The Choctaw Casino and Resort Durant expanded their resort.
The Choctaw Casino and Resort in Durant, Oklahoma is a luxury resort destination for great entertainment. It originally opened in 2006 with a 100,000 square-foot casino. Later in 2010 a twelve-story hotel tower was added, with major upgrades to the Choctaw Lodge and Inn, in 2012. In 2015, the Grand Tower, Grand Theater and The District Family Entertainment Center were opened to attract people all over the world.
For over four years, Choctaw Casino and Resort Durant wanted to expand their resort to provide more hotel rooms for visitors to stay, more amenities for entertainment, along with new permanent jobs.
This particular project, completed in 2021, added 1,000 new luxury hotel rooms in a 21-story hotel tower addition, along with 3,300 new slot machines and over 40 new game tables, new amenities including but not limited slot machines and over 40 new game tables, new amenities including but not limited to: a new pool, parking garage and a retail space with entertainment, dining options, conference facilities and additional parking. This project fulfilled Choctaw Casino and Resort Durant’s wishes in creating an atmosphere to provide more than 1,000 new, permanent jobs.
Chamberlin was selected to be a part of the roofing and waterproofing process by general contractor Tutor Perini Building Corporation. Tutor Perini chose Chamberlin as they were the only subcontractor that passed the third-party performance testing on the Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS) caulking, which is what most of the project consisted of. The other subcontractors tried two to three times and could not achieve a successful passing result like Chamberlin did.
Chamberlin’s scope of work continues with adding below-grade waterproofing to ensure the walls and slabs of the building’s foundation the walls and slabs of the building’s foundation were watertight. Following up with adding cementitious waterproofing to create a waterproof barrier on the negative side of slabs and walls. They also installed traffic coating
on the balconies to aid in protecting against any damage or deterioration that can be caused in high-traffic areas within the resort tower. Chamberlin used pre-formed expansion joint systems and firestopping, along with exterior EIFS joint sealants to seal any joints or gaps. It also included lightweight insulating concrete, fleece back PVC membrane, sheet metal and flashing to aid in the roof expansion production process.
HIGH END QUALITY CONTROL
Chamberlin was mindful of quality control throughout the duration of their project. The supplier, Sika Sarnafil conducted over twenty-seven interim jobsite inspections to ensure proper installation would lead to a leak-free roof to turn over to the owner. Sika also helped develop details related to the extensive expansion control requirements for these new buildings.
Chamberlin performed daily QA/QC reports throughout the entirety of the project. Due to Chamberlin’s strict internal QA/QC combined with Sarnafil's top-tier product, there have been no issues with the roof since construction has completed.
FOCUSING ON SAFETY
Chamberlin makes safety their primary focus on each job they take. Especially on the areas of the roof that were protruding out from the wall hanging over other levels of the resort.
Level 17, which is an eyebrow roof protruding from the South side of the new Hotel, is a radiused, three feet wide by 150 feet long roof section. In order to complete this roof safely, Chamberlin needed to come up with a plan. The operations team worked with Tutor Perini to make a safer scenario, leave-outs were cut into the level 21 concrete deck overhang, to allow the ropes from the crew members' fall protection to pass through and be attached to roof davits up on the main hotel roof. Throughout the duration of Level 17, 14 different tie-off points were needed to avoid any type of swing hazard. After all of this pre-planning, Chamberlin left the owner with a great roof that was installed safely and without incident.
In addition to that, swing stage scaffolding was used during most of the caulking process. It was also used during traffic coating on concrete bands that were approximately three feet wide on multiple floors.
An additional tool used during Choctaw Casino and Resort Durant project was Chamberlin’s Safe Performance Self-Assessment (SPSA) process. SPSA helps to prevent the risks that come with unforeseen conditions that arise during each workday and encourages workers to stop and go through a thought process before proceeding with all tasks they complete:
Taking the proper amount of time before starting a task to recognize potential hazards and identify preventative measures that can be taken, helps protect employees and those working around them.
EXTENUATING CIRCUMSTANCES
During the construction process of this particular project Chamberlin’s roofers were faced with rain and snow during the 
February 2021 freeze. The freeze fortunately didn’t have any negative impact on the work Chamberlin had already started on the roof. It did however make it difficult during the traffic coating installation process. They had to work as a team to ensure that the two-part coating and epoxy had a good finish, without any bubbling or outgassing due to the moisture from the weather.
To aid in keeping the weather out, Chamberlin provided temporary waterproofing to keep the hotel dry before its walls were properly constructed for all 21 of its floors. Conduit holes ran through the concrete decks allowing water to pour in from the unwalled upper floors and drain down to the enclosed lower floors. Chamberlin sealed those holes on the open floors with a vapor barrier to prevent this from happening.
Chamberlin also faced a predicament where teamwork paid off immensely. They were forced to switch superintendents on the project in the final two months, due to an employee resignation. This called for the Field Operation Manager Richard Sanchez, to get in tune with the project at a deeper level, that way they could get the new superintendent, Sebastian Alvarez, prepared to take over. Even with this setback, Chamberlin was still able to deliver high-quality work, safely and on time.
HARD WORK PAYS OFF
Although Chamberlin’s project with Choctaw Casino and Resort Durant had a tight schedule, harsh weather and internal team changes, they were still able to grow exponentially in the final two months of the project and deliver a watertight expansion for the casino.
This expansion was not only successful for Chamberlin as a company, but it also posed many benefits for people in need of jobs, funding for services needed by the tribal members, millions in economic growth for Oklahoma and money leftover to invest in education and infrastructure improvements for Oklahomans.