The skyline in Altamont is changing as the new Altamont High School rises above the town. A large construction crane dominates the view as walls continue to rise.

Mild winter weather has enabled the construction crews to move forward and regain some of the time lost when the project hit some unexpected delays earlier in the year.

“We had water table issues,” Westland Construction Operations Manager Chris Houghton said. “We had some soils issues and a phone line that ran through the middle of the building that we had to get moved.”

Despite those setbacks, the construction has been able to keep moving forward in some areas as problems were resolved in others.

“We were really worried about it there for a while as we came in to winter,” Houghton said. “This winter has been nice and has helped us pick up a lot of time.”

Houghton is grateful to the community for their support during the project.

“That’s one of the things that is nice about doing this job,” he said. “It’s such a large part of the community. The water company, the city, the power company, they all do whatever they can to help push things along.”

The project just wouldn’t be as far along as it is without the great contractors working on the school according to Houghton.

The building is being built in phases. Houghton expects that some parts of the project will be ready for “punch list” and inspection beginning in May.

Inspections will start at the gym and kitchen areas according to Houghton, because that is where there are the most mechanical areas to be completed.

Now seven months into construction and with registration for fall of 2012 looming on the horizon, Houghton is optimistic at this point for a timely completion of the school.

“Barring any problems or snags we should be handing the keys to the district sometime after mid-July,” he said.

When Westland Construction began working on the 1A school, there was a general feeling of working on a smaller project. That perception has changed over the course of construction.

“It’s a full scale school. It’s smaller in square footage, but they’ve got everything a big school would have,” Houghton said. “They’ve got top notch everything in there. I think they are going to be real happy with it.”