Rough-In

Rough-in is when the building gets its insides. Think of it as the tower growing a nervous system, veins, and lungs, all at the same time, all in the same walls, all on the same week. It is chaos. Beautiful, organized chaos.

The Plumber runs the river up through the floors. The Electrician threads lightning through the studs. The Climate Keeper snakes ducts through the attic like a silver dragon taking a nap. Everybody needs the same three inches of space, and everybody is very polite about it. Mostly.

This is where the crew learns the ritual that keeps the whole Guild together: the morning safety talk. Five minutes. Coffee in one hand, hard hat in the other. Someone says what's happening today, what could go wrong, and what we're doing about it. Ladders. Live circuits. Hot work. Heat and water breaks, because the sun out here doesn't play.

It sounds small. It's not. Four safety talks logged, and something changes. The new apprentice asks a question out loud instead of guessing. The electrician says "lock it out" before anyone reaches for a panel. The crew starts finishing each other's checklists.

Skegy keeps a little book of every talk. Buddy color-codes it. Nobody asked them to. They just think it's important, and they're right.

By the end of rough-in, the walls are full and nobody can see any of it anymore. But the crew knows. They know every pipe, every wire, every duct, and they know each other. That's the part that holds the building together.