Choosing a Contractor

About 40% of our clients assemble their own shell themselves, many with no construction experience. The Kit panels come marked with numbers and letters to match the Assembly Manual that goes with the building kit. The building plans also have elevation views with numbers and letters. Our best kit assembly success stories are owner builders who read and follow the assembly manual and building plans and call us when they have a question.

If you do not have the time or do not want to assemble the dome shell kit, American Ingenuity can refer you to a Assembly Consultant operating out of Florida.  He will travel to your construction site providing "Hands On" work while supervising to get your dome shell assembled with the first layer of concrete in the seams and on your entryways and dormers.  Then either you or your contractor's workers complete the second layer of concrete on your seams and entryways and dormers, applies concrete primer to the dome and paints the concrete.The Kit Assembly Manual that is shipped with the Building Kit gives guidelines for the mixing and application of the concrete, priming and painting of the dome, etc.  To view info about the Consultant, please click on Consultant.

You or your contractor's subs (plumbers, electricians, drywall finishers, framers, cabinet installers, etc) complete the interior finishing and the installation of your locally purchased doors and windows.

Prior to the availability of this Kit Assembly Consultant to work and supervise the dome kit assembly, our clients had to hire a contractor who generally had never assembled a dome before.  As a result the contractor would tend to over charge because he did not know how long it would take or what problems would arise.  The Kit Assembly Consultant can provide you with references from previous American Ingenuity Domes he has assembled to assure your building kit will be assembled correctly and in a timely fashion. This Consultant would work directly for you or your general contractor as an Independent Contractor.  The Consultant charges a daily rate plus travel from his Florida home base to your job site and a return to his home base at the completion of the job. 

A helpful web site is rsmeans.com They sell construction manuals, construction estimating CD's, etc.

 

The methods used for lifting the panels includes:

 

Small cranes, Highlifts (all terrain scissors forklifts often used by roofers), and a steel scaffold rigged with wheels and winch.  Other lifting devices successfully employed by our dome owners include: a boom added to a tractor, a block & tackle, & a hoist fastened to the top of the framework with wood ramps up the side of the dome.

 

Monthly rentals on transverse lifts also called Boom Lifts, Horizontal Boom Fork Lifts, Roofing Lifts, Shooters are available from National Rental Chains like US Rentals, Hertz Equipment Rentals, United Rentals, etc. The companies can be found in the telephone book.