Chances are that that phrase is one you are all familiar with and I would say you’ve probably all used once or twice.

Well I’d like to tell you a story about a project we recently completed where teamwork definitely made the dream work.

In December of 2019 we completed the installation of exhibits we designed and built for the Lime Creek Nature Center in Mason City Iowa.

Lime Creek Nature Center courtesy of https://www.cgcounty.org/

Once the install was complete, I felt a large weight lifted off my shoulders, but at the same time, disappointment. Disappointment that it was over and that we wouldn’t be talking with Mike and Todd, friends and our client, every Tuesday at 8:00. Part of our process is to establish a weekly check-in call with our main contact for any and every project we do. I invariably enjoyed talking with them. They were always pleasant and always in a good mood no matter what was going on in their world. It felt like we were calling our friends to just talk, not to do business. Noor, who was the project manager, and I would talk about how we love those guys and want to make sure we came through for them.

You’re probably asking, ‘Why wouldn’t you come through for them?’ Keep reading because what I tell you next will explain why I titled this story Teamwork Makes the Dream Work.

So we were doing great. The design team had gone out to Mason City and we had achieved two successful design workshops with Mike and Todd and really established a good relationship with them. We are moving along with sketches, writing text, and really starting to visualize what their new exhibit space will look like. At this point we are nearing 50% design development and all of a sudden BAM! Turnover happens. For various reasons our team now had holes that needed to be filled. A minor set- back that showed us once again that our processes works and that our remaining team is strong. We sat down, pulled in other Taylor team members, and regrouped. Before you knew it, we had our project team up and running again. Our process, how we are structured, and our talented staff that are dedicated to what we do, helped us pick up where others left off. We did everything we had to do to make it painless for our client and help them maintain confidence in the company they hired to help them with their project.

Now that the project is over Mike and Todd are happy with the results. We got the project completed on time and in budget, and our team got stronger and wiser. Teamwork definitely made the dream work!

Enough of my chit chat. Here’s some in-process images along with some before and after images of the work we did.

That’s me in the awesome bright yellow running shoes. Todd is in the foreground and that’s Mike closet to me. We are looking at samples we made for a muskrat lodge and I’m explaining how we document all the paint colors used.

Here we have the muskrat lodge wall and mural mocked up to check scale and make sure everything is working with no issues.

This is the same muskrat exhibit at about 80% complete.

This is the finished installed muskrat lodge exhibit at the nature center.

A before picture of the ‘Wetlands’ exhibit wall.

New and improved interactive and colorful wetlands exhibit today.

A before picture of the ‘Live Animal’ display wall.

New and improved colorful and fun live animal display today.

Before picture of the ‘Woodlands Habitat’ wall.

Woodlands interactive wall with interactive tree and sound interactive today.

A before picture of the ‘Pollinators’ exhibit.

Interactive pollinators exhibit room with crawl-through honeycomb today.