I got an early start (5:20 am) on a job... a new 3 car garage for a homeowner. 34 sheets of 4' x 12' sheetrock. Here's a shot after I "strung" the tape. This is the finished product. Ready for "orange peel" texture... Long day. 11 hours. Tomorrow I will spray the texture.
By yourself? ugh. That hurts just to think about it. What are you, some kind of old super rock jockey?
Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
Apr 22, 2021 - 7:10pm
I got an early start (5:20 am) on a job... a new 3 car garage for a homeowner. 34 sheets of 4' x 12' sheetrock.
Here's a shot after I "strung" the tape.
This is the finished product. Ready for "orange peel" texture...
Long day. 11 hours.
Tomorrow I will spray the texture.
Had a bit of a clean up of the spare room the other day. Bumped into an old 1920's era oval beveled-edge swiveling dressing mirror . The English oak frame was badly broken into two places and her ladyship was adamant that after sitting there for the past four years "it was going".
Inclined to agree ,was bundling it up when I thought that this mirror had been around for at least four generations of my family. Started feeling guilty.
Can recall it originally being in a great aunt's bedroom. Poor thing must have looked into that mirror daily for the two plus years housebound as she battled with tuberculosis.
My mum would have had to have used it as she was there getting dressed on her wedding day. Same would have been for my youngest aunt and sister too.
That mirror then made it's way to my child hood home . As kids (there were 8 of us !) we all would have had to glance into that mirror before heading off to goings on like Sunday church ,
a school formal or a first date.
But it was the thought of the very last time that mirror was used. It was by my dear mum, checking her top for the last time as the ambulance crew waited to deliver her to hospital for the last time. The frame then got broken in the clean up after her passing.
So today Ive just finished of the repair work and wondering where is it going on display. Glad I didn't chuck it.
I'd love for them to make a go of it, but I don't think I want anyone to be plastering "bankrupt" notices on the door in a year, either. And leave me to restore the building after it's been outfitted to have fryers and hoods in it. Oy. But I'm trying to nudge them into making good decisions without saying "you can't do that here."
Update:
For the best. Debbie (my wife, for those who don't know her) always wanted to open a bakery... or a Bed and Breakfast. I sat her down... and talked to her about all the work involved in such ventures. There's no doubt she could pull any of those things off. But she would die trying to make it perfect. She continues to bake... shes the best out there. I help her make the bed.
I've seen those pies...
These peoples' business plan had her working 70 hour weeks. THAT PART was realistic. The rest was fantasy.
Location: Really deep in the heart of South California Gender:
Posted:
Apr 8, 2021 - 9:17pm
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
I'd love for them to make a go of it, but I don't think I want anyone to be plastering "bankrupt" notices on the door in a year, either. And leave me to restore the building after it's been outfitted to have fryers and hoods in it. Oy. But I'm trying to nudge them into making good decisions without saying "you can't do that here."
Update:
For the best. Debbie (my wife, for those who don't know her) always wanted to open a bakery... or a Bed and Breakfast. I sat her down... and talked to her about all the work involved in such ventures. There's no doubt she could pull any of those things off. But she would die trying to make it perfect. She continues to bake... shes the best out there. I help her make the bed.
My sister and I own the building that our parents bought and operated a bicycle shop out of for many years, and then the new owner of the bike shop just closed his doors in December. So now we're looking for tenants. Some folks recently moved here from Ohio and think our town needs a bakery. They've never run a business before; he's an avid home baker and she's worked in institutional kitchens (hospitals, schools) so anyway I spent the afternoon-to-midnight reviewing their business plan and making notes. It's partly "you need to get us this information before we'll rent to you/allow you begin remodeling" and partly "oh, honey, this is not realistic market research."
I'd love for them to make a go of it, but I don't think I want anyone to be plastering "bankrupt" notices on the door in a year, either. And leave me to restore the building after it's been outfitted to have fryers and hoods in it. Oy. But I'm trying to nudge them into making good decisions without saying "you can't do that here."
Update: My sister and I are not good at this, so when they kept on chugging along, I said to myself, they need financing and no bank will loan them money on this business plan.
Boy was I wrong. I didn't ask what the terms were, but the first bank said okay, but the people said the rate was pretty high so they went to another bank and got approved for a lower % plus approved for a line of credit to cover operating expenses. When I got that email my heart sank and thinking about it just made me physically shaky. A couple of days ago, my sister let them in with an electrician to go over what would be required and he ballpark estimated $5000. The bakery guy blanched at that and so did my sister... nothing like that was in the budget! So my sister was optimistic until that point. She realized that they had already earmarked every dollar in their loan amount so they were already going to have to make cuts and changes. She emailed me that she was feeling anxious and I agreed. We had them down for a face-to-face and told them we weren't going to rent to them. They stumbled for a couple of beats and then said "we figured that was what this was about." They'd been seeking other financing (I guess the second offer wasn't too attractive after all) and the place they checked with did tell them they needed to slow down and get some more research. They also had talked to the local Small Business Development guy who I put them in touch with months ago, and he had told them the same thing. So we were the third people today to tell them to put the brakes on this plan. SBD guy did say that once they'd really done all the things on the to-do list that I gave them, they'd be much better prepared to get this thing going.
tl;dr: We turned down some renters. So anyway, we have some retail space available.
