Devon Energy Center

[OKCisOK4me]

Jmark, I do enjoy your input you've added to the thread but the 'what if's' make me want to create a "Devon Tower--What IF?" thread.

[UnFrSaKn]

I got something good coming up soon...
You would have seen me on the web cam.

[BIG GENE]

what ever happened to big gene and devonshire?

lol....more like threatened with my job the day after i registered on this site!!!! Yes... Because i said id post a pic of the birds nesting in the tower crane. Evidentally i signed a document upon hiring stating i'd use no recording devices!! I was told that if i posted on this website again it would be highly scrutinized....so i just dropped out....

But no matter now... I was fired monday for incidental line contact with crane two....so i guess i can talk now...lol. With the cranes overlapping the way they do....its going to happen.... Has happened many times. But cruz (the crane superintendent) decides which incidents to document and pursue....depending on who's involved. Mine happened saturday....the last pick of the day ending a 90 hour week. Cruz was at his apt on the backside of the job site...watching out his window....co. Radios in hand. He likes to have a few drinks when he gets home. Its not unusual to get calls from him.... Slurring his words.... Giving the nightshift operators a hard time. We usually just hang up on him....chalking it up to his drunkeness. But this time he went too far in my opinion. I dont mind getting fired.... Its the nature of the business when you make hundreds of picks a week....incidentals happen. No property damage...no injuries. I just dont like that the fact that holder/flintco (the general contractor) picks and chooses who they go after and which incidents require documentation, drug tests, incident reports, etc......and which incidents are ignored....depending on who you are. Cruz was using co. Radios, calling co. Employees, enforcing co. Policy, etc....... While admittedly drunk!!!!!! Yet, even tho holder/flintco co. Policy for drunkeness on duty is termination.... Cruz didnt even get a slap on the wrist... Much less a drug and alchohol test... Like i did. (which i passed). Of course i met with the project manager (vince) to give my objections and to make sure he was aware of the previous incidents with cruz....to no avail. I just felt if i got fired for breaking co. Policy....so should cruz!!!!!!! Its not the first time he's been caught on duty drunk. Other nightsift operators can verify it (the night time calls) and the carpenter superintendent told me he got a call from cruz that sat. Telling him that he fired me and was admittedly drunk and could not physically go on the jobsite because of it. Even tho all his superiors all the way up to project manager are aware of everything i've stated here....they continue to cover for him. Office politics!! Bull****!!! Yeah...i threw a fit on my way out the door. Damn right!!! In 32 two years of operating cranes ... That's only the second time ive been fired. And the first time was politics also....and yeah, i needed that job. But life goes on. I still love okc and hopefully i'll find work here so i can stay. But its a tough economy out there...wish me luck!!!

[SkyWestOKC]

Sorry to hear Gene. There are tons of construction opportunities in state right now, so hopefully you can find a new job here sometime soon. With 32 years of construction/crane experience you'd probably be near or at the top of the interview list at any construction company you apply for.

[MadMonk]

Whoever reading this site that threatened Big Gene for posting here is a jackass. You know it and now we all know it.

[kinggober]

Whoever reading this site that threatened Big Gene for posting here is a jackass. You know it and now we all know it.

[jn1780]

Those aren't birds nesting, their surveillance devices disguised as birds.

[hipsterdoofus]

At least you do describe yourself properly by name...you are hip...

Yeah I know...if people disagree with you..you start attacking them - I've already seen that.

[OKC@heart]

Gene that sucks and am sorry that happened the way it did. Drunk Supers are horrible on a job site and can at best ineffective, at worst cause serious danger to self or worse others who are working there.

