Ridgecrest South Residential Community

Tuscaloosa, Alabama

This 5-story, 962-bed student residence includes a 1,025-car parking structure built into the hillside, rendering it invisible from the eastern side. The project features a concrete frame wrapped in a brick-and-stucco exterior. Hoar's QC process began early in design with a thorough constructability review. Our extensive dorm construction experience has taught us that an installation problem early in a repetitive project results in a quality disaster. We developed specific QC plans that focused on several areas, especially bathroom plumbing and shower pans, to prevent leaks. Water intrusion was a key area for monitoring, with close attention on flashings and masonry attachments and installation of stucco, roofs, waterproofing and coatings. Each was inspected at every point in construction by Hoar's superintendent. Because the constructability reviews occurred early in design, quality construction methods were developed and incorporated before work began on site, adding no additional costs to the project.