Disclaimer: This post was written by David Melvin, the newest member to Farnham Equipment Company. He oversees our Business Development and Marketing and shares his perspectives below. Day 1: There are a lot of good that come from “firsts”. First dates, first time to a movie theater, first time conquering a fear. This past weekend, I knocked out to “firsts”…
The new Warrior Center celebrated its grand opening this fall for Dayton Christian School Students. Prior to the new athletic complex, students were traveling up to 20 miles to play home games on other facility’s courts. As part of their $3.7 million, 20,000 square-foot center, Dayton Christian School invested in three banks of telescopic bleachers complete with Hussey…
In business since 1954, Farnham Equipment Company is now in its third generation of Farnham family ownership. It’s no surprise that we’re a good fit with Hussey Seating Company, now in its sixth generation. FEC has been an Exclusive Dealer for Hussey Seating Company for nearly 50 years in the state of Ohio. With continuing education opportunities and annual dealer meetings, Hussey Seating Company understands the importance of communication, passion for their work, and taking action.
Read about our Marketing Manager, Kami Wernimont's experience visiting Hussey University in 2015 in What I Learned at Hussey University.
What’s their Story?
Hussey Seating Company typically encounters a reaction of disbelief when people learn they’ve been in business since 1835. It's unusual for a company to stay in one family's ownership for that length of time, let alone a business with a history of manufacturing everything from long furrowed plows to combat the rocky New England soil in 1835, to fire escapes and ski lifts in the early 1900's, all the way to spectator seating since 1960.
But here's the secret: Hussey Seating Company is not a manufacturing center. They are an innovation center.
While today Hussey produces the highest quality spectator and audience seating in the world, their real business is listening to, understanding, and solving their customer’s biggest problems. Almost 200 years ago customers needed plows, today they need spectator seating solutions custom fit for their audience. They need telescopic platforms that can safely accommodate a high volume guests with ease and transform facilities from event to event seamlessly. They need a company they can trust with their biggest moments, and Hussey, in partnership with Exclusive Dealers such as Farnham Equipment Company, is more than prepared for the job.
For almost 200 years Hussey’s goals haven't changed:
From high school gymnasiums, tracks and football fields, to professional arenas and performing arts centers, wherever you find spectators sharing a great moment you'll find Hussey Seats.
Contact us, let us bring your seating vision to life!
*History provided by Hussey Seating Company
When it comes to our products and installations, if you’re an architect, you’re likely familiar with Stevens Industries and Hussey Seating Company, our featured vendors for Plastic Laminate Casework and Seating, respectively. As a Construction Manager or General Contractor, we’re known for our dedicated in-house installation team and our Project Management. If our Maintenance Solutions team has been out to your facility, perhaps you know us best for our Code Compliance Inspections, Repairs, and Emergency Services for Bleachers and Athletic Equipment. From the start of a project through the cycles of maintenance and repair, Farnham Equipment Company provides a solution.
But did you know we offer additional products and solutions to fully meet your needs?
In the Classroom
Wood & Metal Lab Casework: ICI Scientific offers a complete line of wood casework, fixtures, custom fume hoods, work surfaces, safety showers, work stations, overhead service centers and more.
Vocational Shop Equipment: Everything you need from woodworking storage cabinets and both steel and wood work benches to vises.
Mobile Shelving Units: Today’s classroom is designed with multi-use flexibility. Mobile shelving units are versatile with multiple backing options including additional shelving, whiteboards, tack boards, and magnetic surfaces.
In the Gym:
Athletic Equipment: Farnham Equipment Company is a longstanding partner with Performance Sports Systems, providing a solution for all of your Athletic Equipment needs from backstops, divider curtains, volleyball systems, batting cages, mat hoists, and more.
Scorers Tables: Whether it’s a simple 8-ft table or a custom LED scorer table, we can work with you on artwork design and color options as well as make sure that you’re set up for appropriate sight lines and egress.
Wall Pads: Customized to fit your space and to stand out with your school logo.
Team Seating: Clarin by Hussey Seating Company provides portable seating from the traditional series to VIP and full-bleed artwork options and color frames – your team will stand out.
Throughout the Building:
Visual Wall Displays & Custom Millwork: From the eye catching Media Center partitions at the new Fairfield Elementary Schools to the bright design of built in benches at Northwood PK-12 School and the custom design of Northwest Local Elementary Schools’ neighborhood feel of houses and sunshine, you design it, we can make it happen.
Wall Panel Systems: Whether you’re interested in adding laminate wall panels to the auditorium, as Harvey S. Firestone CLC did or providing them in mixed-use space with whiteboards and television access similar to Miami Trace High School, or a custom cafetorium like Perrysburg Hull Prairie Intermediate School – we have [your walls] covered.