Right thing to do. And really in your interests as well. If they failed it wouldn't be a simple easy their gone and you get to keep the improvements thing. It would be months (years?) of off and on payments, threats, bounced checks, legal notices and on and on. Now you can keep it open for a renter who won't be a drag, and you have good karma to boot. Maybe they rework the plan and come back around, either way, you've done good for everyone involved.
My sister and I own the building that our parents bought and operated a bicycle shop out of for many years, and then the new owner of the bike shop just closed his doors in December. So now we're looking for tenants. Some folks recently moved here from Ohio and think our town needs a bakery. They've never run a business before; he's an avid home baker and she's worked in institutional kitchens (hospitals, schools) so anyway I spent the afternoon-to-midnight reviewing their business plan and making notes. It's partly "you need to get us this information before we'll rent to you/allow you begin remodeling" and partly "oh, honey, this is not realistic market research."
I'd love for them to make a go of it, but I don't think I want anyone to be plastering "bankrupt" notices on the door in a year, either. And leave me to restore the building after it's been outfitted to have fryers and hoods in it. Oy. But I'm trying to nudge them into making good decisions without saying "you can't do that here."
Update: My sister and I are not good at this, so when they kept on chugging along, I said to myself, they need financing and no bank will loan them money on this business plan.
Boy was I wrong. I didn't ask what the terms were, but the first bank said okay, but the people said the rate was pretty high so they went to another bank and got approved for a lower % plus approved for a line of credit to cover operating expenses. When I got that email my heart sank and thinking about it just made me physically shaky. A couple of days ago, my sister let them in with an electrician to go over what would be required and he ballpark estimated $5000. The bakery guy blanched at that and so did my sister... nothing like that was in the budget! So my sister was optimistic until that point. She realized that they had already earmarked every dollar in their loan amount so they were already going to have to make cuts and changes. She emailed me that she was feeling anxious and I agreed. We had them down for a face-to-face and told them we weren't going to rent to them. They stumbled for a couple of beats and then said "we figured that was what this was about." They'd been seeking other financing (I guess the second offer wasn't too attractive after all) and the place they checked with did tell them they needed to slow down and get some more research. They also had talked to the local Small Business Development guy who I put them in touch with months ago, and he had told them the same thing. So we were the third people today to tell them to put the brakes on this plan. SBD guy did say that once they'd really done all the things on the to-do list that I gave them, they'd be much better prepared to get this thing going.
tl;dr: We turned down some renters. So anyway, we have some retail space available.
Bummer but it will probably save you grief in the long run.
My sister and I own the building that our parents bought and operated a bicycle shop out of for many years, and then the new owner of the bike shop just closed his doors in December. So now we're looking for tenants. Some folks recently moved here from Ohio and think our town needs a bakery. They've never run a business before; he's an avid home baker and she's worked in institutional kitchens (hospitals, schools) so anyway I spent the afternoon-to-midnight reviewing their business plan and making notes. It's partly "you need to get us this information before we'll rent to you/allow you begin remodeling" and partly "oh, honey, this is not realistic market research."
I'd love for them to make a go of it, but I don't think I want anyone to be plastering "bankrupt" notices on the door in a year, either. And leave me to restore the building after it's been outfitted to have fryers and hoods in it. Oy. But I'm trying to nudge them into making good decisions without saying "you can't do that here."
Update: My sister and I are not good at this, so when they kept on chugging along, I said to myself, they need financing and no bank will loan them money on this business plan.
Boy was I wrong. I didn't ask what the terms were, but the first bank said okay, but the people said the rate was pretty high so they went to another bank and got approved for a lower % plus approved for a line of credit to cover operating expenses. When I got that email my heart sank and thinking about it just made me physically shaky. A couple of days ago, my sister let them in with an electrician to go over what would be required and he ballpark estimated $5000. The bakery guy blanched at that and so did my sister... nothing like that was in the budget! So my sister was optimistic until that point. She realized that they had already earmarked every dollar in their loan amount so they were already going to have to make cuts and changes. She emailed me that she was feeling anxious and I agreed. We had them down for a face-to-face and told them we weren't going to rent to them. They stumbled for a couple of beats and then said "we figured that was what this was about." They'd been seeking other financing (I guess the second offer wasn't too attractive after all) and the place they checked with did tell them they needed to slow down and get some more research. They also had talked to the local Small Business Development guy who I put them in touch with months ago, and he had told them the same thing. So we were the third people today to tell them to put the brakes on this plan. SBD guy did say that once they'd really done all the things on the to-do list that I gave them, they'd be much better prepared to get this thing going.
tl;dr: We turned down some renters. So anyway, we have some retail space available.
