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As the Tigard-based accounting firm of Pittman and Brooks has evolved and grown over the years, so has the company’s need for more space.
That need became evident several years ago when owner Randa Brooks started her own family. Many employees of the now 16-member firm had also begun their own families and the staff itself was increasing.
That’s when Brooks decided, not only did the firm’s building need interior upgrades and more elbow room, but also a daycare facility.
Now the company’s building, located at 15255 S.W. 72nd Ave., is in the final stage of a three-phase upgrade and remodeling project.
Portland’s Sundeleaf + Associates Inc., a commercial space planning, design and facilities management firm, was selected as the project interior designer. Brooks’ husband Randy, also an owner of Pittman and Brooks, is the project general contractor and architect Jim Andrew designed the shell.
The project includes interior upgrades to the 4,000-square-foot existing building with new finishes in the lobby and waiting area, main conference room and president’s office, a new daycare center, and a new lobby and office space addition.
Sundeleaf + Associates already had an established working relationship with the accounting firm.
“We have worked with this client for quite a few years on various projects,” said Kerrie Sundeleaf, president of Sundeleaf + Associates. “We try to understand our clients’ culture and their preferences and we typically maintain that relationship over time.”
The first portion of the project included interior upgrades such as new carpet, paint, lighting, furniture and artwork.
The project’s second phase involved building the daycare center. Although material shortages and missed dates promised by vendors delayed the construction schedule slightly, the daycare center is now complete.
Added to the south side of the existing building, the center is about 1,000 square feet and serves children from infants to about age six.
Sundeleaf + Associates’ project manager Mary Iverson was asked to create an inviting and happy space for the children.
The design concept was to use shapes and colors to define the space, which includes a kitchen, two sinks, appliances and a pass through into a play area.
Iverson also helped Pittman and Brooks get the needed certification from the state of Oregon to open the daycare.
In order to receive certification, Iverson had to tweak the center’s original design.
“We had to further define the space because of different activities with different age groups,” she explained.
Further defining space in the daycare meant adding walls into the existing design, a challenge Iverson tackled successfully.
One area of the daycare was designed with hard surface flooring so that messier activities could be done in that space. While the different flooring partially defined the space, it was not enough for the state to grant certification.
“So we added a curved half wall that follows the curve of the flooring,” said Iverson. “It was enough to add definition and separate the groups while keeping the space open.”
Additional storage in the daycare facility also had to be added to meet the state’s specifications.
Construction on the project’s third phase is underway and includes a 1,500-square-foot addition on the building’s north side, which will add additional office space and a new lobby and reception area.
Code issues were a challenge in designing the lobby and office space addition, said Iverson, particularly in finding a location for the reception desk.
The original design had the desk located directly in front of the conference room doors.
Iverson preferred to have the reception desk in a different location so that the conference room doors could open up into the lobby space.
“There was an elevator and machine room planned for where I wanted the desk to be,” explained Iverson.
The elevator was required because of the building’s square footage, so the owner decided to remove a deck area so that the building’s square footage would fall under the requirement for an elevator and the elevator and machine room could be deleted from the plans.
Working around the accounting firm’s busy tax season from January through April also provided challenges for Sundeleaf + Associates.
“They work seven days a week during that time,” said Sundeleaf. “We did the design work but we couldn’t do much construction.”
While the project has offered its share of hurdles, Sundeleaf is confident the extensive, three-stage project will finish on schedule. They are aiming for a mid-December completion date.
Pre-tax season, of course.