Library Shelving & Equipment: We offer a complete Line of Contract Furniture, Library Seating, Library Shelving, Circulation Desks, Tables, Equipment, & Library Supplies using modular construction, allowing rearrangement of freestanding components.
Additional Products: Drapes and shades, cafeteria tables, operable partitions, classroom furnishings, and stage curtains.
Outside:
Bleachers & Grandstands & Accessories: Outdoor Seating customized to fit your needs whether that is a complete turn-key solution including bleacher removal and site-work and/or design assistance, we have your solution. Our team can guide you to the best manufacturer should you want a complex I-Beam Bleacher, Elevated Bleacher, or Non-Elevated Bleacher.
Portable Bleachers: To be fair, we offer portable bleachers for both indoor and outdoor. From Hussey’s Maxam1 Portable that blends perfectly with your traditional telescopic seating to aluminum tip n roll bleachers in the Natatorium, there is a flexible solution. Outdoor aluminum portables are great for the practice field, to accommodate the High School Band, or to provide overflow seating options.
Playground Equipment Inspections: A new offering from our Service Team, we’re able to bundle your Telescopic Bleacher, Outdoor Bleacher, and Athletic Equipment Inspections with a complete Playground Equipment Inspection, keeping all of your inspections in one place with our cloud based system for future reference.
Let us know how we can assist you from product, design, installation or maintenance.
Architect: VSWC Architects Contractor: Adena Corporation Sub-Consultant: Farnham Equipment Company Completion: August 2018 January 2018 led to numerous capital improvements for Ashland City Schools including renovation of the Community Stadium Home Side Grandstand. The project included an elevated front deck, an accessible ramp, aisle rails and new rear guardrail fencing as well as powder-coated guardrails in lieu of…
Project Name: Urbana PK-8 School Owner: Urbana City Schools Architect: Fanning/Howey Associates, Inc Construction Manager: Gilbane Building Company Scope: Materials & Installation of Educational Casework, Lab Casework, and Telescopic Bleachers Completion: August 2018 Urbana City Schools consolidated their Elementary School and Middle School into a new Elementary/Jr. High School with a grand opening in August 2018. The new…
Not long ago, we were invited to a facility for a Gym Safety Session. There were approximately 12 people in attendance, many understood why they were invited to attend and some had obvious frustration that their attendance was required, they operate the equipment on a regular basis after all, so why should they attend?
This is a large facility, multiple gymnasiums, two large bleacher banks that were installed 20+ years ago along with extensive athletic equipment including divider curtains, basketball back stops, batting cages, and more. With a facility this large and many coaches passing through, there are a lot of hands on the equipment. They recently had repairs completed on both the bleachers and the divider curtains, spurring the Gym Safety Session to ensure their equipment would continue to operate properly post-repairs.
Again, why should everyone attend? Even if they already know how to operate the equipment?
Simple. You don’t know what you don’t know.
And.
Every once in a while, with that many hands on deck, it’s good to get everyone back on the same page.
It can seem simple, plug in the pendant controller and push the button….open the panel box and flip the switch. But if you don’t know what you’re looking for during operation, there are hazards and possible equipment damage. It’s good for everyone operating equipment to have a baseline of understanding on operation and troubleshooting.
During our session, we did a crash course on proper operation, including trouble shooting and walking under the bleachers. We reviewed best practices for the facility and who should actually be operating the bleachers.
One of the options on this particular set of bleachers is to short set them, closing the first three rows of a section for scorer tables and allowing for more room on the court for team seating. When a section is short set, the increased height of the first row is now +/- 4ft. and requires a guardrail to be placed in front of it for safety and code compliance.
Staff members shared their concern regarding sight lines when the guardrail is in place and inquired about cutting down the guardrail so it would still be there, but it would be shorter, allowing their patrons to have better sight lines.
It’s important to note that the guardrails were designed and installed by the manufacturer to meet code compliance at the time of installation to keep people from stepping off of the front of the bleachers when the first three rows are closed in that area, preventing a fall hazard. Thus, altering the height of the guardrail would go against manufacturer’s design and recommendation. Often doing so, would also void any warranties on the equipment and would place all liability on the facility, not the manufacturer.
They were very wise at this facility to bring up the question while we were there. Ultimately, you don’t know what you don’t know so asking an expert when it comes to modifying a component on your bleacher is always a good idea.
More information regarding code requirements for guards can be found in Chapter 4 of the ICC-300, remember Ohio currently follows ICC-300 2012 as of November 2017. Otherwise, the most recent published version of the ICC-300 is 2017.
We took a similar approach with athletic equipment, reviewing proper operation and best practices while answering additional questions. The main panel of operation in the main gymnasium was non-momentary switches that do not require a key for operation. The switches are housed in a panel box, but as of that day, the panel box remained unlocked, allowing easy access to the equipment switches.
