Working After Covid 19 in Areas Like Chautauqua, NY
On March 22, 2020; Total Basement Finishing (like so many other businesses in New York) closed its doors and were uncertain when we would be able to open again. We waited, we checked on things online, we enjoyed snacks, and we planned on how we would be able to work again when Western New York reopened.
Two months later, on May 19 we reopened ready to face new challenges with brave faces. Our team is lucky, none of us caught Covid-19. And now we, like everyone else in the world, are being careful. We tote face masks everywhere with us, and wear them when we cannot work 6 or more feet apart. We do trainings online now, instead of in person, and value every conversation that we have as they all are just a little more important now.
Mostly small things have changed; our workers are at least 6 feet or more apart when working, they regularly disinfect their tools and wash their hands or use hand sanitizer, and design appointments can be held for a slightly shorter amount of time than they used to be. With areas closed down to large gatherings, we hoped that construction times would be extended in areas like Chautauqua, NY which have limited construction seasons. TBF of WNY works hard to comply with areas like Chautauqua, NY that have construction seasons so that our work to help take basements to beautiful doesn't interrupt their comminities. Our staff is very grateful that places are putting out notices of when they are allowing work now. A fantastic example of this came from the Chautauqua Institution on June 10 stating "the Institution has determined that most current projects will be in good position to pause construction by noon on June 26, 2020, until the end of our normal summer season, resuming construction on Aug. 31, 2020, as required by our Architectural and Land Use (ALU) Regulations." This is a special area of Chautauqua, NY that has a lot of regulations on their construction season, but we understand that these are in place for valuable reasons and can easily work with the times they specify to do work in because we don't want to disrupt this beautiful area.
We hope that life for everyone in our area continues to normalize and that we will be able to continue to make basements beautiful in all areas of Western New York.