Location: 543 miles west of Paradis,1491 miles eas Gender:
Posted:
Mar 3, 2021 - 4:21am
Thanks. Thankfully the spot changed into something worrisome very recently and I was scheduled for my yearly skin check at the right time. I'm all set for early on the 25th to have it completely removed.
Finally got the lowdown today from the biopsy...Squamous Cell Carcinoma...More cutting later this month.
Glad you caught it. Recover thoroughly and quickly
I just had my annual skin check (Australia is the skin cancer capital of the world). Not an ideal place for British complexions so many people opt for annual checks. I probably don't meet the high risk criteria but seems like cheap insurance even though the government doesn't recommend universal screening (read that as not cost-effective).
Location: 543 miles west of Paradis,1491 miles eas Gender:
Posted:
Mar 1, 2021 - 6:24pm
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
black321 wrote:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
haresfur wrote:
ScottFromWyoming wrote:
My sister and I own the building that our parents bought and operated a bicycle shop out of for many years, and then the new owner of the bike shop just closed his doors in December. So now we're looking for tenants. Some folks recently moved here from Ohio and think our town needs a bakery. They've never run a business before; he's an avid home baker and she's worked in institutional kitchens (hospitals, schools) so anyway I spent the afternoon-to-midnight reviewing their business plan and making notes. It's partly "you need to get us this information before we'll rent to you/allow you begin remodeling" and partly "oh, honey, this is not realistic market research."
I'd love for them to make a go of it, but I don't think I want anyone to be plastering "bankrupt" notices on the door in a year, either. And leave me to restore the building after it's been outfitted to have fryers and hoods in it. Oy. But I'm trying to nudge them into making good decisions without saying "you can't do that here."
Sounds like a bit of a risk, but good quality baked goods seem to be popular now. The question is whether they can make them commercially (think consistency) and whether people in the town are willing to pay for quality. A bakery/cafe just opened here and sells croissants for something like $12. Seems really steep to me but they are busy. How much of the equipment will go to you if they fail?
We'd put it in the contract that they can/must take most of it. There would be some exhaust fans installed in an exterior wall; those would have to stay. One part of their business plan is really intriguing to me and wouldn't expose them or us to so much risk, but they want to take on baking. The business plan doesn't state what they think their costs will be or what they think the prices will be, but they do hope to "start" with an average 100 customers at an average of $10 each. I want to rent the place, I want a good bakery in town, I want them to succeed. I just don't think this is gonna fly and I don't want to be the landlord that was the problem... "we could have made it but the rents were so high..." etc.
Did you taste? Retail is all about the quality....how you position above the mass/online competitor. If it tastes no better than a safeway donut, why bother?
Surprised the bike shop closed...bike sales have been through the roof during the pandemic.
I have not tasted these but he's doing a yeast recipe donut which already sets it apart from the grocery store.
The bike shop was heading toward retirement already, and he preordered a smaller number of bikes during January... those are scheduled several months out. By March, the pandemic hit, so they said they'd be late getting orders shipped and allowed dealers to opt out or modify their pre-orders. Which he did. Then when he sold out immediately, they declined to sell him any more bikes unless he got a full container (many more bikes than he could possibly take in in one shipment) so he declined. Hindsight knows he could have had the best year in history, since there were no bikes available within 1000 miles of us this summer (Specialized brand, anyway). My son's bike was stolen in June (also a big spike in that activity) and we waited patiently for more to arrive but none ever did. By mid-summer it was clear that he was just going to spool it up. He was very busy repairing bikes that were last ridden during the Reagan years anyway, so new sales weren't critical.
In October, a bike that he'd special ordered in February arrived. He almost refused the shipment because the buyer had found something somewhere else, but decided to put it on the floor anyway. My wife happened to stop in to see if they had any tire pumps remaining since ours was shot, and happened to ask if any bikes came in. Well it just so happens...
After almost 50 years, and completely by random happenstance, the last bicycle sold by Larsen's Bicycles was to the grandson of the people who started the shop.
Youtube and the internet....lessons and sales for almost nothing.
Your comment made me think of this as proof anything (good) can take off on the internet.... Rancho Gordo
Been watching Steve's Rancho Gordo business take off over a few years on my foodie site. Then it went nuts with some pandemic publicity. The waiting list for his bean club is up to something like 11,000. I would dearly love one of his bean pots.
This is the finished product. Ready for "orange peel" texture... 
Long day. 11 hours. 