The gym is typically locked so access isn’t always as feasible, but what about when the gymnasium is full of people? Anyone can open the panel and flip the switch and operate the equipment. Should this happen with someone that didn’t know what they were doing, they wouldn’t know when to stop, especially if the limit switch was faulty. The end result would be damage not only to the equipment such as a backstop or gym divider curtain, but to the structural components of the building’s roof. There is also the potential hazard of a falling piece of equipment and having it come down on spectators.
All switches should be momentary type where if you let go of the switch, it automatically springs back to the off position. Many modern options are also available and recommended including a Keypad Group Controller, Touch Screen Group Controller, and WIFI Group Controllers.
Since our Safety Session, the facility has agreed to keep the panel locked to reduce unauthorized access to the non-momentary switches.
More and more facilities are posting signage in their gymnasiums warning patrons not to stand on the bleachers (seats) and that bleachers must be in full open position before use. Some facilities go so far as having written directions for operation, including remove pendant controller after bleacher is located and operator is responsible for the safety of individuals on, around, and below bleachers.
It’s not a bad idea to have a set of rules for operation including, but not limited to:
Project Name: Chippewa School District Owner: Chippewa Jr./Sr. High School Architect: Hasenstab Architects Construction Manager: C.T. Taylor Construction Scope: Materials & Installation of Educational Casework, Lab Casework, Telescopic Bleachers, and Auditorium Seating Completion: August 2018 The February 2019 edition of Properties Magazine featured Chippewa School District’s new Jr./Sr. High School, describing the new build as a showcase for the community. The new building is a…
When it comes to outdoor bleachers and grandstands, there aren’t too many differences when it comes to research before budgeting. Even the International Code Council (ICC) views them as the same entity when it comes to code compliance, defining bleachers as:
“Tiered seating supported on a dedicated structural system and two or more rows high (see Grandstands).
Grandstand: Tiered seating supported on a dedicated structural system and two or more rows high (see Bleachers).” – ICC-300: Chapter 2, Definitions
As we mentioned in our previous post, New Year, New Budget Planning: Telescopic Bleachers, start with an inspection and do your research. If you know for a fact that you want to demo your existing bleachers, maybe an inspection isn’t necessary – but there may be options that you’re unaware of that may point you toward a renovation rather than a full replacement. If your aluminum planks are good, but your understructure needs to be replaced, there are options that may reduce costs for you. And if your understructure is solid but you want new seating – that is an option too. Ultimately, make sure that you and/or your consultant/contractor fully understand what it means to be code compliant, especially upgrades. We’ll go into this more next week with Renovation Options.
Do Your Research: What’s on Your Wish List?
Know what you like and don’t like about your current seating and seating in other districts.
This is everything from VIP Seating, Student Sections, Press Boxes, and access to the understructure. Maybe a neighboring district has riser boards that match their district color pallet that you like or perhaps another district has a Press Box that is too large or too small. Take some time to do some inventory. What creature comforts do you want to make sure are available for the community? Backrests/VIP seating is a great way to offset the costs of new bleachers, an annual fee for VIPS could go toward preventative maintenance plans lessening the financial burden.
Evaluate your major concerns with your current seating.
What is your Why? Why are you investing at this time? Are you outgrowing your current seating unit? Are your current bleachers unsafe for patrons? Take all of this into consideration to course correct for the next installation.
Know what is possible in the space you have available.
Maybe you have a hillside bleacher that will make design and installation a bit more complex or perhaps you’ve outgrown your current seating and need to make room for additional seats. Make sure to talk to the experts that can explain what is required of your space – and what is possible to get you exactly what you want.
Know what extras you are willing to invest in either now or down the road.
Are you wanting to add a Press Box down the road? Or maybe you want to add VIPS seating in lots of 10 at a time to reduce costs up front – whatever it is that you want down the road, be sure to include it in your initial plans so that when the time comes, you’re not losing seats or having to make a tremendous amount of upgrades to get you what you want.
Have a clear understanding of what it will take to maintain your new seating.
Did you know that according to the Ohio Building Code, the ICC-300, and Manufacturer’s standards you are required to have an annual inspection. But don’t stop at checking the task off the list, make sure you are looking at your report, a good report will have specific action items needed to maintain your bleachers. Keep in mind too that with the change in weather – aluminum contracts and expands which means you’ll need to check hardware and structural supports throughout the year, not just during inspections.
Realistic time frame from signed PO to installation date
As soon as you start to “think” you want to invest in outdoor bleachers, talk with an expert to make sure you are aware of delivery and installation times. This time of year gets heavy with RFPs and orders and the summer time slots fill fast for installation so the sooner you are aware of what you need, the sooner you’ll have a realistic understanding of what is possible for a completion date.
Let's Talk Outdoor Bleacher Options