Years ago prior to completing my architecture degree I was a project manager for Sprint PCS putting up cell towers. One of my first sites was fraught with problems and the contractor tried to pull a fast one and pour a 11' dia. pier that was 44 ft. deep without me there. He was supposed to give me 24 hour notice prior to the pour but called me 20 minuted prior to when they were to begin pouring concrete. I was pissed and made them hold till I got there and left for Galveston from the Woodlands. When I got there the Super was flat out inebriated and was slurring his speech and was staggering around. Everything on the site was chaos, The steel reinforcing cage was sitting in 1'-0" deep mud, the Back hoe had a flat and was trying to pull itself out with its bucket, the pick crane on site contacted the neutral line on overhead transmission lines, they were trying to get away with not using a caisson as required in the Geo-technical report, and the site was at sea level or slightly below so the water table was just below the surface. Concrete trucks had been sitting longer than they should and the super was trying to convince me that they could just add water to the mix and it would be fine. Yeah right, so I rejected three truck loads, at the contractors expense, the sides of the hole kept caving in due to the ground water and the sandy conditions and lack of caisson...I could go on and on!!!!

After the whole ordeal was over and it was about 11:30 PM and since it was wet concrete and an open hole, OSHA required that it be supervised and fenced off until sufficiently cured. He was trying to leave and I caught up to him and informed him that he was required to stay and watch the hole and that if anything happened he was going to be personally responsible for it. I then called his boss the next day and informed him what was going on and needless to say he was quickly removed from the company.

Man alive!!! I laugh about it now, and in hindsight I learned a great deal from it, but at the time I swore that that day aged me 10 years!

Alcohol belongs no where on a construction site.

Good luck in all your future endeavors and I hope that you are successful in making OKC your home! Sorry that the politics reared their ugly heads, there is nothing more frustrating...Let us know where you end up!

[Thunder]

Cool it! We don't need fight outbreaks. Back to topic.

Is there an underground parking? Or if the parking garage is enough, then what is the basement for?

[Thunder]

Gene, that was VERY WRONG of Cruz to do that. I would like to see hundreds of people here in OKC to form a protest and demand Cruz to be fired. Also demand for you to be given the job back. Have you tried speaking to any Devon officials? 32 years experience and he just fires you like that... Did anyone get fired for that crane toppling few months ago? Didn't see any mention of that.

So you can't have any recording or photographic device, but you do have every right to be a member on this forum and post in this topic regarding the construction. Most of us know just about everything. You can discuss and such. There is nothing wrong with that. So, whoever threatened you is an idiot.

I am sure they used the crane excuse to get you gone, because those bastards know you are a member here. I will give the construction company an official F grade.

[okcpulse]

I hope officials at Devon are made aware of this. We can't have a drunk supervising the construction of a 50-story tower. That's bad news. This is a tight 24-hour schedule and they cannot afford to have people like that coordinating construction.

[UnFrSaKn]

I got something good coming up soon...
You would have seen me on the web cam.

Someone ask for a closeup of those glass panels?

[metro]

Great video, thanks.

[Mike63]

Someone ask for a closeup of those glass panels?

I had to join since no one is asking......can we have a closeup of the panels!!!!!!!!

[Architect2010]

UnFrSaKn, that video is amazing! Just like the other two. If you haven't already I really think you should create an account for Skyscraperpage and Skyscrapercity and post these videos in the Devon Tower Construction threads! Great exposure and gives the posters following the construction over there some more interesting updates than the sporadic ones they get now. :P

[UnFrSaKn]

Feel free to embed the videos where ever you see fit. I get statistics on Vimeo what country it was and the numbers.

[Pete]

Fantastic video UnFrSaKn! Thanks so much.


The glass panel on the building looks more blue/green and transluscent than the glazing used on the parking structure. Does it appear that way in person?

[UnFrSaKn]

I got a windscreen yesterday for my external mic. So no more wind noise.

[OKC@heart]

UnFrSaKn, Thanks again for the great video!!! I know that at least quite a few of us have been unable to access this site for the past couple of days. Something to do with the compression rate on the server or some such. It finally got fixed this afternoon so I am just now getting to see this! Great stuff thanks for taking the time to shoot that great video. I am going to have to watch that one several times to take it all in!

[UnFrSaKn]

Looks great on a 55'' LED with the original 1080p video.

[OUGrad05]

This thing is moving along quite nicely

[Platemaker]

NE side of the tower...

[Thunder]

The entire building will be covered with SMALL glass panes?!

[Platemaker]

Seems to me they alternate between square and larger rectangles.