Memorial Day weekend, 2013, was a triumph for New York City as it reopened its ravaged beaches seven months after Superstorm Sandy. To do so, New York City had three months earlier hired Triton Structural Concrete, a part of contractor T.B. Penick & Sons, to build and install most of 35 lifeguard and bathroom station modules at city beaches for $105 million.
The project is one of ENR's Best of the Best projects, but behind the scenes Penick says its main subcontractor, modular builder Deluxe Building Systems, failed to perform. Penick terminated Deluxe in August and placed and finished the last of the modules with its own staff and other subcontractors.