlantic Ocean and the Barnegat Bay. During Super Storm Sandy, the Atlantic Ocean and Barnegat Bay became one body of water along Highway 35 and severely damaged all of the lower units at Dover at Oceanside. The barrier island and its bridge entrance were so badly damaged that several days passed before anyone could access the area. During this time, there was a cold snap and a foot of snow fell on the area. This made the problem even worse. Since the windows and doors were busted open, and there was already water everywhere, the water then froze. Likewise, the water pipes froze, causing damage to second floor units and adding to the damage on the first floor.

Immediately, one of the board members called Quality 1st Contracting and asked that we begin clean up and work at their complex. This board member had multiple experiences with Quality 1st at her previous home, which was a high rise property in northern NJ. Quality 1st Contracting was one of the first approved contractors to get onto the island, but it quickly became a challenge to get on and off the crowded island every day. There were strict work hours of 7:30am to 4pm, to prevent looting, and only one lane was open on the bridge for vehicles, leaving the other open for emergency vehicles and utility companies so they could do safety inspections and begin restoration of all of the utilities. During this time, all of the utilities were down, which created another problem for us. Everything had  to be run on generators, there was no water, and we had to setup generators large enough to run through the night to keep the portable heaters on in the buildings.

Solution

Our teams began with the demolition of all damaged interiors, plumbing, electrical, and HVAC. Upon clean up, we were able to address all structural problems and create a safe work environment for our teams. We also got the proper inspectors in so we could resume restoration work. We staffed 15-20 men per day on the site, and diligently worked with our trade partners of electricians, plumbers, HVAC, and painters. Each day, deliveries of material arrived and as fast as it hit the ground, it was installed. One set of men worked the exteriors to make the building weather tight and another set worked to complete the interiors. Our project managers worked with the insurance company to get the best prices for the Dover unit owners. All of the units were installed with new floors, sheetrock, paint, appliances, electric, HVAC, plumbing, kitchens, and baths.

While all of this work was going on, we experienced another severe rain storm and it immediately filled the crawl spaces with water to a dangerously high level. Our sister company Quality 1st Basement Systems was called in to help remediate this problem, thus we were able to save the homeowners association over half of their flood insurance. Quality 1st Basement Systems worked with SmartVent, the only approved flood vent for crawl spaces, and came up with an installation to lower flood insurance costs and protect the foundation from flood damage.

During our work here, we were hired by two neighboring complexes due to the speed and excellent quality of our work. We were able to get the homeowners back into their homes before anyone else on the barrier island. We also were hired by another complex in Sea Bright because of the great work we performed at Dover at Oceanside.